Korean Job Discussion Forums

[evansmug]

The subject says it all, and I'm just as baffled.

Hello to everyone here. My name's Evan, and I'm eager to teach in Korea for a multitude of reasons -- none so large as my desire to immerse myself in the Korean culture and to get my feet wet with teaching.

I have a BA in English, and very soon, a matter of weeks actually, I'll have an MA in English. I don't have an ESL certificate and I have no teaching experience, but I was told, and read, that these are not requisites. I'm healthy, optimistic, and eager, yet, for whatever reason, following an interview with Epik, I received an email saying that I was denied...I will admit that it was quite crushing news; teaching in Korea has been my objective for a while now, and I was holding out that Epik would be my backbone for such a venture.

I'm guessing that it had to do with my interview? Perhaps I answered something poorly? I'm not sure. I went into the interview with great passion and energy, especially so considering I had been up for 20 hours at that point, and coming off a day of masonry work that began at 5:30am -- my interview was conducted at 10pm EST.

So, basically, even after such a dismal break, I don't want to give up. I found WorknPlay Consulting and sent them information concerning finding a recruiter. I've yet to hear back from them, which, as you can imagine, is quite frustrating given that time is certainly of the essence.

Basically, any and all help and info would be greatly appreciated. Teaching in Korea is a goal of mine; not a passing interest.

Thanks, everyone.

Warmly,
Evan

[ren546]

Your subject does seem to indicate why you may have been rejected (now/know).

You probably answered one of their questions in the wrong way. It happens to a lot of people if they are unfamiliar with the Korean context. It happened to me with one recruiter (apparently I wasn't bubbly enough).

[english_prospect]

There could be many reasons, not all of them logical, so it's best not to stew on it.

You're qualified to get 'a' job in Korea. You can try another area's public school system or go for a hagwon. Check the job page on here and contact all recruiters with your preferences and scans of your documents (assuming you have them). No need to limit yourself to one recruiter.

Also post your resume on here. You will get a lot of emails.

Hope that helps

[xihtug]

I'm sure you're more than qualified for getting employment in Korea. Just apply to every job you see. You did poorly for your interview most likely, and you might have a mistake in another. But after that, it's just a numbers game. Remember that EPIK is not the only employment in Korea.

[evansmug]

[evansmug]

[evansmug]

[xihtug]

I do not know about trying for a non-EPIK position (I'm a newbie here myself. Haven't interviewed yet, hopefully soon because the stress is killing me).

My plan of action if I do not get in is to just look at the job postings here and e-mail out recruiters. The one thing I've learned from this site (well, I've learned many things but this is definitely the take-away) is to always ask for a contact e-mail of an English teacher already there so you can ask them how the job is.

[evansmug]

[edwardcatflap]

[mcloo7]

Why not try for GEPIK? I'm not sure if you can apply if you've been denied by EPIK, but I don't know that you can't, so maybe someone else can chime in on that. GEPIK pays better anyway, from what I've seen. I think their deadline is later too.

[Squire]

There are a few different areas of Korea which don't use EPIK to hire their foreign teachers for public schools. Try to find out which places they are, and if you can see yourself living in one of those places for a year- apply. Skim through job ad lists for public school positions and you'll find them

[evansmug]

[evansmug]

[evansmug]