Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tek75]

The following experience happened to me recently, and although it's not a big deal, it left me somewhat befuddled, and I wondered what other people would think about the situation.

I had read an ad for a camp position that would pay 3.5 million for about four weeks of work. I thought the position would be a good way for me to regain my teaching "rhythm" before I start my long-term position, (I'm returning to Korea after a graduate program) so I sent a resume to the listed e-mail address.

A couple of weeks later, I received a phone call at about 10 P.M. (U.S. time) from a recruiter who said he had looked over my resume and asked me if a camp representative could call to interview me. I said that would be fine, if he could call in the next two hours (i.e. midnight). The representative said the camp person would call be back within the hour. Well, midnight came and went, and as you might have predicted, no one called.

I thought that was rather unprofessional, but I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and two days later sent the recruiter an e-mail that I was assuming the interview was canceled since no one called. The recruiter e-mailed me right back, saying he had no idea that the camp person had not called me, that arranging summer camps tended to be rather hectic, and the camp was still very interested in me and would call me soon. The following day, a camp representative DID call and after a brief interview, in which he lauded the many virtues of the camp and the school franchise it was affiliated with (I got the feeling he might have been reading it from a piece of paper), he told me that he thought I was "right" for the position and would tell that to the recruiting agency, who would contact me. There was one thing that was a bit iffy: I had asked him if Sundays were a day off for the teachers, and he responded with "Uh, let me check on that," before quickly changing the topic (Actually, I had forgotten that the original ad had mentioned there would be a couple of hours of teaching required on Sundays).

Anyhow, the recruiter called me again promptly and told me that he was sending me the contract and I could ask him any questions before signing it and sending it back to him. A few minutes later, I received his e-mail, but it didn't have the contract attached to it. I wrote him and asked him to re-send it, which he did.

Looking over the contract, I realized that although the orignal ad had listed working hours as being from the morning to 4:20 p.m., in fact the teachers would also be taking in after-class activities that would not end until 9 p.m. or so. I was rather concerned, especially seeing that there was only one whole day off in the whole camp period (it was basically about 16 "full" days when you teach 6 hours and then do the after-class activities, 1 day off for an officialy holiday, and then about six "half" days when you teach 3 hours but it was left rather unclear if you had to do the after-class activities or not). All in all, it was rather different from my idealistic picture, where I would teach until 4:20 and then be free to do what I wished. The contract also specified that the teachers were required to sleep on the campground every night during the camp period, and if the teacher was unable to finish the camp duration, he would have to pay a 600,000 won fine on top of not being paid any part of his salary.

After reading the contract, I sent an e-mail to the recruiter saying that I was somewhat concerned about the working hours, but I would think it over and give him a final answer in two days. Within ten minutes of sending the e-mail, the recruiter e-mailed me back saying that he had just gotten a call from the camp organizers saying that they could not guarantee me a position until they had a better idea of how many students signed up for the camp. The recruiter added that he would certainly understand if I decided to find other employment.

I found the whole episode quite bizarre. More than anything, I'm rather glad now that I won't be participating in the camp, but I was rather curious what other posters would think if this happened to them. Any opinions or comments???

[rodneyc863]

Personally after applying for a countless number of camps along with going through recruiters as well as applying to the camps directly i rather deal with camps directly over the recruiter.

The entire episode is a bit bizzare and i wouldnt even consider it after wards. If i cant find someone to speak to that has a certain level of english that i can work with im really not intrested (you mentioned how someone read from a script?). And besides camps are hard work and you dont want to burn out right before your year long fun

[Hotpants]

I would accept that some camps can't confirm their quota of students until the last minute and it's possible that some might initially hire more teachers than necessary. Also, many camps over hire to try to protect themselves from a large number of teachers who back out of the camps at the last minute. Organizing a camp is a headache for everyone concerned. I wouldn't be surprised also at the lack of communication between camp organizers and recruiters.

I would also agree that you should deal with the camp organizers directly instead of a recruiter.

You can never know what exactly you will be signing yourself onto as far as an English camp is concerned, especially in view that you are not even in the country to go and visit the camp organizers in advance. All parties need to be flexible about the demands of a camp, and if you have cold feet about anything concerning the camp, as you did in your case, you should quite rightly not sign up in the first place.