Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kara_gina]

What have your experiences been with Longbridge Pacific? I haven't applied with them yet. I initially applied to 3 different recruiting agencies, but am only in contact with 2 of them, the third one never got back to me. The job offers I'm getting are either few or really don't appeal to me. I know I shouldn't be throwing myself out there to lots of recruiters, but tempted to sign up with Longbridge Pacific. Any advice?

[air76]

Why not contact a whole bunch of recruiters? The more options you have open the better. You don't want to put all of your eggs in one basket.

I think that for the most part the majority of recruiters are a pain to deal with....I am sure that there are a handful of great recruiters who really work to get good deals for prospective teachers and really listen to what you want, but in my experience 90% of recruiters simply email you back lists of the jobs that THEY need filled at the moment.....you have to be firm with your recruiter, if you ask for something and he/she immediately tells you that the school says no, it is entirely possible that the director wasn't even contacted.

Most recruiters will also send you terrible contracts without telling you what clauses need to be fixed....do your research on Dave's to find out what the general problem clauses are and make sure that they are fixed to your liking before you sign.

Remember that back at home recruitment agencies of any type recognize that although the hiring business is their client, that the prospective employee is their product and needs to be taken care of as well as the client. In Korea this fact is not recognized. The recruiter is working for the school and you need to negotiate with them and not trust that they are looking out for your interests.

Even working with a foreign recruiter isn't a 100% sure bet, remember that the vast majority of those recruiters are "retired" teachers who may have zero experience in the recruiting business or business in general. One dude I talked to over the phone (can't remember the agency) sounded like he'd just crawled out of some swamp in Mississippi and needed to be enrolled in English classes instead of recruiting teachers to give them.

[kara_gina]

thanks A LOT for the advice! that's exactly what I wanted to hear! I'm definitely going to consider other recruiters now. I had read that if you sign with a lot of recruiters, you get a bad name from the schools as they might all be sending your info to the same schools.

thanks a lot for clearing that up! great advice!

[expat2001]

[kara_gina]

thanks for that info!! I've actually never heard of going through the bigger schools. I've looked up the CDI website and I'm quite interested to see more of these schools, can you recommend some?