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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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proustme
Joined: 13 Jun 2009
Location: Nowon-gu
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 Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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| In East Germany, they used to lie to me all the time. |
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blotsm
Joined: 21 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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| proustme wrote: |
| In East Germany, they used to lie to me all the time. |
huh? |
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Junior
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye
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| Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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| cruisemonkey wrote: |
| The Bobster wrote: |
| I will not say that recruiters lie to people, but people need to understand that they have very little incentive to inform a prospective teacher of potentially negative aspects of working at a place from which they hope to receive a commission. |
Wow... you're way more diplomatic than I.
Hey newbies -
Recruiters lie, employers lie. |
You think he may be lying about the lack of job places available? Or is it just that he personally isn't having the vacancies sent his way?
I mean... he's a foreigner. Seems unlikely that the Korean education boards are going to be working with him much, they'd probably give the jobs to a fellow Korean recruiter. |
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big_fella1
Joined: 08 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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I would rather pay the recruiter than have the school pay. This would clarify who the recruiter is working for.
Apart from the fact that it's illegal, I thought it would be a good business to have a recruiting firm that got the money from the employee when they placed them with the company. I would have paid to avoid my first school.
I like the story i heard from a friend of a friend who complained to his recruiter about his school, the recruiter then phoned the school said that the guy was going to run and could they find a replacement.
As far as an excess of teachers, I believe thaty there is an excess for the secure jobs and a shortage of staff for the dodgy ones. |
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youtuber
Joined: 13 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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Recruiting is a dirty business. They used to phone me in Canada at 3am, send me all kinds of BS emails. They frequently lied about salary, working hours, and other working conditions. And since there are so many of them, they can be quite aggresive.
Find your own job by contacting the schools directly. Don't be lazy and support this slimy industry. |
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curiousaboutkorea
Joined: 21 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:54 am Post subject: |
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| youtuber wrote: |
Recruiting is a dirty business. They used to phone me in Canada at 3am, send me all kinds of BS emails. They frequently lied about salary, working hours, and other working conditions. And since there are so many of them, they can be quite aggresive.
Find your own job by contacting the schools directly. Don't be lazy and support this slimy industry. |
I don't understand why the would call at god-awful hours when I lived on the US East Coast. I knew they were in the office sometime between 7pm-midnight East Coast time, when I told them it was fine to call me. But I would still get calls at 3 or 4 in the morning.  They're not used to dealing with timezone differences?!? |
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cruisemonkey
Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Location: Hopefully, the same place as my luggage.
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 3:08 am Post subject: |
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How many time zones does K-land have? When you live on 'planet Korea'...
What's even worse are the ones who set a time... then don't call... AKA Footprints.  |
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The Bobster
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 10:08 am Post subject: |
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| big_fella1 wrote: |
| I would rather pay the recruiter than have the school pay. This would clarify who the recruiter is working for. |
I feel the same way. Almost. I'd be willing to pay half, or preferably some less, like 25%.
Best thing for the agency would be to charge the teacher a bit, discount the school a bit, and then still end up with a larger profit margin than before - then use that profit margin to spend more time with both parties to see that the most productive kind of communication happens and the best choices get made.
I think this might produce two results. First the agency might get a larger pool of schools to draw from because the school's recruiting costs would decline. Second, there would be clarity among all parties that the goal is to provide staff for the school AND to provide staff that would end up being the right fit for the school - in other words, teachers who are well-informed about what the school is going to be like and that the particulars are in-sync with what they want or can tolerate.
A lot of first-contract teacher complaints fall into a couple of categories (not all, but a lot):
1. The teacher was surprised. Either there were things about the school he or she wasn't told or there were things about Korea that he or she ought to have read up on before getting on the plane. There may have actually been one or two things hidden, and some things change in the time between the interview and getting off the plane. There are dishonest schools and also dishonest recruiters, but first-timers - sad to say it, but I will - are notorious for trusting too much and also for not carrying out the due diligence required for this kind of life change.
2. The other category of complaints are things that some people go ballistic over but others just let slide. Someone finds out they have to each lunch with the kids, and be nice and cheerful to them - believe it or not, some people just get a buzz from working with kids and it's no big deal to hang with them during their non-contractual break-time. Someone else is promised verbally they wouldn't have to teach kindergarten, that they had a Moms Class ready and they chose him because of his experience with adults - okay, this happened to me my second year and I didn't like it one bit when I was told the plan got changed.
I'm here to tell you, though, that if you bend your brain just a little you CAN do the stuff you never wanted to, and maybe even like it sometimes ... By the way, the reason the plan got changed? Another teacher did a runner and they had no choice but to cancel the Moms Class and stick me in his kindie room. I got shafted because someone else was unhappy and couldn't handle it.
The point is that people need to be better prepared, information-wise - not just the newbie teachers on their way over, but also the schools who will have to deal with them so that in the end all three parties are making each other happy.
The blogger makes some good points and one is that the better prospective teacher is going to be the one who asks the right questions before making the choice and then is willing to be flexible when the need arises. That much is true for any job, anywhere in the world. |
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Clockout
Joined: 23 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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| the use of "instructor" rather than "teacher" is a little curious |
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proustme
Joined: 13 Jun 2009
Location: Nowon-gu
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't understand why the blogger has to curse. He is obviously uncouth, unprofessional, and jaded. |
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Clockout
Joined: 23 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Since I�m anonymous, I�m going to always state my honest opinion whether it�s popular or not. I�m also going to swear like a fucking sailor. This is not a professional blog by any means and I�m in no way trying to shamelessly support the recruiting industry or my agency or myself. I�m just telling you the way it is from my side. Funny thing is, I probably already met a bunch of you guys or talked to you on the phone. But the day you guys find out who this is, that�s the end of this blog. |
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Konglishman
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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| I know a couple of people on E-7 visas but it�s a bitch to get (ain�t the E-2 a bitch too?) because immigration is very specific on who can get his visa. The people I know are researchers for a big hagwon here. Oh, they also have to go on visa runs to extend/renew. |
To extend the E-7 visa, you merely have to go to the local immigration office with a copy of your work contract and pay a fee. In that respect, it is the same as with the E-2 visa.
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| 4. There is no perfect position in Korea! There is no school in Korea that will offer a first-time instructor 3+million KRW per month with all the benefits, a luxury apartment, 20 teaching hours per week, the most ideal location, and 2 months paid vacation. Trust me I�ve seen a lot of positions and none offered the above. If making a lot of money is important to you, you will likely work a lot of hours and have little vacation. If traveling and having a lot of free time is important to you, then you will have to sacrifice a fat paycheque. A good recruiter will try to meet all your needs as best as possible but it�s difficult to have everything that you want. |
Certainly, with the qualification of someone being a first-time instructor, this will be true. However, this does not mean that the perfect position does not exist. With good qualifications and experience, it only takes a little bit of persistence to find a job with 3 million won or more per month, a fairly nice apartment, 20 teaching hours or less per week, an ideal location, and 2 months or more of paid vacation. In fact, this will usually be an international school or university job although in order to get a high salary, you really will need some good qualifications. |
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youtuber
Joined: 13 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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I dunno, what he said in point 4 seems accurate to me.
3 mill, 20 hours ect ect may be possible, but it is out of reach for most people. |
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Konglishman
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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| youtuber wrote: |
I dunno, what he said in point 4 seems accurate to me.
3 mill, 20 hours ect ect may be possible, but it is out of reach for most people. |
For most people, it is out of reach at first. But for example, if someone were to earn an MA in TESOL, then the following job becomes possible.
| Quote: |
EFL TEACHER TRAINER in Sungkyunkwan TESOL Certificate Program
Sungkyunkwan TESOL Certificate Program in Seoul, Korea (http://tesol.skku.edu) is seeking full-time teacher trainers who will teach following courses 'Multimedia in the EFL Classroom', 'English for English Teachers' and 'Materials Analysis and Design') from March 1, 2010 to February 28, 2011. The program consists of two 17-week terms; the first begins in early March and ends in mid-June. The second begins in early September and ends in mid-December. The successful candidate will teach 12-14 hours per week. Classes are held Monday through Thursday.
Salary: 38,000,000 KRW (USD 35,000) or above (negotiable depending on the candidate's experience).
Additional benefits: Housing allowance (housing is not provided), medical insurance, overtime pay and severance pay.
Minimum qualifications: Native speaker of English; MA in TESOL or Applied Linguistics; 1 year of EFL classroom teaching; demonstrated EFL teacher training experience with an emphasis on communicative language teaching. Priority will be given to candidates who have speciality in CALL(Computer-Assisted Language Learning).
Contract is for on year, and is renewable based on performance.
To apply, please send or email letter and resume to Prof. Hanjung Lee, Dept. of English, Sungkyunkwan University, 53 Myoungryun-dong, 3 ga, Jongro-ku, Seoul 110-745; email: [email protected]. Shorted-listed candidates will be invited to the program and have interviews in the second or third week of November (Nov. 11-Nov. 21). |
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea/index.cgi?read=39507 |
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DWAEJIMORIGUKBAP
Joined: 28 May 2009
Location: Electron cloud
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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photos with a cigarette in mouth or hand
- photos at a club/party obviously shitfaced
- photos with the applicant wearing sunglasses
- photo with a bong clearly in the background
- photo topless (it was a guy at the beach�)
What were they thinking?!?! It only takes a couple of minutes to snap a decent photo. Put some time and effort into it and it will definitely help your application. |
Ha ha ha. The fact that he has to spell this out to people makes me laugh. Why people don't realise Korean employers have standards just like employers back home boggles my mind....
I met someone two years back who got hired to recruit for GEPIK by GEPIK. Some of the stories she told me of losers who'd make several spelling errors in their reumes or covering letters, the stupid things they'd say in interviews etc and yeah some of the photos they thought it was okay to use....
Makes me embarrassed...
I'd have literally paid her double her weekly salary though just to let me come in and sit in on the interviews etc and see some of the funny freaky waeygooks...  |
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