Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Patong Dong]

I have spent many years in Koea beginning back in 1997 and I although I cannot speak to others' experiences with Eduorange, I would like to say I am pleasantly surprised by this recruiter. Stephen got me a good job here that began in January and through truly exceptional and unexpected financial circumstances this school had to let me go.

So I was very surprised when Stephen Cho not only answered the phone, but showed up at the school to help me Even when I decided I would go a different route and go for a public school, he still called me up the other day to make sure I was ok, and to tell me exactly what I needed to do to transfer, personally made sure the school gave me the needed docs. and told me to call him if I needed anything. We even met for lunch as he was concerned about me.

So, even though this behavior would be expected in the west, in Korea it can often be missed. He placed me at a school, and when the s**t hit the fan he was there to help. I was impressed. Out of all the recruiters I have used I have never even had one who has contacted me after I started a job, let alone run around helping me with no benefit to themselves.

Thanks Stephen.

[movybuf]

I used him once about five years ago. While he did everything fine, he placed me in a pretty crappy school. Not his fault, I guess. Plus I never called him to complain about the school. I just noisily made my boss' life a pain in the arse for a while.

[murmanjake]

bumping this as it complements the current front page thread on Stephen nicely...

Don't know jack about the guy myself so I'll remain an amused observer...

[RMNC]

Stephen Cho ghost account located.

[Trip]

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=191824

[bbonthec]

I went through Stephen once, many years ago. Can't say I had any problem with him. He was a bit testy, if I recall correctly, but I imagine big recruiters are pretty busy people.

I think maybe most of Stephen's jobs are the mom-and-pop kind of operations, although I could be wrong, so don't quote me on that. I know that the school he put me in was a very small, privately owned school. They didn't always pay me on time, but they did always pay me, and I found that I was generally treated better than in the larger corporate hagwons.

Anyways, if you're willing to accept a job at any but the most famous hagwons, you're gambling, right. Could be an awesome position, could be a nightmare. Don't see the point in blaming the recruiter for that -- he just finds you a job opening, but it's your hand that puts the ink on the contract.

Please note that this is neither a good nor a bad review of Stephen Cho. Also that I am not Stephen Cho. Just saying, is all.

[jrwhite82]

[bbonthec]

Wayguk netizens strike again!

[Patong Dong]

Damn, years creating a background and a separate history and I am outed on my first mission!

To clarify, I made my post before the other one made a re-appearance. I knew he had some bad press and as my experience stood in contrast to that, I wanted to present an alternate experience. I, I mean Stephen, stuck with me after the school went south due to totally unexpected and bizarre reasons, and even after I had said I was going to a PS he still called me out of the blue to make sure I was doing what I had to do for a succesful transfer. I found that to be unique and thoughtful. Simple as that.

[cadurling]

Actually my first time coming to Korea was with Stephen as well. I think he did his job as a RECRUITER. The other stuff about him I don't know, but with me all ended well.

[bbonthec]

At the end of the day, Stephen Cho's one of the big recruiters for the Seoul area. He handles a LOT of schools. Can't really blame him if some of the hagwons aren't as good as the others. That's an awful lot of hagwons to sift through....

[zig1234]

Here is my experience with Stephen Cho from Eduorange: he brought me to a school that didn�t pay me regularly. The foreign teachers were getting approximately half of their salaries each month, enough to live off of but not even close to what we were supposed to have received. Not only was Stephen the recruiter for that school, he worked there daily, had his own office and I was told that he was there to �help� the foreign teachers. I asked him why we weren�t getting paid and he said that it was because of low enrollment (not my fault), a bad economy (not my fault) and then he actually said, �When working for a business, you should not expect to be paid� (that is an exact quote). Just in case anyone who read that just glanced past it, let me write it again. Stephen said, �WHEN WORKING FOR A BUSINESS, YOU SHOULD NOT EXPECT TO BE PAID�. He actually said that to me! He then told me that if I stayed, I would be �rewarded�. How the hell is a school going to reward me for staying if they weren�t even paying me my contractual monthly salary??? If I should not expect to be paid, why should I expect to be rewarded??? That was literally the most absurd thing that I have ever heard in my life! Needless to say, I quit (as did most everyone else). Wait, it gets worse! When I quit, I gave the boss a 30 day notice, although that was just to get my release letter and not because I wanted to be nice. After I quit, Stephen told me that I was being �impatient� and that I should give the school �more time� to overcome its financial difficulties. He actually called me impatient for quitting a school that was paying me half of my salary. I never swore at someone so much in my life. He brought me to a school that didn�t pay me regularly and he acted like I was the one with the problem. He said similar things to the other teachers when they quit. Even the boss (who is the one who didn�t pay us) at least understood why people were quitting. It was almost like Stephen could not fathom why people would quit such a school. It was weird.

Soon after quitting, some of my former coworkers and I ended up going to the labor board. I emailed my former boss as well as Stephen and asked for the money. Only Stephen responded and told me that both he and my former boss were �annoyed� with me and my former coworkers for pursuing further litigation against our former school since the labor board�s ruling was ignored by our former employer. It was his fault for bringing me to that crappy school that owed me money, and HE was annoyed with ME???!!! Ridiculous.

To be fair, Stephen recruits for many schools and I�m sure that some of those schools are good ones. I�m sure that some teachers have been pleased with his placements in the past. However, dozens upon dozens of other recruiters have those same schools or similar schools in their hagwon lists and I highly doubt that any of them have told someone that they should not expect to be paid and then called them impatient for not staying at a crappy school. At first, I had no problem with Stephen. He seemed helpful, professional, and polite. But once I got to know him better, I realized he�s completely fucking crazy! I mean, who tells someone the aforementioned things that he told me? Really, who says that to people?! If I were in his position, and I brought someone to work at a school that didn�t pay them their full salaries, I would feel bad and try to do something to help them. I wouldn�t essentially tell them to stay there and deal with it and get mad when they quit. That�s blaming the victim.

If he could do this to me, he could do this to you also. To top it all off, I consider myself to be a great teacher. I think any school would be lucky to have me work for them. If he could scam me, he would not hesitate to do the same to you or anyone else. I (obviously) would not recommend Stephen Cho from Eduorange to anyone, except to people that I hated. I also would not recommend working for Topia or Canada International School in Ansan, my former employer. I�ve heard many bad things about schools in Korea but none of them � absolutely none of them are as bad as those ones. If you are a prospective teacher who is offered a job at those schools, do not accept it. Likewise, I�ve heard bad things about recruiters but absolutely none of it was anywhere even close to as bad as what happened to my former coworkers and me at our former school. I�ve heard people complain because a recruiter told them that their school was 20 minutes away from Seoul and it ended up being three times that. While that is a legitimate complaint, it�s not nearly as bad as a recruiter saying, �When working for a business, you should not expect to be paid.� Avoid Stephen Cho like the plague!

[bbonthec]

Wow, crazy story man. I hope it's true, else it'd be awfully slanderous. Come to think of it though, some pretty sketchy stuff went on at that hagwon Stephen recruited me for too, although everything worked out for me in the end.

Way I see it, accepting ANY job in Korea with an E2 visa is a gamble, even with the big name companies. You never know who exactly you will be working for, who your precious E2 will be tied to. Packing up and moving to Korea is a risky life experience, which is what makes forums such as this so valuable for noobs before they make that journey. I remember spending months and months reading Dave's before I came here. Everybody should do it.

[T-J]

[Patong Dong]

Hahaha, it IS priceless. Sorry, just laughing so hard I can barely type. Don't let anyone ever say your life is lacking just because a mundane fact like the one you copied is a pricless bit of hilarity in your eyes. I envy people like you with such simple tastes. You can probably find endless fascination in a potato.

And I really don't want to dampen the mood for you, but I willl have to explain why there is that old adage about why you shouldn't assume. I came here in 1997 and left in 1998. In the interim I have returned a number of times but have also spent years living in Thailand. So I have not been at this game for fourteen years, but six. And when looking for job opportunities I explore all avenues to find the largest pool of opportunities to choose from. Anything else would be handicapping myself. I used a recruiter last job. Current job was a personal connection. But if I decide to look again at some point in the future I will absolutely see what recruiters are offering.