Korean Job Discussion Forums

[vchampea]

So, do most of you leave all non-teaching experience off your resume? I was just thinking, if these recruiters care so little about my experience, maybe it would be better if I cleaned up my resume so that they just see what they want to see. If I did that it may be more attractive, but it would look like I have big employment gaps. Right now I have my resume divided into "teaching experience" and "other experience." I do have other teaching experience, by the way, but it's all volunteer. So that's what I have under my teaching experience section. All my other jobs are under "other experience" so whoever is looking at my resume can skip over that part if they want to.

[Warhammer820]

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. I have a gf in Thailand that I have been with for a little over two years. Thailand is still my first choice next year, but I use this website because Korea is my second choice. If you do make it to Korea, tell me how it is.

[vchampea]

[Warhammer820]

[vchampea]

[Warhammer820]

[vchampea]

Apparently everybody was wrong about the experience in Thailand. It seems to be helping me out a lot. I didn't mention before, teaching was not the only thing I did in Thailand. I did an internship at a Buddhist temple for 3 months while I was still in college. Then I went back after I graduated for my own independent study on Thai language and Buddhism. I also tutored a monk in English several times per week. It wasn't until my third time going to Thailand that I actually got an official teaching job, which, as I said before, only lasted a couple of months because of my terrible employer. Maybe it's not the 2 months of teaching experience that is so attractive to employers, but just my general international experience.

I just applied to Korvia last weekend, on Saturday. I felt bad because after I submitted my application I checked back at this forum and everybody was telling me leave my experience in Thailand out of my resume. I was completely honest with Korvia. I mentioned my 2 months of teaching experience and at the bottom in the "comments" section I explained that I had an unstable employer in Thailand and that's why it was so short. Apparently they didn't have any problem with that because I got an email this morning asking me if I can do an interview in the next few days. I was not expecting to have an interview anytime soon so I am a bit panicked. I'm going to try to read as much as I can about interviews today. But I know if I read to much I'll be too self-conscious during the interview. I sure am excited!

[Warhammer820]

[nickwils]

I've just read some more of your post, you should change that 2 months to at least a term (4-5 months) and explain that unlike Korea some schools hire by the semester. Job done.

Unless you are working for EPIK your references, if you have them, will never be checked anyway.

Honesty is not always the best policy in Korea.

[vchampea]

I just had my interview with Korvia. I felt that it did not go very well. My internet died 20 minutes into the interview and I couldn't get it working again for another 30 minutes. The recruiter still called me back about 1 hour later and we finished the interview.

She asked some questions I was not ready for. I guess I was a fool to forget such a basic question. She simply said "Tell me about yourself." It's so general that I forgot to consider that I would be asked this. I had a hard time with that question.

We did discuss my experience in Thailand. Since I was completely honest on my application, I was also honest about it in the interview. She said it probably will not be an issue, but it sounded like she was lying. I'm considering changing that for the next recruiter I apply to. Korvia finds teachers for EPIK, so it's probably best that I was honest about what happened in Thailand because they may check. But as you said, other recruiters probably won't check. I think it would be better to make up some kind of lie.

Generally I didn't like my interviewer. She was so fake. Everything I said she responded "Oh, really? Yeah? Yeah?" I felt like it didn't really matter what I said. Her reaction would be the same. She said she will email me tomorrow about whether I've been selected. The next step would be to interview with somebody from EPIK. So I'll post tomorrow about the results.

[nickwils]

Fake? They are sales people and sales people are indeed fake. Don't worry about it.

I hope you've just sent your CV to every recruiter listed on Dave's and then wait for them to get back to you. Don't just use one, use as many as you can. Alter the xperiecne section and just style it out.

Were you at a public school in Thailand? Were you working for a company called Media Kids?

Ajarn.com has a good section on interview questions, use it.

[vchampea]

Well, I guess I should expect them to be fake, but it was just so obvious. The other guy I talked to from RBI actually... well talked to me.

I've sent my resume to a handful of recruiters. Since I got immediate responses from two of them already I thought maybe I should apply to too many recruiter because I'll be flooded with responses.

I forgot to mention. The recruiter from Korvia recommended I do and online TEFL certification before I go. I've read that employers don't really take online certifications seriously. But here a recruiter from Korvia is telling me I should. The reason she's told me I should get the certification is because I want to work in Seoul or Busan. She said in order to work in Seoul I need to be at "level G" (These are new terms to me). According to the documents she emailed me, Level G means:
One of the following:
Bachelor�s degree in Education
Bachelor�s degree in English, English Education, English Literature, or Linguistics
Bachelor�s degree in any discipline plus one (1) full year of teaching English
Master�s degree in any discipline
currently valid elementary or secondary teacher�s certification
TESOL/TEFL or English Teaching Certificate comprised of a minimum of 100 course hours

For me, the quickest way to become "level G" would be TEFL certification course.

Does anybody know if these online certifications are worth anything? I don't want to waste my money on it if employers don't care.

[vchampea]

I forgot to ask, what are the routes to getting a public school teaching job? Is EPIK the main source or are there others?

[ttompatz]

[vchampea]

Well, if Korean employers will pay me 100-200k per month then it's worth it. The online certification is only about $200-$400.

My questions are getting off topic so I've started a new post. I think I've got enough advice about my resume now. Thanks for the replies