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e1278l
Joined: 09 Aug 2011
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 Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 7:26 am Post subject: Talking to other teachers at a school |
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| I think I read this in another FAQ or thread awhile ago, but needed to be sure. A school looking to hire, but the director denying the ability to talk to other foreign teachers there, is a huge red flag, correct? Should I give them a second thought or move on? It's a large chain in Seoul at allegedly one of their bigger campuses with more than a couple other foreign teachers. I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't be allowed to talk to one... |
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sallymonster
Joined: 06 Feb 2010
Location: Seattle area
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 7:44 am Post subject: |
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| Yes, you should move on. This school is definitely hiding something. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 7:57 am Post subject: Re: Talking to other teachers at a school |
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| e1278l wrote: |
| I think I read this in another FAQ or thread awhile ago, but needed to be sure. A school looking to hire, but the director denying the ability to talk to other foreign teachers there, is a huge red flag, correct? Should I give them a second thought or move on? It's a large chain in Seoul at allegedly one of their bigger campuses with more than a couple other foreign teachers. I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't be allowed to talk to one... |
It depends on where you are in the hiring process.
A good school may review the resumes of scores of teachers and interview dozens. They should NOT give out the contact information of their teachers during this process. It would be quite annoying for current teachers to be deluged with dozens of requests for info and phone calls from candidates who will not be chosen.
Once you get to the point of receiving a contract and an offer of employment you should expect to talk to at least one foreign teacher at the school - more would be better.
There are also teachers who you should not expect to be able to talk to: those being fired or not renewed for cause, for example. There is a high percentage of teachers in Korea who shouldn't be here, and if I talked to them I wouldn't want to work at the school based on having that person as a coworker. If the school is seeking to upgrade its staff, they shouldn't be expected to let a new teacher talk to the losers being replaced, but only good teachers staying on. |
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thegadfly
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:11 am Post subject: Re: Talking to other teachers at a school |
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| ontheway wrote: |
| e1278l wrote: |
| I think I read this in another FAQ or thread awhile ago, but needed to be sure. A school looking to hire, but the director denying the ability to talk to other foreign teachers there, is a huge red flag, correct? Should I give them a second thought or move on? It's a large chain in Seoul at allegedly one of their bigger campuses with more than a couple other foreign teachers. I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't be allowed to talk to one... |
It depends on where you are in the hiring process.
A good school may review the resumes of scores of teachers and interview dozens. They should NOT give out the contact information of their teachers during this process. It would be quite annoying for current teachers to be deluged with dozens of requests for info and phone calls from candidates who will not be chosen.
Once you get to the point of receiving a contract and an offer of employment you should expect to talk to at least one foreign teacher at the school - more would be better.
There are also teachers who you should not expect to be able to talk to: those being fired or not renewed for cause, for example. There is a high percentage of teachers in Korea who shouldn't be here, and if I talked to them I wouldn't want to work at the school based on having that person as a coworker. If the school is seeking to upgrade its staff, they shouldn't be expected to let a new teacher talk to the losers being replaced, but only good teachers staying on. |
+1 to ontheway -- as was stated, until you are offered a contract, you should NOT be given contact information of current or former teachers. If you HAVE been offered the job and received a contract to sign, and they STILL won't give you that information, then yeah, you have some cause for concern, though I wouldn't go so far as to say run...just triple check everything you think you know.... |
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e1278l
Joined: 09 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 10:35 am Post subject: |
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| Okay, thanks everyone for the answers. I will have to wait and see if they offer me a contract in the next few days and try again. I hope I didn't give a bad impression asking my recruiter why I could not talk to one after the interview. |
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thegadfly
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:55 pm Post subject: |
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| e1278l wrote: |
| Okay, thanks everyone for the answers. I will have to wait and see if they offer me a contract in the next few days and try again. I hope I didn't give a bad impression asking my recruiter why I could not talk to one after the interview. |
I don't think it would reflect badly on you -- but a decent school wouldn't want to bother its former and present teachers with every applicant coming down the pike. I mean, replying to one person's email questions can take 5-15 minutes (or more). If a school interviews 10 applicants (not unheard of) that would be an hour or three of "extra work" for the teachers. Better just to do that for just one teacher you know is coming to the school. |
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