Korean Job Discussion Forums

[moped]

Can a person get a teaching position at a public school without any references? I have a friend who wants to teach, but has burned all his bridges. Hence, the desire to teach in Korea.

[andrewchon]

Just how badly burnt are the bridges?
Does he know any people of standing in the community?
e.g. law-enforcement, justice, religion, or education?

[moped]

[DWAEJIMORIGUKBAP]

All I do in that situation is get the last employer whom I left or was fired by to write a 'letter of attendance.'

It will say who I am and the dates I worked at their company as well as my duties and responsibilities. Get it on company paper ans signed. Tellt he new employer that is how they write their referances.

Have been doing it for years with zilch problemos.

They are bound by law to issue you this type of letter and the great thing about it is they dont include their opinion of you or how well you carried out said duties and responsibilities.

Good luck.

[Zulethe]

[DWAEJIMORIGUKBAP]

^^^^^ Atucally I've always given it to new employers as a refereance and they've always accepted it thus (even though I'm really kinda cheating a little, but hey ho, thats the world of business...)

[blonde researcher]

If in a previous teaching job was in Korea and there was a difficulty or problem or a runner etc, then this will probably be found out anyway, (with or without reference letters) as the EPIK and offices of education have certainly recently taken to phoning previous schools [public or hagwon] in Korea to check on the applicant's history.

This has happened with some public school positions. I'm not sure if it happens much in hagwons, but Im sure many directors do phone the previous director to get ' insight'.

I know of a teacher who applied for a public school and he wanted to declare his 2 years teaching in Korea so he could get the higher salary level 1 . He had not provided any reference letters from these schools, just employment certificates with the dates of his contract. Unfortunately one of his previous schools was phoned and reported he was always taking sick days and often late for work. He was not given an interview on that report.

If your friend has burnt a lot of bridges, he had better get his resume well sorted in case these phone calls are made anyway.

[KuroBara]

Along this vein, sort of, I want my co-teacher to write a recommendation for me, but she is worried about her English level. I think she's pretty good, good enough for this, but she is concerend. Has anyone found a decent template, or can you give me some advice on what to have her say other than "She's never killed a student?" I want to keep it simple, but I want it to be as professional as possible too.

[Big Mac]

Why don't you ask her to write the reference letter in Korean and then translate it later together?

[KoreanAmbition]

Let's get serious... there are tons of jobs going unfilled here.

I'm sure you can find jobs that won't require reference letters.

[blonde researcher]

Where are the "tons of jobs" ? you speak of. Please tell?

I'm not seeing them.
If anything I see the opposite and there are few good jobs now to get right now. I'm just seeing desperate recruiter ads rolling out lists of jobs that don't exist or are offering amzing locations and 'hook in' jobs in Seoull of offering 2.5-3 million.

[runthegauntlet]

[ldh2222]

[littlelisa]

I had my coteacher write me one in Korean. It's a really nice one! I might have a friend help me translate it properly and give her an English copy to sign later.

[KoreanAmbition]