Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jeank]

I already have three recommendation letters that were sent to me as a pdf without an ink signature. Is anyone else annoyed by having to obtain an ink signature? I don't want to go back and bother my old bosses. I mean, is it just best to teach at a hagwon?
I think EPIK and GEPIK make it totally hard for a person to teach in Korea. I don't know if it's worth the struggle. (Just feeling down I guess.)

[PigeonFart]

I too hate letters of recommendation, for good reason too.

I'm no occupational psychologist but i remember seeing a meta-analysis from years of research in the field of occupational psychology that came to the conclusion that letters of recommendation have an extremely LOW level of predictive validity. In other words, they are a very bad at predictor of how someone will perform on the job.

When you think about it, it makes sense. You're asking someone you don't know, to give a report about someone you don't know.

Not too mention, i hate bothering old employers. A waste of time for everybody concerned.

[jeank]

I wish they would make things easier, but I guess they want to weed out the weeds, huh?

[Scorpion]

I find asking for them to be humiliating, bordering on begging. I have three strong reference letters that I send out to recruiters with my application. When they ask me to get another letter from my current employer I tell them "no". If they want a recommendation from them they can phone them. The recruiter (or your new school) is going to call them anyway, even with a reference letter. So why waste everyone's time.

I no longer ask schools to provide reference letters. It's just more bureaucratic Korean nonsense that in the end is just more paper.

[YTMND]

The reason why you are leaving your old school is probably due to how they treated you. What are the chances they will write up a recommendation letter? This isn't like a school where you are graduating with top honors. This is a work environment. You teach until they stop paying. You teach until things go bad.

Asking for a recommendation letter is like asking for sunscreen lotion on a stormy day with a tornado approaching. It isn't going to do you much good.

And who will do it? The managers you got along with are long gone. They left the bad school before you did. All you have are the empire witches who replaced the good Dorothys, and the owner? Who is that? Some Oz guy standing behind a big machine you never saw before.

You have 3 recommendation letters? Yea, I got them too. They are the scarecrow, the tin man, and the lion.

All you need are some brains, a heart, and some courage to bust out of this place we call Asia.

Click your heels, there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

I have had more Chinese people tell me to go home these past 2 months than I have in the 10 years I have spent in Asia. You think it's bad now with this recommendation letter stuff, come to China.

The recruiters want a face to face interview first. But when you get there, they aren't there. They have an assistant ready to video record you doing a demo. Then they don't give you a job. They just advertise this video to schools.

2 years ago, it wasn't like this. I would have a phone conversation, they would check my accent, and then I would be asked to visit a school. 2 days later, I would have a job. Not now, now we are dogs in some obstacle race.

I have had to make copy and paste documents because of the workload just to be able to speak with the school. Then, there is the apartment debacle. Never sign a contract without checking out the apartment they plan on providing you. This could make or break your experience.

[Fox]

[Mr Lee's Monkey]

My first year in Korea, 2007, I completed a contract at a hagwon and got a glowing reference letter from the director. On my way out of town, I stopped by the pension office. My wages had been inaccurately reported - 2.4M was reported as 800,000. The deductions had been based on the 2.4M. I returned for a second year and stupidly used the glowing reference. When a prospective employer called the director, he said I was the biggest piece of crap that ever taught for him. Pay your nickel, take your chance.

[YTMND]

[Otherside]

[YTMND]

[Mr Lee's Monkey]

Thanks for the translation services, Otherside. Some among us are so anxious to hear ourselves talk that we don't bother to read.
for the reading impaired.....
I completed a contract and moved on to a new school and town (still in South Korea). The first director got busted for cheating me and the NPS, so the glowing reference became words on paper that were actually damaging. I was too new and unsuspecting to put it all together at the time. Reference letters for foreigners from Korean employers have a highly variable degree of validity and significance. Some people lose sleep over whether or not they will get a good reference. Some people write and sign their own. The value and importance of the letters? I wonder. In your case, I'd be tempted to sign them in ink despite the queasy feeling I'd have while doing so. I'd submit them for the sake of creating as many options as possible, and then let the chips fall. I think limiting yourself to a hagwon because your letters aren't signed is not in your best interest here.

[YTMND]

[Times30]

[Mr Lee's Monkey]

Jesus H. Christ, YTMND. Fuzzy is not the word I'd use. I don't live on Dave's, but I've rarely checked in when you are not insinuating yourself and your opinions into threads and queries with marginal clarity or relevance. Makes it difficult to give you a split second of credibility or consideration.

[YTMND]