Korean Job Discussion Forums

[teflwanderer]

Hey guys,

I've been lurking around for a while but I have a pretty weird situation that I couldn't find an answer to.

I am a naturalized US citizen, prior to having a US passport I had an Indian passport. I've been in the US for nine years, but have only gotten by degree here - I didn't attend middle school or high school here.

I've been talking to recruiters and one of them specifically (Canadian Connections) asked for proof of schooling in the states, and I honestly let them know that I went to an international, English medium school in Dubai before moving to the US for my undergrad. Now they want a letter from my school stating that I attended for however many years, that they are indeed an international school, and that they teach all their classes in English.

My question is: Are all recruiters going to be like this? I have a 150 hour TESOL from ASU (online), eight years of tutoring experience, and one year of teaching at Kumon (an afterschool math and reading center).

[pmwhittier]

I once worked alongside a woman from Trinidad and Tobago at an English kindergarten. She was also a naturalized US citizen, and she also had her university degree from an American university. But she was non-white. and because of that reason alone, she had to take whatever horrible job she could find. I knew it was an awful job 3 months in and got away from the school as soon as possible, but she's still stuck there going on several years now.

It is possible to get work. It's not going to be good work, and sadly this will be more about your appearance than your education. That's the way hagwons (still, in 2017!!!) work.

My former co-worker had a thick, British-style accent as well. This made it difficult for her when applying for jobs because the moment she spoke to anyone, they would question her US citizenship and degree. From my perspective, I see how that is odd (a British-style accent coming from someone claiming to be an American) but she was totally legit. And she was a great teacher too. Sad that she had to jump through so many hurdles for a crap job.

[teflwanderer]

[wings]

I don't know if I have ever had to mention where I went to high school. I would just not ever mention it. You have to provide your degree, but not anything from highschool.

[pmwhittier]

If your accent is typical American English, then I don't understand why you're being asked about anything except for your University degree. The only country that has to prove primary and secondary school was conducted in English is South Africa. Some Universities in Canada are also problem spots due to their being in primarily French speaking provinces, but the US of A it doesn't matter where you attended school before college. You could have been home schooled and it wouldn't matter. It isn't even a question with any government agency at all. Something tipped off your recruiter that something about you was different, and now you're having to do extra work.

My former co-worker is at a crappy job for years because that's the best she could do, being non-white. Korean hagwons are notoriously racist.

[davidck]

If you don't mind me asking. What degree and what school? You can PM me if you'd like. I might be able to help you out. I know some places will ask that your schooling was in the states so that you can quickly get accustomed to their "American curriculum."

[Guajiro]