Korean Job Discussion Forums

tremazing87 · Joined: 18 Apr 2011 Location: Washington, DC

I received a job offer and my recruiter told me that the school wants me to email a scanned copy of the last page of the contract with my signature because "the school wants your signature on the contract asap at this point to make sure that you are really going to take the job." Is that normal?

Ralphie · Joined: 24 Mar 2010 Location: Beijing, PRC

My recruiter sent two copies of the contract. Both copies had the school director/principal's stamp or signature on every page. He instructed me to initial every page and sign on the last page. I sent one contract by courier back to my recruiter's office and he took care of the rest. **I'd be wary and paranoid if I were you. The school will have your scanned copy of the last page with your signature and then switch contracts or make some changes...Unless, the copy you have right now has the director/principal's stamp or signature on every page.

tremazing87 · Joined: 18 Apr 2011 Location: Washington, DC

That's what I was afraid of, although they still want me to send the two hard copies of the contract as well, I guess they want this page as a sign of good faith or something because they need it filled ASAP. Still rubs me wrong.

I don't know about them. They have been a bit weird from the start. On the day after the interview, they told me they wanted to hire me but they had already informally arranged for a current teacher's friend to take the position in a couple months and they were trying to decide whether to cancel his employment and hire me instead. I didn't think that was my business but I chalked it up to Korean culture that I was told this. Now, I honestly don't even know how much of that was true. I'm tempted to believe it was a tactic to get me to sign on the dotted line of the contract, no questions asked because there was someone else waiting in the wings. The contract even contradicted what was advertised in the job posting. I'm not getting a very honest feel from these folks.

thegadfly · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

Nothing all that weird about it, actually, if you have the document with stamps/initials on each page -- with the scanned last page, they can print it out and start on getting the visa issued -- if they do not do it that way, they have to wait until the actual, physical copy you signed arrives in the mail....

Now, there should be a step where the actual, physical copy is verified, but that is a little further down the road, and by that time, the mail will have caught up with the process.

Now, as someone said, it IS possible that they could switch contracts on you that way, but if you have two copies with signatures/stamps on each page, I would presume they just want to jump-start the whole visa process, or at least have a document proving that they have a teacher coming...which is exactly what the recruiter told you.

Until they get a signed copy from you, you are not officially hired. You put the school in limbo, where they can not offer the job to anyone else, as it has been offered to you, but they can not go ahead with the process, because they are waiting on you. The school wanting to foreshorten that time in limbo makes perfect sense.

tremazing87 · Joined: 18 Apr 2011 Location: Washington, DC

I can understand that, but my contract doesn't have those stamps or seals or any signatures other than the one they want from me on the last page. I know they want to get the process going but I feel like I should do my due diligence before signing it. There were a few things I wanted to negotiate and one thing they'll have to take out completely or it's a deal breaker.

I also had to wait for them to give me the contact info for a current teacher since they didn't send it with the job offer. That took another day to get. I set up a time to talk to the teacher but the earliest he could speak is tomorrow. Less than a day after getting his info, my recruiter is asking me if I signed yet. I still haven't heard back from them about updating the contract, but I feel like they are pressuring me to sign it like it is because they need someone ASAP and they "canceled" their other teacher for me. I also feel like I will be a real sap if i sign it now.

thegadfly · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

Ah -- I thought you had been offered the job and had accepted it. I didn't realize you were still in the "I'll think about it and get back to you" stage.

ryanvandy · Joined: 23 Sep 2010

I would send the entire contract, not just the last page. That way you have a Time-stamped email record of the original contract as you have it as proof in the event they try to pull a switch-a-roo.