Korean Job Discussion Forums

[suntofu]

Hello everyone,
so i failed to even get to the interview portion of my application with epik and im still trying to look for work in Korea as a teacher.

so i did have some people give me some advice but so far it hasnt really worked. mainly, i applied through some of the suggested recruiters but most of them work directly with epik so that doesnt work for me...

what recruiters directly work with the schools and or private schools? so that i dont have to go through epik. because, from what i understand, you can only apply to epik once a year.

i did try with korean horizons but they can only offer me a position in incheon which i didnt want to go.

i had an interview set up with korvia but havnet spoken to them yet.

also i was looking at the job board here and it seems like some schools put out available positions on the listings. so can i just apply through the listings?

any help would be great!

[andrewchon]

If you don't know what to do after an 'epik' fail (pardon the pun), then think about why you chose EPIK in the first place.

1. Was it Haewoondae, the supposed Cancun of Korea?
2. Closeness of Fukuoka, Japan?
3. name EPIK sounded nice?
4. EPIK offers largest choice of safe public schools?
5. ...

I ask, mostly because EPIK puts up more 'humiliation hoops' in their application process than any other, but time after time, people come here despondent that EPIK turned them down. What is this appeal of EPIK?

[matthagwon]

[sab2197]

I got my public school position through SayKimchi recruiting. Worked for me and I am happy with my job so far

[jtp07]

You can always try for GEPIK, Korvia is one of their recruiters

[modernseoul]

[wonkavite62]

Before 2008, getting a public school job ***even in Seoul*** would have been relatively easy. The reasons are that (a) the paperwork involved was extremely easy, and (b) it was hard to fill all the places available.
After 2008, (a) the Lee Myung-Bak administration introduced criminal record checks. Okay. But he added lots more paperwork as well. (b) Unemployment among young graduates in Canada and the U.S. mushroomed. (c) The current government is now trying to scale back public school jobs. I think the biggest of these problems is graduate unemployment in the west. This does not mean that you cannot get a job here however, and unemployment in the U.S.A. is starting to go down, anyway.
I happen to think the application process for EPIK is a bit crazy.
You also have to get a lot documents: a criminal record check, and an apostille, a notarized copy of your diploma, and apostille, 2 reference letters on letter headed paper plus contact details etc. You may also have a small interview with an EPIK representative. Then there's your essay, or lesson plan and the application.
It could be that your application was incomplete. I once applied to a public school position in Seoul and was rejected because I had only one letter of reference. In another occasion I think application was delayed becaause the apostille came late.
You may have missed out something. Or applied too late. Send an e-mail to Canadian Connection. Many of their jobs are in Jeollanamdo, a little remote from Seoul, but nice.

[Underwaterbob]

I'd start with learning some punctuation. It's really not that hard to hit the shift key now and again.

I'm not kidding or just being an ass, presentation is important.

[young_clinton]

Don't consider EPIK to be the primary way of getting into a Korean ESL job, nobody on this forum should. You have many choices. The easiest being hitting the non-EPIK public school recruiters, which you should have done in the first place avoiding EPIK all together. You can also take your chances with a Hagwon.

[suntofu]

[suntofu]

[suntofu]

[suntofu]

thanks for the responses everyone

[jtp07]

[suntofu]