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hostile recruiter

 
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niftyness



Joined: 05 Jul 2009

PostPosted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 9:54 am    Post subject: hostile recruiter Reply with quote

my recruiter seems to get testy when i ask him informed questions (from reading the forums) anyone else experiencing this?

it just seems like he wants someone he can take for a ride and it really irks me. I would talk to another recruiter but I don't want to seem difficult.

!
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oftenadrift



Joined: 13 Dec 2008
Location: South Korea

PostPosted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Recruiters are a dime a dozen. Ask your questions and if they don't like it, too bad. Worst they can do is ignore you (no loss there). You're looking to sign a year of your life away, and being informed is really important. That is not being difficult, its being smart.

A decent recruiter will expect your questions and answer them. I recommend using a couple different ones until you find a match. Just remember a lot of the shadier recruiters WANT you to be ignorant, and take you for a ride. If something seems weird/too good to be true/suspicious, trust your gut.
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niftyness



Joined: 05 Jul 2009

PostPosted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

thanks often! Do you think you can PM me so I can ask you a few more questions?? Surprised
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oftenadrift



Joined: 13 Dec 2008
Location: South Korea

PostPosted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 7:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can you ask here? I haven't posted enough on this account to PM yet. I have been much more of a lurker for years Smile
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kiknkorea



Joined: 16 May 2008

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 3:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If a recruiter can't deal with people in a decent way, they are in the wrong business.

By all means, get a different recruiter if this one is hostile like you say. Perhaps they don't really know that much themselves about the job, so they feel uncomfortable when you ask questions. That's their problem not yours!

You've consulted them about making a huge commitment to move and spend time working in a foreign country. Of course you have questions. They have to know that and be willing and able to assist you. If that's too much to ask, then look at another recruiter.

Best of luck!
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bluethree



Joined: 20 May 2009

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 3:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah I just had the same thing happen to me. One of the recruiters I was talking to got testy and demanding when I didn't reply in less than a day about a hagwon job. I told him that, while I was sorry for not getting to him sooner, I felt the tone of his message was very rude and I wouldn't feel comfortable working with him anymore. In response he outright said "Fine, I don't care about you, get a job on your own".

Thankfully this doesn't seem to be the norm - I've had some recruiters not reply to me or whatever but nothing like this. As others said, there are plenty of other recruiters out there and you're bound to find a decent one eventually.
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lifeinkorea



Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Back in 2007, I had a recruiter line me up with my first possible hagwon job. She was very nice and answered all of my questions. Then, on a Friday, she emailed me, "A travel agent will send you an email about your flight details".

I get an email the next day as she stated, but in the email it asked for my credit card number. LOL, I never heard from them again.
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Justsurfin12



Joined: 05 Jul 2009
Location: Sitting in front of a computer

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

bluethree wrote:
Yeah I just had the same thing happen to me. One of the recruiters I was talking to got testy and demanding when I didn't reply in less than a day about a hagwon job. I told him that, while I was sorry for not getting to him sooner, I felt the tone of his message was very rude and I wouldn't feel comfortable working with him anymore. In response he outright said "Fine, I don't care about you, get a job on your own".
yeah... I guess there are jerks in every arena...

I'm still going through the process for the first time, but the recruiter I worked with's been very straightforward-- so much so he made me laugh a couple of times at how blunt he was about some of the questions I asked. He basically said, " I could feed you a bunch of b.s. to make you feel good right now but it'd be the wrong info." Gotta appreciate that kind of honesty.
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niftyness



Joined: 05 Jul 2009

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 6:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

who is your recruiter? i want HIM!
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PigeonFart



Joined: 27 Apr 2006

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 7:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hate dealing with middle-men....especially korean ones and their korean business manners (or lack of). I've had my fair share of rude recruiters. One told me to "drop dead." What an ignorant *beep*.

Why don't more schools do their own advertising? It would be so much better to have the 2 interested parties deal with each other (i.e. employeer, and potential employee).

The school could put a good job advert on Daves (ok it might cost them) or Craigs List or WorknPlay website...with a link to a YouTube video showing school and accomodation. They could give standard info on job condidtions and location.

The school could make one BIG pre-prepared email with lots of FAQs/attachments/photos/more detailed info/standard contract that they could instantly send to any potential email enquiry. This would ensure rapid self-selection of those who are genuinely interested in an interview. So the school would know that anyone who requests an interview is pretty much 90% interested in the job.

I've had phone interviews with schools (arranged by useless recruiters) that i ended after only a few seconds once i heard about their basic job conditions. What a waste of time for me and the school! The recruiter has an interest in not keeping us informed, they want us to talk to the school so that the school thinks the recruiter has lots of teachers on its books. Well its a bloody waste of time. Cut out the middle man thats what i say. But its up to the school to get up off its ass and make some effort.
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SFValley



Joined: 18 Jun 2009

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

PigeonFart wrote:
I hate dealing with middle-men....especially korean ones and their korean business manners (or lack of). I've had my fair share of rude recruiters. One told me to "drop dead." What an ignorant *beep*.

Why don't more schools do their own advertising? It would be so much better to have the 2 interested parties deal with each other (i.e. employeer, and potential employee).

The school could put a good job advert on Daves (ok it might cost them) or Craigs List or WorknPlay website...with a link to a YouTube video showing school and accomodation. They could give standard info on job condidtions and location.

The school could make one BIG pre-prepared email with lots of FAQs/attachments/photos/more detailed info/standard contract that they could instantly send to any potential email enquiry. This would ensure rapid self-selection of those who are genuinely interested in an interview. So the school would know that anyone who requests an interview is pretty much 90% interested in the job.

I've had phone interviews with schools (arranged by useless recruiters) that i ended after only a few seconds once i heard about their basic job conditions. What a waste of time for me and the school! The recruiter has an interest in not keeping us informed, they want us to talk to the school so that the school thinks the recruiter has lots of teachers on its books. Well its a bloody waste of time. Cut out the middle man thats what i say. But its up to the school to get up off its ass and make some effort.


Brilliant idea! How much easier this would be for the schools and applicants. There'd be no need for the massive amount of recruiters, just a few to handle all the paperwork, etc.

I personally disliked my SMOE recruiter who was rude, spoke poor English (writing was even worse), and kept sending me useless links to sites that came nowhere close to answering my questions.

I am happy to say that my recruiter now is AWESOME! He is very helpful, friendly, speaks perfect English, and responds immediately to all of my questions.
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Justsurfin12



Joined: 05 Jul 2009
Location: Sitting in front of a computer

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

niftyness wrote:
who is your recruiter? i want HIM!
It was James from Gone2Korea. He's up in Canada.

I was pushing him for details about different schools, etc.... and a lot of "what if" scenarios... but I didn't have all my documentation to him yet, so he didn't know what schools/offers I would match up with yet.

He wasn't rude at all... very friendly/professional... but also very upfront.

One of the questions I asked him was about what they (the recruiters) could/would do if it didn't work out at the school. Could they help "fix" things, etc. He was very straight with me... told me that the contract was between me and the school, so there really wasn't much they could do. But, he said that since they work only with schools that pay roundtrip airfare upfront, if a teacher doesn't work out they're on the hook to repay the school both their recruiting fee and the airfare paid by the school-- which actually causes their agency to lose money so they work mainly with EPIK and with the larger private schools that don't have as many problems.

I'd researched them before contacting them... everything I'd seen from diff blogs (and here) was really positive. Apparently, they were ESL teachers themselves that started a recruiting company.
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