Korean Job Discussion Forums

[textin]

Hello ,

Been offered a job with Hamilton Schools who are working with a Public Elementary School. Anyone have feedback on these guys? I dont know anything about them...

[peppermint]

no experience with them specifically, but there's a lot of info around on the public elementary schools and my advice- it's no place for someone both new to Korea and new to teaching.

[textin]

I am no new by a long shot...ben ken to hear any info on Elemtary schools.

Cheers

[McNasty]

Were you drunk when you wrote this?

[textin]

Pc Bang Keyboard.
Dont usually drink at midday.

[lastat06513]

Yeah, I had some dealings with them and all I can say is.....DON'T TAKE IT!!!!!

I tried working for them for 2 weeks in a school in Bangbae Dong.
~ No Curriculum
~ No air conditioning in the offices and classroom
~ No support from the company staff
~ They went through 7 teacher in month at the school that I was working at because of continuous problems.

To top it off, the immigration office decided to do an audit one day of the school and found that the Hamilton institute wasn't even registered and that they didn't have the right to issue visas.
So when I went to the school, a staff member caught up with me and told me that the company had given all the teachers a weeks vacation.
I decided enough was enough and I wanted to quit.
When I went to the company (not a school, please keep that in mind) to tell them I quit and to pick up my degree certificates, I was told that the owner went to Canada for a week. A week later, I had to wait 3 hours until the owner got into the office. When he got there, I told them I was quitting because of all the problems with the company. First, he wanted to negotiate a way to keep me there, but I told him I had another offer. That was when they told me that if I quit, that they would put a hold on my visa for the duration of the time on the visa certificate (I went to the immigration office and found that it was NOT true).
Before this fiasco, one of the 2 recruiters (yes~ I went through 2 recruiters to get this job because one of the recruiters couldn't speak English) decided he wanted to quit and told me that the school had no intentions of paying me for the 2 weeks I worked there (We agreed to do that to start the paydate on time, which was going to be the 20th). So, out of the goodness of his own, he decided to pay me. But he could not pay all, only 50%.
And during the time there, we were using textbooks that these students (aged 7 to 11 year olds) couldn't even understand. And there was almost no class control for a class of up to 40 students, which in the summer with no air conditioning in the room, became pretty rowdy. There was one Korean teacher (a complete angel) who was completely overworked at the office as well as at the school. She would also complain bitterly about the company until she quit about a day or two after me.

The other recruiter was a Canadian-Korean guy named Jack. If you went through him to get the job, please keep in mind that is not his real job, but a part time job that he does in the evenings. I tried to talk to him about this stuff before going to the company, but he said it was not his problem. So I figured he was only responsible for finding a teacher and thats all.

This school is really bad news and I was going to make a post about it earlier, but forgot about it. Thanks for bringing it up.

Please avoid it as much as possible.
If you value your patience and your sanity.

[textin]

I am doing a poll to find out if its only teachers from outside North America who get dicked around....

[dulouz]

I have worked for Hamilton for 7 months. I don't want to get into the position of defending them but I will to a small extent and do so reluctantly.

You have to have a thick skin with Hamiltin. Very thick. The only saving grace is that I don't go back to the hawkwon. We teach at public schools and the schools are all over. You have 2 hours of subway time everyday.

If you take the job, make sure you get a housing allowance. You'll get 300,00 per month.

There is a big Korean turn over and the visa scheme is shady but none the less, the place still functions. The gov't comes down and frowns but we still get all the officail stamps we need, whenever we need them.

No office support = no office meddling. There is freedom in that, learn to appreciate it. I just want them to get the books and leave.

The owner pays on time give or take a day. I make 2 mil plus 300k rent money - my paycheck is 2150. That looks OK but I really can't tell if they are skimming.

Skirts on details - loose end money. One teacher lost some expensive personal property due to actions by the employer. 3 months later reimbursement. Overtime pay and the like must be wrangled from the employer. Don't volunteer for any.

Housing - get ready to be moved around unless you take the allowance.

PM if want to ask more questions.

[Saxiif]

[pegpig]

This thread deserves to NEVER die.

Hamilton School of Disoriented Madmen (Ok, actually Hamilton School of Oriental Medicine aka Daehak aka Korea Campus Group)

Dulousz, I can't believe you would ever defend them, even to a small extent. If I'm correct I believe we share the same name. It couldn't have been very good if you only stayed for 7 months. Coincidentally I also stayed for 7 months. I, on the other hand, have nothing good to say about them.

I'm not going to detail everything about the place and my experiences. That would take up too much time. I will add to this thread whenever I have time. An entire book could be written about the misdeeds of this organization (now there is an oxymoron if ever I heard one).

They went through an inordinate number of Korean and foreign teachers in the time that I was there. They also started their shadiness back in their Incheon days, where they mysteriously left w/o notice. The employees were surprised to show up at the school with there being no more school. Fun stuff.

We did receive a wonderful Xmas present. We were watching the evening news on Xmas Eve. Lo and behold, who do we see? Ah yes, the ex-boss 18 in the police department. Well, we saw his fat arse anyway. His face was naturally shaded, but we did get to hear lies spewing from his fat face.

So, naturally I assumed that they were done. Well, I have heard that recently they have reopened their torture chamber just up the street from where they were doing their disservice before. So, if you have an interview in the Bangbae station area and your boss is Mr. Lee and his wife is an evil-looking biatch (Dragonlady as she is disaffectionately referred to) be very scared and run like hell!

If you are reading this and also have had dealings with them, PLEASE post and/or pm me.

[fancypants]

[quote="dulouz"]I have worked for Hamilton for 7 months. I don't want to get into the position of defending them but I will to a small extent and do so reluctantly.

the original date of this thread is almost a year old and i sincerely hope the original poster ran for the hills when they read the litany of negative responses.

i too am perplexed as to why dulouz could even slightly praise this shop of horrors.

i won't get into details (you can read a detailed account of my horrific experiences with this insane school on the blacklists as well as another thread on this forum - do a search on "hamilton") but i would like to issue a warning to anyone considering working for them: if you value your sanity, don't do it.

and if you are currently getting screwed by them, send me a PM. i have a host of seriously incriminating ammo stockpiled as a result of a lawsuit i thought i would have to get embroiled in a couple of years back.

AND does anyone know if they are STILL operating? unbelievable if they are...i thought they got shut down once and for all after a big immigration
investigation in april of this year.

[dulouz]

Yea, its me. I posted that when things were "OK". It wasn't too bad back then. I changed my mind now, the owners are SOB's. It was quite an experience as we teachers were moved around alot. I worked at 8 different schools that year and. All public schools, no hakwons except at the end.

Do you know anything in particular about the April "raid"?

[fancypants]

not a whole lot. i was contacted by another former teacher in mid-may who was one of the testifiers in a case against blubberass that immigration was waging. he said to expect a call from immigration but they never called me.
he told me that they were shutting him down for good...unfortunately, i inadvertantly deleted his phone number from my phone last week. wish he'd call back.

[fancypants]

duh! forgot about email! i will post you something when and if i hear anything.

[dulouz]

You can only stop him via execution or imprisonment. He's really clever but is a sad twisted way. His wife has mental problems.

I finished my year and took my bonus via force and left. I think I kicked him pretty hard when I did that. I think he lost the school I was working at but thats not unusual, he lost plenty of schools.

I have a very stable job now in part thanks to him and the job is without any of that "excitment". Like the excitement of a fist fight while I had 3 million won in my book bag after I just fooled the school out of the cash by changing PINS. It was like an action movie ie "Oceans 11". Me, him and the money. Pure adreniline. You can appreciate the experience but you have to look at it in a strange way.

I really hated the hawkwon, Hamilton got me out of that but Hamilton bought their own baggage.