Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DosEquisXX]

I was offered a contract by a private academy last Friday. I rejected the original copy and noted my complaints to it. I stated that I would not accept the contract unless all of the changes were made. On the next business day, the recruiter states that *he* made changes to the contract and sent me a revised copy.

My concern here is that I think the recruiter altered the contract without permission from the employer just to get me to sign on the deal. The changes I requested were pretty drastic. It included changing the tax rate to meet the standards set by The National Tax Service, changing the health care from a private to public healthcare plan, removing the possibility of shared housing and detailing the exact hours that the academy runs. With a snap of a finger, all of them were put into a revised contract the very next business day.

In a job market where the supply far outweighs the demand, it seems to be very strange to have literally every single change I requested incorporated into the contract within the span of one business day when an academy can just choose the next person who would sign the deal no questions asked. Hell, I didn't even get a chance to talk with the academy about the contract. The recruiter just did it on his own without even acknowledging whether or not the academy authorized the changes.

Is there a good chance that these were legitimately made by the academy and this is the contract they agree to? Or is the recruiter pulling a fast one on me with these immediate changes?

The recruiter says that he doesn't know the e-mail address for the academy when I asked to e-mail them. Doesn't make sense for a recruiter to claim to know an academy very well, but not even know their e-mail address. Is this a play to prevent me from contacting the academy and confirming the details?

I know I am being a bit paranoid, but I want to be sure that nothing sneaky is going on in the background.

[DosEquisXX]

I asked for the contact information for my future employer and the recruiter did not give it to me. He said that he has permission to act on behalf of the academy director to make the necessary changes to the contract to set me up. So, there was no need for me to have it.

I don't like withholding information like this. Forces me to put my full trust in the recruiter and we know how deceptive recruiters can be.

This has been a rush-rush proposal from the start under the pretense that they want to get somebody in before the new immigration laws requiring an FBI check take effect.

[Skippy]

Careful of back page signatures switching Recruiter or school gives you a contract that you like, so you sign it. But when you give it back they just take the back page and put it into the contract they like. And submit.

That is why I usually date and page number each page myself of the contract. Plus of course my initials. May not stop them from trying.

Any recruiter who can not contact a school is likely bsing you.

Also as many people say the recruiter is a middleman who in the end works for the one who pays them - the school. I highly doubt he has the power or permission to change the contract.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[DosEquisXX]

[superNET]

For me, I would not accept a recruiter making any changes in the contract, he is just the middle man and has no liability once the contract is signed and cannot enforce the changes. He doesn't run the school.

But then, I do not open that door either and if the contract is not to my liking I do not negotiate, I move on to the next one.

[DosEquisXX]

Yeah, I rejected the offer.

From the onset, the recruiter is your average used car salesman. Standard run-of-the-mill type. But if you disagree with a deal or want some things clarified/changed, he'll go as far as altering the contract without permission from the school just to get your signature. He'll lie and do what he can to get your name there.

I think it would be classless to out him though. I'm sure that people have gone through him with success and no problem.

[Troglodyte]

I think that a lot of times the recruiters actually write up the contracts and present them to the hogwons. They in turn get them from the recruiter association forum/website. So, it's completely plausible that the recruiter has the authority to change the contract for minor things. They probably can't change the hours or salary though.

I usually do as another poster mentioned regarding signing each page. I always as the employer to put a paragraph at the end of the contract to say how many pages the contract has and that each page will be signed by both parties. This stops them from swapping the last page. Alas, as has already be pointed out, it doesn't stop the employer from trying to swindle you later. If they're dishonest, they'll cheat you anyway. They don't care what's written in the contract unless it's to their advantage. The difference is that if they DO try to cheat you later, you at least have more legal ground when you complain about it.

[interestedinhanguk]

A lot of these contracts at the small hagwons are just tossed around. They'll find any old contract, usually from a larger chain, and use that as their own. They won't even pay attention to the details. They might edit in the working hours, dates and names but leave the rest. I found this as I got a contract from a small kindergarten but the file information was still tagged to some large chain.

[ontheway]

[Troglodyte]

[DosEquisXX]

Okay.

Add Korea Recruitment & Consultancy to whatever blacklist is out there please.