Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ibsen]

So I've been interviewing recently for a job in Korea and have run into this problem in probably around half my interviews. No English is an exaggeration, but in the smaller hagwons that I interviewed for, the person conducting the interview tend to speak very very little English. In the most recent one, I couldn't even understand half of the questions being asked, so I just made my best guess as to what the question was and tried to answer it... When it came time for me to ask questions, the interviewer couldn't answer them either due to the language barrier. At the end of the interview I couldn't help feeling frustrated and defeated. I suppose it's no big deal if they don't hire me since there's always more hagwons, but I'm just curious how do you guys (or how did you guys) deal with this during your interview process.

[PigeonFart]

I had a similar experience when interviewing with smaller sized hogwons (usually ones that employ only 1 foreigner).

The question is....would you reject a job on that point alone if all other criteria were satifactorily fulfilled?

If it was somebody's 1st time in Korea then the employers English abillty would be very important. But for a long term resident of Korea who knows the hogwon game then it wouldn't be such a problem. I guess it would be inversely related to your Korean language skill. (high skill, low problem)

[Ibsen]

[PigeonFart]

If its your 1st time in Korea, then i'd say it is important because you will need as much assistance (with job related and non job related stuff). But if your coworker is a decent fellow, then that could compensate for that.

It's tricky. I'd recommend you go elsewhere if its your 1st time to Korea. If you've worked in Korea before then i say take the job (with everything else being satisfactory of course).

[luckylady]

in this situation you definitely need to be able to communicate with the outgoing foreign teacher

once you get there, the Korean English teacher probably speaks sufficient English to help out - or someone will. if there were others before you, you can believe they managed some how.

speaking on the phone in a different language than your own can be extremely difficult, much more than face to face. also, something you'll learn later, Koreans in general are extremely self-conscious about their English skills, especially if they know they aren't perfect. use this just as one criteria, taken into account the other things above as well as the contract and email correspondence.

it all works together. good luck!

[Ibsen]