Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Jackhammer96]

OK, my big problem at the moment is I don't know how to answer questions related to my experience dealing with kids.. this is because I have NO experience with dealing with kids. I have a one year old nephew who I play with sometimes but that is about it.

One of the hardest questions I have ever been asked in relation to this is 'Do you lie Kids and why?'.. I don't know why, I just found it difficult to answer.

ANOTHER problem I have been having is trying to compensate for the lack of work, within the last two years of my life, on my CV. I have basically lied, stating I worked for my dads shop for a year and I also lied by saying I worked as an English Language tutor for the last year and that I worked part time for my friends company.

I am also thinking it might look good if I am working now, which I am not. I am basically not working in order to free some space for my job hunting in Korea. Not sure if this is a good idea, maybe I should be looking for work.

Any advice would be great but PLEASE don't criticise any grammar or spelling mistakes I have made. I am really tired and cant concentrate.

[TheMeerkatLover]

Perhaps you may want to start by not lying on your resume?

Lying on your CV and telling the world about it doesn't exactly instill a sense of integrity and desirability on your part.

[Kepler]

[Cave Dweller]

Here is what I would do:

Take anything off your resume that is a lie.

Find things you have done in the past that relate to teaching, mentoring, or leadership. Ham them up.

Lots of people get hired here with no previous experience. I don't see the problem. Unless you are applying for a remarkable job that a newbie shouldn't have anyways....

[KimchiNinja]

[PRagic]

99% of the people coming over don't have experience teaching, let alone kids. Dump the fluff from your CV. Just say something like:

-you think it would a challenging and rewarding experience to try and help kids pick up a second language.

-you're interested in the Korean culture, and learning about it via the classroom experience would be great.

-you hope that kids have to opportunity to learn about your culture through their experience.

At least TRY and sound sincere, though!

[wings]

Since you're not working right now, why don't you volunteer with kids or do some adult literacy or similar? You can get experience, and boost your resume at the same time. Also, you won't have to lie on your resume.

[Mr Lee's Monkey]

In Korean life and culture, lying is compulsory. Don't take the outrage expressed here too personally. There are loads of people who come to Korea without experience with kids. Koreans like to hear that a person is interested in their culture, language, and food. Many hagwon employers want easy to manage, inexperienced teachers (as in 'do what we want you to do without objection or too many questions') who demonstrate enthusiasm and loyalty. Play up your strengths and interests.... hiking is very popular here. Think about what teaching would be like, and what you bring to the idea that makes you a good candidate. Along with enthusiasm, the buzz words 'fun' and 'energetic' come up a lot. You want kids to enjoy learning English. You think you would enjoy doing a great job teaching them. Don't psyche yourself out and overthink it to the point where you are feeling compelled to put whoppers on your resume or be someone else. Nobody here comes fully prepared or equipped, and the jobs and people will surprise you in ways you cannot imagine.

[Cave Dweller]

Subjective things like 'I'm interested in Korean culture' and 'I love kids' are impossible to disprove. Working at ABC hagwon for x number of months or years can be disproven.

[Hokie21]

Where you a kid once? For how long? Relevant life experience. The interviewer may have been a kid once too, that my friend = Networking.