Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nyc2010]

Hi,

I just had a question on how to handle recruiters. I have one recruiter from a fairly reputable company that wants to place me a location I am not really considering for a public school. I would like to be respectful and not too aggressive in turning down the offer. I do not want to lose this recruiter because they have access to refer me to my desired location.

Should I say yes to the interview and decline the offer when I get the contract?

Should I decline the offer from the beginning and state the reason being that I don't like the location then state where I would like to work?

Thanks,

[madtownhustl]

Where is the location?
I'd turn it down right away and not waste his time and give him false hope. that will piss him/her off even more than a simple turning down of an offer. It's ok to be picky, but don't turn down job after job!

[clyde]

I would turn down about the first ten offers that you get. Recruiters get a pile of schools that offer absolute crap. Low money, high hours and out in the middle of nowhere. They try to fob these jobs off on noobs because they don't know better. After about a month of negotiating, once they realize that you are not an idiot, the real jobs will start to surface. It helps if you are well qualified: degree in English, experience, TESOL, tall, blond hair. Not in that order.

[MyNameIsNobody]

If you're really worried, just couch the rejection in extremely polite terms. Start off by saying something like "thank you for getting back to me so quickly" or "I was excited to receive your email" or "it was great talking to you about blah." Then begin to discuss the details and bring up the undesirability of the offer. Be firm, but kind. Close the email/phone call with "thank you so much for helping me/I look forward to talking with you again."

If you do decide to take the interview, the practice won't hurt. Also, it is very easy to rip a hole in the POS contract that you're likely to get. Read up on some of the contracts in the "Contract Review Thread" in the Job Related Discussion Forum, and get a sense of the good and the bad.

Alternatively, you can bomb the interview, not necessarily by being rude. Just come off as being extremely nervous (stuttering may help) or extremely daft, or you can assume an indecipherable accent (warning: these suggestions may not necessarily be a deterrent for some schools). However, don't do any of this if the recruiter is on the phone with you as part of a conference call.

Also, if you're aiming for a private school position, look for more recruiters. If you feel the person you're working with now is too sensitive to handle a declined offer based on its unsuitability, he/she is probably not that professional (reputable or not). Wherever you may be hoping to work, there is probably someone else to get you there.

[PatrickGHBusan]

Previous post has good advice and catastrophic advice!

The good: taking an interview to practice is a good thing that is often overlooked by relatively new job seekers. Why?

1- Interviewing well is a skill. It can be perfected by practice.
2- Interviewing in the job field you want can give you pointers on the way interviews are conducted.
3- Interviewing allows YOU to ask questions and even better to know which questions are effective.

You can always turn down a job offer.

Bombing the interview on purpose (if that is what was advised above) is a bad idea. First its a waste of your time, a waste of your recruiters time and a waste of the employers time. You get nothing from it and frankly speaking coming off like a stuttering idiot in an interview can harm your employment chances as sometimes word does get around.

You can turn down an offer from a recruiter like it was advised above: be polite and offer reasonable reasons for not being interested. You may " lose" the recruiter at some point because frankly speaking a recruiter is simply a middle man that matches teachers with jobs. They get paid when they place a teacher and the longer that takes, the less then end up making (the fee they get has less overal value if they had to invest 2-3 months to place a teacher as opposed to 2-3 weeks).

Recruiters are a service that can be useful. Use them as such. They owe you nothing more than putting you in contact with an employer that typically will match some of your preferences (rarely all however).

About POS contracts (Public Schools)...these are standardized by program (EPIK, GEPIK) and therefore can rarely be modified, if at all. The contract thread is useful but making amendements to a PS contract is a long shot and one way to get rejected in this saturated employment market. Remember that for each applicant considered for a PS job, there are dozens more that can step in.

On the hakwon front, contracts can be amended more easily but you should be aware that contracts are not set in concrete in Korea. There will always be wiggle room there. Using multiple recruiters to find a Hakwon job is a sound strategy (as advised above).

Now..in general terms you need the following for an effective job search:

1- Have all your documents ready before you apply as this will speed up the process.

2- Know what you want in terms of location (Large city, smaller city, town..)

3- Know what you want in terms of the job (PS, Hakwon (kids or adults)...) This will also affect when you can apply as certain hjobs only hire at precise periods of the year.

4- Know what you are worth on the market. This is determined by your experience (teaching experience, in Korea is better) and qualifications.

No experience and minimal qualifications (ie Ba in an unrelated field) means entry-level.

5- Based on no 4, know what you can REASONABLY demand and expect.

When you get an interview and offer:

1- CAREFULLY read the contract. READ the FAQs here and perhaps the contract thread.

Ask to speak to another teacher on staff at the school.

Finally, understand that no matter how much you prepare, you will still need to accept a fair share of unknown in your move abroad to live and work. Thats part of the deal and frankly part of the fun of living abroad.

[MyNameIsNobody]

Okay fine. Bombing the interview is probably a bad idea. I just got the impression that the OP was feeling pressured to do the interview, and I outlined several avenues as to how he/she could proceed. Thanks for explaining why the bad could be "catastrophic." I was almost going to attach my own warning, but I got a tad bit lazy and didn't really think the OP would take that particular suggestion. Interestingly enough, I tried bombing once, and instead I still got the offer. Then again, I used a different tactic than the ones I described above, so I'm not going to advocate any more bombing.

Also, in the context of my post, POS didn't mean Public School, but rather was synonymous with really, really bad.

[PatrickGHBusan]

No worries.

Just hope the OP does well out there.

[nyc2010]

thanks for the replies. I really appreciate everyone suggestion good or bad.