Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ttompatz]

[dragonsaver]

Is there a good recruiter that will work with 'older' teachers and find them a position. You could PM me if you have names.

[Rteacher]

I had no trouble getting my first job in Korea with a hogwan whose director advertised on Dave's, and I was 53 with just a bachelor's degree and no previous teaching experience.

After working there for two years and then getting my TEFL certificate, I thought that I could line up a job again (via the Internet...) without using a recruiter. A couple months of no decent offers convinced me to go through a number of recruiters. Most of them showed no interest in trying to place me, but one recruiter (Easy English Consulting...) did place me in a (struggling) hagwon in Gangeung. When that place started to go under, the same recruiter lined up an interview for me with a technical high school in Gyeonggi-do, and she (and her boss) accompanied me to the interview. After the fact, she disclosed that she had told the principal that I was "in my forties"... When the principal flatly asked me "how old are you?" I jokingly said that "I was very young - but don't look at my passport..."

Of course, he asked to see my passport right away ,and he gasped, exclaiming "Oh-ship-yuk!" - and shook his head... Seeing her commission slipping away, the recruiter ("Nicky") quickly tried to change the subject and asked me to demonstrate "my dynamic teaching techniques"... I was caught off-guard and awkwardly rambled off some stuff I recalled from my TEFL course about "student-centered learning" - but also noted that "sometimes an authoritarian style is more effective with certain types..." I think that won over the brutal/nice-guy head of the English dept. whose opinion counted the most. The recruiter informed me that both the principal and vice-principal thought that I was too old, but the English dept. head insisted on hiring me (and they all agreed to re-hire me again...)