Korean Job Discussion Forums

[plattwaz]

I have the "privelidge" (???) right now of doing the recruitment at my school for a new teacher. We have been receving resumes for a while now, and started interviewing people last week - and well, I am absolutely SHOCKED by what I've seen.

Now, I know that Korea has more than it's share of horror stories in regards to bad places to work, and of course, as with ANY job, the potential employee is also interviewing the school, to make sure that it's a decent place. But some of the things I've seen have totally surprised my expectations of ... well, the arrogance I guess, at teachers assuming that just because they applied for the job, means that the school will take them, no questions asked.

I've had people show up looking like they rolled out of the gutter. Literally. I had one babble on and on about the school they are about to do a runner from, and the evil horrors of working there. One candidate ignored every question I had asked about their previous experience, and instead told me how they thought the textbooks my school was using "sucked," several times.

Two people that I interviewed called me back a few hours after we met. Each of them told me that the reason they were calling was to accept the job. Flat out - not a polite question asked like "Have you made a decision yet about your hiring?" or "I'm just calling to let you know that I'm interested, and should you choose to offer me the position I will accept it." Nothing like that. And, everyone has been very clearly told that we still have more people to interview, and will contact them either way mid-week. One conversation went like this:

THEM: "Hi, are you that girl I met at the school today?"
ME: "Most likely I am, can I ask who is calling?"
THEM: "Oh, ya. Ok. Well, like, I thought about it, and well, I suppose you know, I'll take the job."
ME: "Oh. Sorry, can I ask your name again? I've met several teachers today."
THEM: "Is the pay really 2.2? I mean, it's not really the age that I want to teach, you know, but like, I suppose the hours are pretty good for the money. Ummm, can I move into the apartment a few days early?"
ME: "I'm really sorry, I'm not sure who I am speaking with. We have interviewed a few people already, and we still have a few more interviews next week, so we're not prepared to make a decision on who we're hiring until Tuesday or Wednesday. If you let me know your name, then I'll make sure to note that you are definitely interested in the job."
THEM: "Ya like, I'm not fully interested in it, you know? Like the kids are really young and like, I want to teach adults, but they pay is good, so you know, like, I'll take it I suppose."

One person who is clearly interested in the position, although the wrong gender, has emailled me their application 17 (yes, seventeen) times, in just two days. The first time I wrote a polite email back saying that although they seemed quite qualified, the director was not willing to budge on the desired gender, and good luck. The second time, I politely wrote back and told them that I had already received their resume, but again, we couldn't offer an interview. I've now had to block the email address.

One individual, included the following in their email to me:

"Hello. I've been currently living in Seoul in the past. I want to teach in Korea again. I think that teaching in in Korea is a very valuable experience. Teachers and other people grow a lot and learn a lot from teaching in another culture, and Korea is the same. I am interested in your job because you are close to Seoul, but I'm also interested in places close to Seoul like Itaywan and Appyukeong." There was no resume attached, no information whatseover aside from a first name, and a photo.

So my advice to people who are looking for a job is this --

Regardless of what you know from experience or word-of-mouth about shady hagwans, and about English academies jumping at the first white native speaker that applies for the job -- YOU GET WHAT YOU ASK FOR! When you contact employers, if you present yourself as an unprofesional, mumbling, umming and hmmming idiot...well, you're likely to end up working for an unprofessional, idiotic individual.

Yes - write your email or introduction in simple language, as it's possible that the individual reading it may not be a native speaker and may not have strong English skills. However, it is the English language you want to TEACH - make sure you use it CORRECTLY!

If you are not interested in teaching the ages offered, then DON'T TAKE THE JOB! And if you are going to anyway, for crying out loud - don't SAY THAT TO THE SCHOOL! They won't want you around any more than you want them around, and it will lead to a bitter circle.

I know there are loads of horrible places to work, but I also think that there are an awful lot of horrible teachers. Most likely, the above people are complaining about their crappy contracts, their crappy apartments, and their overall crappy job. All of this makes me look at "Hagwon Horror Stories" with a slightly more sceptical eye than I used to.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

hahaha... I just heard back from one of the references I used on my CV. A university was asking her if she could give them my phone number because they want to contact me. I had forgotten to put my phone number on my CV and only included my home address in Canada, stupid me. Oh well, I already started a different job.

As for the gender thing, I hope your director gets a woman who turns out to be dreadful and they end up really regretting turning down the qualified guy. If I were in your position I'd hire the worst woman I could find just to spite them.

[peppermint]

Dude, I think you kind of missed the point of the story. Qualified or not, male, female or other, applying for a job 16 times after you've been rejected is not the work of a sane individual.

[plattwaz]

[guangho]

Korea's general attitude is that if you are Black, you could be teacher of the year and they still won't give you the time of day. If you are White and look halfway decent, they will fly you over here in the space of 2 days after a 5 second interview. If you are a White female, even if in the 500-700 pound category (which a fair share of the ladies are from what I have seen), you will get a better job and salary than others would. It's a totally superficial system that gets what it pays for.

But yeah the sheer number of skells here is amazing.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Ya-ta Boy]

The OP is right. There are some truly scary people out there. I've been asked to look through applications, weed out the weird ones and make recommendations. My all-time favorite was the one from a woman who went on and on for about 5 pages, telling about growing up in a cabin in the back woods of Canada somewhere, so she really appreciated the English language. Very strange.

[plattwaz]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Kimchieluver]

If I had a Kindy class in my Academy and I was a director I would prefer a female. I hated teaching Kindy but was okay at doing it. I will never teach Kindy again though.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[plattwaz]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[plattwaz]

[cubanlord]

hahahaha. no joke. I just got done hiring someone for our school. During the interview process, I had this dude email me.....here it is verbatim:

Hi.

I like your post about the job. Here is my information. Lets get the process started.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA