Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tek75]

I had a very positive experience as an SMOE teacher for three years, but yeah, there really isn't any excuse for this. The SMOE really, really dropped the ball on this. Good luck to the teachers who got screwed.

[travelingfool]

Using the words Korea and waiting list in the same sentence must surely be a sign of the apocalypse.

While it sucks that this happened to so many people, I can't say I find it very surprising, especially given my own experiences trying to navigate the minefield that is EFL in the land of the morning calm.

Any Airplane! fans out there?. "Shayna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting in to. I say, let em crash!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bs7EqlLiSs

[iggyb]

Zipper,

A big --- well - fundamental -- difference between SMOE and the teachers is that SMOE gave a lot of these people visas.

Anybody who has checked into or experienced the Korean TESOL market will know that contracts are not binding - on either party - until you get the visa.

Now, we know (or at least I now know) the visa is not binding to the Korean end but is for even dumped teachers dropped by the Korean government itself.

The visa, as far as I knew in the past, was the point of no return. It still is for the teachers. For the Koreans, I guess they can do as they please...

[bassexpander]

Worse, they made it pretty obvious that they're not aganist this happening again. They are going to over-hire just so they aren't short of teachers.

Just goes to show that any SMOE job you take has a good chance of disappearing from you even after you've received the VISA and are within days of starting. Personally, I expect this sort of thing to seriously damage future recruiters attempts at hiring. How can you trust it?

It's just so Korean of them, it about makes you want to vomit -- a true baptism of fire into Korean culture. As everyone knows, the bosses here are often so desperate to show power over you, and will jump to ridiculous levels in order to do it.

[zipper]

I wonder if the immigration officials are amused with this issuing and canceling visa fiasco. For S.M.O.E to adopt this policy to buy and then dump is detrimental to their reputation and professionalism. From here on, whom in their right mind would be insane enough to buy a plane ticket after being hired by S.M.O.E? For now, if S.M.O.E wants to repair their reputation, they ought to compensate the fired employees� plane ticket expenses, since they indeed willfully broke the contact. Furthermore, they ought to adopt a policy of advancing the air fare to people that have signed contracts, and ask contract awardees to sign promissory notes to pay back the fares if they don�t complete more than 6 months of the contract. Anyway, I would hope that a lot of potential candidates think twice before doing business with fibiar S.M.O.E. imo. Could you imagine if their Western counterparts committed this same blunder?

[iggyb]

If this is a one-time thing, they've only hurt themselves for a couple of years.

If it is a recurring thing each year or every couple of years, any gains in international Internet reputation public schools brought to a highly criticized industry will be obliterated. And the government will have to increase the pay and benefits to attract a high pool of non-scab instructors just like the hakwons had to do after the 1990s melt down and resulting hakwon shafting of a high percentage of the TESOLers...

[iggyb]

[iggyb]

[Demophobe]

[lifeinkorea]

I think it's bit of sweet revenge. Greedy contractors went to Iraq to get a lot of money and ended up with their head cut off. Greedy teachers looking to make some (ok, not as much as the contractors, but you do stay in one piece) decide on Korea cause they can get an apartment and 2 flights paid for without it affecting their salary.

[iggyb]

There were gains for veterans when the market collapsed in the 1990s, but there were also some lasting negative consequences.

Before, Koreans didn't think highly of the NETs, but when the hakwon industry got to the point they had to bring over a lot of scabs, the negative view of us jumped greatly and remained so --- to the point that the media started replacing NETs as the new GIs...

(My definition of scab in this context: people with fake degrees and/or no visas (having overstayed the tourist visa and not getting a different one)).

[Demophobe]

[iggyb]

[iggyb]

P.S. And this is somewhat amusing:

[Demophobe]