Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Clo]

Hey guys, Just had my first phone interview with a school and am really unsure how it went?

The interviewer only asked if had any questions about the school, which I did, and why I wanted to move to Ulsan. However she didn�t ask me any other questions. I have had loads of experience working with kids, but the opportunity to tell her never arose. The call itself was only +- 5 min.
Can you tell me how this compares with your phone interviews??
Should I perhaps and have just told her all about myself even though she didn�t ask??

[Milwaukiedave]

I'd say don't worry about it. Keep applying to more schools. I remember having some interviews like that.

[Big Mac]

I think that's pretty normal.

A lot of the time the directors are too shy to speak English on the phone for any more than a few minutes. They just want to see if you can speak English with an accent they can understand.

I've also found that they rarely care about your qualifications, as long as you have what you need to get a Visa.

The last hogwan I worked at had a kyopo (a Korean who was raised in the States) as the director. He spoke perfect English without any accent. He did the phone interview, and it was more like a real one. It actually surprised the hell out of me because I was used to directors who couldn't speak much English. It ended up being one of the reasons why I took that job. I figured it would be much easier to work for someone who I could easily communicate with. I was right.

[MattC23]

Generally speaking interviews are conducted by people with English skills, virtually none will have much in the way of HR training.

That results in some pretty strange interviews. Don't let it influence you too much either way.

[poppydaisy]

Remember, you're interviewing them! If they don't have questions, fine but ask all that you want to know about the school to see if you even want to work there. At my former school, the owner told me when she interviewed with me, that she felt like she was the one being interviewed and not the other way around. Good Luck!

[Chris_Dixon]

email someone who works there, and ask your questions....my interview was as i drove home from work on my cellphone, i think its just a formality....

[FixedGearJerk]

Being completely niave to the interview process, I went into my first interview ridiculously overprepared (not that it is a bad thing). I tried to think up all the possible questions they would ask me and all the questions I could ask them. When that first interview ended, I was baffled. I was never even asked a question, the interviewer was basically just throwing out his entire English vocab and it was barely comprehendable. The interview didn't last more than a few minutes and it just went around in circles, with niether of us really understanding what the other was saying. It was painful, but at the end of the interview he asked me how soon I could get to Korea. I told him I would have to think about it, and he said, "ok, you come to Korea". . . this is how many of my interviews ended actually. The big question was, how fast can you get to Korea.

I did a lot of interviews, and a lot of them were not much better than what I described above. In the end, I went with the school that had the most professional and well spoken interviewer. She asked me reasonable questions and I was given the oppertunity to do the same. They also put me in contact with a current foreign teacher. It ended up working out great, the school is treating me just fine.

My advise is to do a lot of interviews, they should be flowing in. Don't over think it, if you screw it up there will be a million other chances. Also, remeber that they need you more than you need them, so even if you really do screw it up, they will probably offer you a job anyways. Take your time and don't rush into anything.