Korean Job Discussion Forums

[keetrainchild]

I don't know if anyone remembers my topic from a while ago, but it seems that, despite my problems, I may very well return to Korea. I think that I found a good recruiter for the public school system. They are a western-based company, and they seem very professional. Everything seems to be going well, except for the reference from my previous Korean employer.

From my point of view, they were a bit inept. Well, maybe more than a bit inept. Unfortunately, they also fired me before the end of my contract with obviously exaggerated claims, so I'm a bit nervous of what they might tell my prospective new employer. I just told them the old school's address, so now I'm bracing myself for whatever might happen.

I am prepared to enter Korea again with a better understanding of the culture and what I should expect, as well as how I can relate better to my school and students, and I'm trying to be optimistic. Does anyone here have any suggestions or ideas that might mitigate the difficulty? I'm fully prepared to explain my perspective, naturally, but I really don't know what will happen.

[PigeonFart]

Asking for references from previous employers is still popular in the Western world. However, Occupational Psychologists and Human Resource researchers have continually shown that references have a very low level of predictive validity.

In other words, they're not good at predicting how a person will perform on the job. All references show is that someone has friends.

When you think about it, you're asking someone that you don't know to tell you about someone that you don't know. Waste of time if you ask me. Especially in Korea when in lots of cases a disgruntled foreign teacher often has a genuine case to kick up a fuss (contract not being honoured), yet that will be construed by the employer as an example of an unruly teacher.

[afsjesse]

I don't think you have anything to worry about. Since you didn't finish the full year, you will only come in as a Level 3 EPIK (assuming you're applying to them). Unless you have some other qualification.

Have you provided letters of referece yet? Copy and paste is your best friend. Or just have an ex employer/professor do it. I had my coteachers do it and it was fine.

Just set sail and all will be well.

Cheers,
Jesse

[ChinaBoy]

I had my old hagwon spread a bunch of lies about me when the recruiter called them. Even lied about the dates I worked (which could be proven by IMMI). Recruiter never called back.

Good luck.

[keetrainchild]

That is what bothers me, though. GEPIK says I'm only level two, even though I:

Have a B.A. degree in English
Tutored English as a second language for two years at my university
Taught high school French in the U.S.A. for one school year
Taught EFL in Korea for just short of one year (because my employer didn't want to pay severance)

[Ramen]

[SharkDiver]

I had a problem with a previous employer and I simply told the recruiter for my new job that the previous company had gone out of business because the owner was an incompetent business person. He asked the name of the company and I just said it was some difficult Korean name that I couldn't really remember accurately. He bought it. For good references I just used colleagues.

[keetrainchild]

[Young FRANKenstein]