Korean Job Discussion Forums

martinpil · Joined: 03 Dec 2008

Does smoe really check the proof of teaching letters if they are from institutions abroad....esp Japan seein as K and J dont like each other.
I mean if the letter was 5 years ago how would they check it to see if you really worked there or not?

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

They are now demanding mine from 13 years ago at a Korean school I don't even know still exists and that I do know was sold months after I left it.

martinpil · Joined: 03 Dec 2008

yes I read your other post, but do they check if you write your own letter? |Say you did work somewhere and only have 1 up-to-date reference/proof letter, you could write your own for the other, which wouldn't be a lie if you really had worked there, but would they check it?

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

I don't know about it concerning jobs outside Korea.

I had sent in what I thought was fairly good proof of employment early on, and I hadn't heard anything back from them on that specific item for many weeks, but now they are telling me it has to be an official Korean document designed for that purpose. They sent me a sample and told me to contact schools who will likely have little clue of who I am at this point...

martinpil · Joined: 03 Dec 2008

well you will just have to tell them then, or at least contact these schools first to see if they do know you. If not, then at least you tried and smoe might offer you something anyway but may drop the salary cos the proof is more to do with salary I think

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

Your case is interesting in light of everything.

They are asking for a specific type of document for previous experience in Korea, but what do they do about proof from outside Korea? How can they get specific with that to match what they demand of Korean work?

For my high school experience here in the US, I sent a scan of my contract.

What do they do about experience from the ESL market in China? Japan?

If a passport is not good enough official documentation for previous work in Korea, what are the demands on foreign documents?

----but --- things don't have to make sense...

martinpil · Joined: 03 Dec 2008

Dont know iggy mate, but I am going to scan an old contract like you did now that you've told me you did this and see what happens. It's just I dont have any letter AFTER the job to say I completed the contract, was brilliant, blah blah blah..

I mean people don't normally get this kind of information as this is a reference, but I suppose a statement of work completed afterwards you could get.

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

You might try old pay statements from the near the end of the contract at that school or old tax statements...

I looked for those from my hakwons days, but we hadn't kept them, and according to what SMOE wants now, it wouldn't have made a difference if we had anyway.

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

Hope your proof of teaching fake looks very Korean, is in Korean, and has the school's stamp on it.

Demophobe · Joined: 17 May 2004

zipper · Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 3:28 pm Post subject:

How about using a "Letter of Release" or "Statement of employment"? These are the documents giving from Korean schools when one finishes a contract. I used these for my current job, and I haven�t had any problems.

E_athlete · Joined: 09 Jun 2009 Location: Korea sparkling

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

E_athlete,

We're not talking about letters of recommendation but official proof of previous teaching experience...

At least for jobs in Korea, there appears to be a specific document for that and they don't seem to take anything else - or at least don't want to at this point in time - at least with me...