Korean Job Discussion Forums

[GreenFloyd]

Hello everybody. After reading through this forum quite a bit in the last few weeks I figured it was time to finally sign up, post something and introduce myself!

My name is Danny and I am applying to EPIK for September placement after many weeks of debating my options. I interviewed for JET this year but I unfortunately was not accepted into the program. It was a bummer, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise if Korea turns out amazing?

Anyways, I wanted to send a general thanks out there for everybody posting information about Korea and EPIK. This has been a very nice place to count on for good information.

My only question is this:

Does it really matter if you go through a recruiter for EPIK?

Why not just apply directly like you would for JET? I see that last year out of 700 something people, only a bit more than 100 were placed directly. This definitely is not encouraging. I also heard from a recruiter that they will hire you directly only if you have some teaching experience and are otherwise better off going through a recruiter. Was this just a load of hogey?

Thanks for the help!

Danny

[partlythere]

There are some good arguments on both sides, some of which are based on speculation. For example, some people believe that EPIK prefers to choose people that recruiters have already interviewed and screened. Others think that EPIK perfers to save the expense of paying the recruiter commission by looking at their own applicants first.

Personally, I chose to go with a recruiter and it has been a good choice. They have been invaluable so far. They have kept me up to date with changes in requirements, and they re-formatted my application to make it perfect before it went in. After I passed stage one (the telephone interview) I was invited to send my documents to them, but my recruiter checked them before they went in to make sure they were complete. If something had been wrong with my documents, it would have presumably taken EPIK longer to tell me this than my recruiters.

[GreenFloyd]

Great, thanks! I'm pretty certain I will be going through a recruiter (Reach To Teach). Gillian, the director of the Korea program there, has been a great help to me in just the short few days that I have been in contact with her and I don't really feel like there's any reason not to go through them at this point. I was concerned for a minute that it might make the process longer since it's going through a middle-man and therefore less likely to find a slot in EPIK, but I've been pretty much sold on Reach To Teach, so I'm rolling with it.

[partlythere]

When you consider the many possible delays that can be caused by a slip-up on the part of us (The applicant), it makes sense. Many recruiters will have an office in Korea so don't worry about things taking longer in transit. Perhaps a day extra, maybe two.

You haven't submitted your application? Get your skates on!!

Best of luck.

[GreenFloyd]

Ayee I know! I will have it ready to go within the next couple of days . Technically there is still a month left though!

[airfilter]

I don't know if it does.


On their site, it does say that there are 3 ways to apply: direct, consulate, agency.

I chose the consulate route because I live in a city where there is one.

Handed all the paperwork in on Thursday. Called back yesterday. Interview at the consulate on Monday during normal daytime hours.

I haven't seen any other postings by people who have chosen this route.
But I hope people know that it is available.

[JBomb]

went through a recruiter and it turned out all right. Into my second year here. Once you get the job and over here though, recruiters don't really mean much of anything.

[Depths of My Soul]

I'll let you know.