Korean Job Discussion Forums

Ninjaniki · Joined: 05 Jul 2008

Has anyone used Woongjin Think Outside Recruiting? Is it a good agency? Has anyone ever had problems?

swigs · Joined: 20 Apr 2008

I have no complaints with them, they seem fine.

TBirdMG · Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Location: SF, CA, USA

Avoid. They pulled a bait and switch offer on me. Proposed a decent PS job, then strung me out and "introduced" really nice private institute position. 1.8 a month and only 30 hours a week.
Again: avoid.

Poemer · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Location: Mullae

I found my first position in Korea with them when they went by a different name. During my last job search I sent them a query outlining the type of job I was looking for and got no response. My assumption is that they are offering crap jobs and trying to prey on fresh meat.

jurassic82 · Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Location: Somewhere!!!!

I used them for my current job and was pretty happy with them. They were pretty straight forward with me but at the same time I was in Korea at the time and I knew how to get past all the BS a recruiter might throw my way. I feel they are for sure one of the better ones. They even attempted to keep in touch afterwards and have invited myself and others that have used them to local gatherings. Just be straight forward with them and tell them exactley what you want. If they try and jerk you around go somewhere else. Best of luck!

hossenfeffer · Joined: 07 Oct 2006

I worked with Jasmine at Think Outside and have no complaints. She got me more money than I expected and kept in contact with me after I arrived in Korea.

cdpak · Joined: 30 Dec 2007

Yeah, Jasmine hooked me up with SMOE as well.

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

Once again, who cares about one specific agency? Use them all, and take the job that is closest to giving you what you want. They are incompetition with each other to get you to come to Korea so they get paid, so let them compete!

m10z10n · Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Location: Orlando, FL

They did not release to me any info. on the school but otherwise they answered and guided me well. I think they're professional and carry a good name.

rayjoy · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Location: Dynamic Busan

I'm surprised to hear people had bad experiences with Think Outside. I had a great experience with them. First, they got me a job with EPIK. I turned it down. They got me a job with SMOE. I turned it down. Then I decided I wanted to go to Busan. I am now in Busan working for EPIK. I said from Day 1 that I wanted public school. I was never offered any positions that were private/hagwon.

Granted I didn't ask for a lot. I got the bare bones salary, I got my first choice of age (elementary) but my boyfriend didn't (he got elem too, as did 75% of the new Busan EPIK recruits). I just figured I could only expect to pick the type of school (public/private) and region/city and after that it was a gamble.

But yes, if you are just starting out, email a dozen recruiters! That's what I did and Think Outside was the best at staying in contact, setting up interviews, and getting us what we asked for. Make your recruiter work for your business!

Sody · Joined: 14 May 2006

The company used to be called NetKorea. Or NetKorea was a small recruiting company that merged to form Think. I know because an old friend of mine used to work for Net Korea and she was telling me how bad her job was. I think it is analogous to a bad hagwon. There are so many Korean businesses that do poorly or end up having really bad reputations and they simply close shop and open up an new business with a new name somewhere else.

On another ESL website they were rated along with several other recruiters and they got one of the worst reps. I wanted to post the link to that thread on this forum but the admin on the other site deleted the post. When I emailed him asking why he said it was bad for business.

I don't think any recruiter is bad, but many of them are dishonest and will cheat any chance they get.

You've got to be wise and well read about making the trip to Korea, because they will try and lie to you any chance they get. That doesn't necessarily mean they are bad people, it's a business after all. When you go to buy something at a store they aren't going to go out of their way to make sure you get the best price at most places. They want your money. Well a recruiter wants to sell you to a prospective school and they get money for recruiting you.

If you are new to the whole ESL industry in Korea and you must use a recruiter the best thing to do is to send your resume/cover letter with a nice photo to several recruiters and try and find the best job you can.

Once you are here and well established (learned the language a bit, learned how to travel to different schools, networked and gained teaching experience) then you don't have to use recruiters anymore and can find a job on your own which is 100 times better than using a recruiter.

daz1979 · Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Location: Gangwon-Do

Action Recruitment are the way to go. Fast, reliable, friendly with agents based in Canada, Korea and England that have been over here for years and know all about the pros and cons of teaching over here.

Korean based recruiter is called Lucy ([email protected])

But each to their own. I came here first with Kims Korea who I thought were great but others think are terrible.