Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dreyden]

Hello! I previously taught in Korea for two years and returned home to complete a teaching degree before the program changes took place here in Canada. My plan was always to return as quickly as possible and so several months ago I began looking for a job, found one, got hired, and started the document process.

Everything was going fine and I finally got my visa earlier this week. After receiving my visa I didn't get a response from my recruiter for several days until finally she contacted me on skype. She told me that another teacher she placed there at the beginning of the month just quit due to some terrible news about the school. Apparently the school wasn't paying teachers on time and it was a bad situation.

Now, I'm not too unfamiliar with these horror stories, but a lot of strange things stuck out to me during my recruiters story. She said that the only reason we hadn't heard of this before is because the other teachers are all on e-2 and this new teacher was on a marriage visa so he didn't feel stuck at the school. She told me not to contact the school or mention this to anyone. She mentioned that she won't be getting paid by the school and doesn't want to deal with them anymore. She wants me to wait until my new visa expires and find me a new job with her help. I'm supposed to email her with a fake letter saying a family member died and that's why I can't come.

She told me that the new teacher would email me (she even had to ask for my email address... in an email ...). Strangely, both the new teacher and herself emailed me only minutes apart. His email is very short, and doesn't seem very genuine.I guess what I'm eluding to is whether or not there is actually some shady stuff happening on the recruiters side, such as maybe a payment dispute and now she is trying to screw the school. I'm familiar with the hagwon because it is just down the street from my old school, it doesn't have any bad history that I know of. I'm sort of willing to take my chance with testing the school out, I have many friends in the city and my fiance (who is Korean) just moved back a short while ago. I am welcome at their home and can be supported if necessary.

I'm really just looking for a simple 1 year gig before I put effort into a more promising position using my Ed degree and former experiences. What are my options? As far as I know I can't cancel my visa now that it is issued, and that I have to wait three months before starting the process again (including getting all the documents a second time). I got my fiance to call the school and get their contact info (the recruiter withheld it from me) and I plan on contacting them privately. I don't think I'll mention what the recruiter said, only that I had trouble getting details from her and wanted to talk to the school personally. Hopefully I will have a better idea once they respond (and perhaps judge the situation a little better).

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation before?

I would appreciate any help!

(edit: formatting)

[FastForward]

[Dreyden]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, it definitely is risky to trust the school, we have all heard of these stories before. At this point I have bypassed the recruiter and contacted the school directly. I got my fiance to call the school and ask them to check for my email. They were quite rude to her unfortunately, they seemed pretty angry that she wasn't a recruiter. They did giver her an updated email though, and I've contacted them through it. They haven't replied yet.

The recruiting company seems very small, it may even be just the one recruiter. I only chose to work through them because I was applying for a specific job posting. Sadly, I can't even access the recruiters website now, it seems to have been down for a couple days, maybe longer (but I have used it in the past). At this point I'll avoid giving out names of either party because I don't know the full story, but once everything is resolved I'll let the community know (to what little affect it may have).

Does anyone have any experience or advice on what to do if I don't go to the school? What happens now that I have an issued entry visa? It has an expiry of three months, so I'm assuming that without any letter from the director I will have to wait it out. Does anyone know if there is any negative record associated with letting a visa expire like this? I would hate for this to give me more problems in the future.

I'll keep the thread updated when I hear back from the school.

[tanklor1]

Wow! You're reading way too much into it.

The answer is simple: drop that recruiter and find another job.

There are a couple of things you have to remember.

1. There is no loyalty here. - The recruiter is not loyal to you, the school is not loyal to you, no one is loyal to you. So, in turn you shouldn't be loyal to them. Remember it's just business.

2. Recruiters are generally idiots who are reading from a script. - They get about 60 - 100 resumes a day and they'd say anything to keep you there because they get paid per teacher they place. Remember it's just business.

3. Schools only want a teacher who is marketable. - So that means, generally, a white female is the most marketable so they will say and do anything to get said marketability. Remember it's just business.

4. Actual teaching skills are on the bottom. - Remember they want someone who is marketable, the vast majority of academies don't care about the actual quality of teaching that goes on inside their walls. Why? Just having a foreigner brings in money. Remember it's just business.

So to conclude this rant with the first thing I started with, treat it like a business. One that has no loyalty. You'd do much better, trust me.

[Dreyden]

I agree with everything you said, and I'm familiar with the harsh reality of the recruitment scene. I definitely don't have any intention with working with the recruiter any further either. The real issue is that I'm now stuck with an issued visa, if it was earlier in the process I would just move on.

[tanklor1]