Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dairyairy]

You wouldn't believe some of the horror stories from other sites about some of the interviews and how applicants are being treated, even those who've been in Korea for years. The attitudes are atrocious.
The general attitude towards applicants has definitely turned sour, but there's no reason to be unprofessional during interviews. Has anyone else dealt with this situation?

[Airborne9]

Links to these stories on other sites please?

[World Traveler]

I had a PS interview yesterday.

"Did you know drugs are very illegal in Korea? Using them will lead to severe legal penalties."

Me:

[CentralCali]

[CentralCali]

[dairyairy]

Central Cali nailed it. It's just ridiculous how openly racist those in the process can be towards applicants. I know we all read about it but it hits home when a friend who is a great teacher, with four years experience and plenty of letters of recomendation, gets treated like a child during an interview simply because of race, and it was by a public school.

[rollo]

AWWWW!!!! You feelings hurt!! i wept thinking these brutes asked you if you were married, how racist, what next a lynching. Geez grow up . No one has done anything to you just some cross cultural problems. YOU are not in America anymore!!

No one has harmed you, and you do not know what racism is if you think this is racism.

[Charlie Bourque]

[PatrickGHBusan]

[Paddycakes]

Korean interviewer at EPIK: "Have you ever taught English before? Do you like Korea?... Have you ever seen a grown man naked?..."

I bailed pretty quick...

[rollo]

yeah!! maybe look around a bit, you are not in Montreal!! What is inappropriate in the West is okay in Korea

You are free to leave. if this is such a burden that is what i suggest. i mean being asked if you are married , How dare they, show these heathens get on a plane and return to Quebec.

[Charlie Bourque]

[rollo]

Thanks Charlie. I like rice. Do you like Kimchi??

[earthquakez]

Well, rollo will be surprised but I have to agree with him on this one. It's not 'insulting' to ask job applicants their age, if they're married, have kids, have any conditions that might be undesirable in Korea and not so long ago in our countries it was fine to ask those questions too.

You have to remember that a person who is married/has kids will need extra space, extra requirements for living that an employer might not be in a position to provide or might not want to provide. A single person is less time spent on living arrangements etc.

Our countries are ageist too - they just disguise it better. Personally I don't think in some circumstances it's in any way discriminatory to want to know the age of an applicant especially if experience of some yrs is needed or if it's an entry level position where they want to give a young person a chance.

Back home in the UK there's two types of ageism -

1) the 'oh you're over the hill as a man/woman of 40 plus' unless you're in an elitist profession/work for the govt/have contacts and

2) the no, nothing to see here for school leavers and uni graduates, move along.

I've also observed discrimination in countries like Australia where contacts are much more important than they ever let on. Australia seems to have an unofficial policy of discriminating against returning expats who did well above average jobs in the English industry in Asia.

In the UK your years away can help you get a job because you've proved you can cut it in another country, when I worked in Australia I came across the attitude that the expat is 'just teaching English' even when the person was holding down good jobs for years in a country not their own. That was a while ago, must be even worse now.

Heard first hand from experienced people turned down for jobs in colleges and universities, as well as the public service, where there already was a person on a limited term contract doing the job, job had to be advertised and there was no damn way any newcomer was going to get the job. What a joke - the 'employment process' was a lie from beginning to end.

Korea's discrimination is just more obvious like that in other Asian countries.

[dairyairy]

We're not talking about hakwan jobs here, people. We're talking about interviews conducted by employees of provincial education offices and applicants being flatly told that race matters, in a negative and demeaning way. Since we've all read that it happens every day in Korea during the hiring process then we do know that it happens. No one is denying that fact. But it hit home for me when it happened to a friend who should have had no problem finding a public school teaching job.
There's no justification for it. It's just so discouraging.