Korean Job Discussion Forums

[saywhatyousee]

Hi

I'll try and keep this short. Decided I wanted to teach in Busan - emailed recruiters etc etc + I have a CertTESOL.

Someone from RBI started to email me straight away with jobs and BEFORE he had spoken to me sent my details to a school. I did eventually have an interview with the guy from RBI who seemed pretty genuine and he organized the time for the interview with the school.

This is the strange part: instead of speaking to a principal/director I spoke with one of the current teachers first (I really nice guy who had been there 3 years+). So afterwards I'm waiting for another phone call from one of the directors and I get an email from the agency telling me I have the job.

All the usual things to be careful about for a noob I think I've covered - pictures of apartment, spoken to other foreign staff, schedules etc etc AND the school have said that they will pay and book the flight for me.

I've tried searching for the name of the school here and on google and cant find anything about it at all.

Am I worrying over nothing or does this all seem slightly wrong that I can't find any info on the school and I haven't spoken to the director??

Any advice is appreciated.

[Arthur Dent]

Directors often are not directly involved in the hiring process. They are above it. Also, the director may not speak English. Keep your radar on anyway though!

[saywhatyousee]

Thanks for the reply,

Everything else seems on the up and up - nice pictures of the school/apartment etc

It just seems like I got the job via an interview with another teacher ??!?

I almost feel put of that I might have got lucky with a half decent job from a recruiterin Korea.

They are paying/booking for the flight themselves as well....

[Arthur Dent]

Good that they are taking care of the flight for you, but make sure it is a return flight. Either that or make sure they reimburse you for the return flight whether you stay more than a year or not. It should be in your contract. They may not do that until after six months have passed or until you actually leave the school at the end of a year. In that case it should be along with your completion bonus.

Some schools have their teachers take care of the hiring for them. It can be a good sign but not necessarily. You'll know soon enough. Is it the teacher you are replacing?

Double check your flight details as well. Do it through the airlines, don't trust whatever they send you.

What kind of school is it? Where?

[VanIslander]

[saywhatyousee]

Hi

Thanks for the advice.

- The teacher I spoke to is staying there, prob for the long term. Someone else left.
- Good point about the return flight, the contract does state 'round trip airfare'
- I haven't got any flight details yet, the only person I've had contact about flights, start times etc is the recruiter at RBI. It just still seems strange that the recruiter confirmed that the school wants me yet they haven't really bothered to get in contact at all. I've emailed the teacher I spoke to and he was reassuring but something seems slightly odd about the whole thing.
- Its a Hagwon in Busan (Hwamyeong) the pictures of the place look fine, kinda like the set of Yo Gabba Gabba...

[Arthur Dent]

Recruiters will rarely do more than the absolute minimum for both the school or the teacher. It may depend on the relationship between the school and the recruiter. Trust is at a premium here, when it is available at all.

Some suggestions: Do you have Skype? If the teacher you have been dealing with also has it, you could try setting up a time to speak with him face to face. You may get a better sense of things this way, if it is possible. I wasn't clear on how the interview took place.

I haven't been on the site for some time but there is a Busan site that used to be called the Busan web Ring. Perhaps you could look there for more information. People with more knowledge of Busan can chime in here for more information.

You could also try starting another thread (or look for more information on the oft criticized search function here on Dave's) with a more specific subject title, such as "Looking for Information on Busan."


Van Islander is correct that no news is good news. Not a guarantee, but a good sign.

Try to communicate privately with people if you can. If it is a good hagwon - as far as that goes - you don't want to sour the deal by posting suspicions on public forums. This may be a bit of a long shot but better safe than sorry. I see from your post count that you cannot yet PM. I would suggest joining some conversations that interest you - but not uselessly as the mods don't like that (neither does anyone else) - to get your post count up. This way you can PM. Again, don't abuse this.

Nothing you have written so far provokes a lot of suspicion for me. Unless you have more specific concerns, I would look for information directly from those who have worked there.

Three years at the same school - especially a hagwon - is a fair indication of a well-run school. They are trusting this same teacher with the interview process which is another good indication. Never easy to know exactly what is going on though.

You don't seem to have posted your contract on the contract thread. That might be good idea. Be sure to remove all personal details including the schools details. You don't absolutely have to though. You could simply go through a few contracts already posted and the advice offered and then compare it to yours. For any details or questions you might have, simply refer to the specifics. People on here will have more patience for that, and it will make things a lot simpler. That is, if you haven't done this already.

Keep in mind that contracts are thought of as guidelines here to a large extent. When you do arrive, never say yes to anything extra until you are absolutely certain of what the various conditions are.

I must confess I have no idea what Yo Gabba Gabba is without cheating.


Good luck.

[broonie30]

Good advice on all the above. This is my second time in Korea and both times I never spoke with a director so don't worry about that. I have had 2 friends come over to Korea with RBI and by all accounts they are great at keeping in touch and sorting out any teething problems. I almost went with them the first time, spoke with Don who was great and really helpful so think your in good hands!

[saywhatyousee]

Again Arthur thanks for all your words of wisdom - much appreciated. I felt like I had done enough research on teaching in Korea and all the problems that are inherent with it. So the slightest deviation from the 'typical' procedure has thrown me. Maybe I'm jumping on the slightest detail to create doubt in my mind - that's why I've been reluctant to post the schools name as everything is probably fine.

Thanks Broonie - Don was the recruiter and he did seem to be one of the most professional that I spoke to.

I've sent all my documents to RBI so I guess I'll wait and see what happens.

[blackjack]