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Recruiter charging for mail?
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icyx



Joined: 29 Jan 2009
Location: TORONTO

PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:04 am    Post subject: Recruiter charging for mail? Reply with quote

SUP DAVES
i've been talking to a few recruiters and recently a big red flag went up. One recruiting company (reputable, from what i've heard) is asking for applicants to send a 100$+ money order to them to cover 'mail fees outside of Korea.' They will pay the mail fees between Korea and America, and essent. imply that the settlement allowance from the public school which applicants later receive is meant to reimburse this fee.

is this legit? is it even typical? What are recruiters even sending that both DOESN'T go to Korea and costs 100$+ to mail?


Last edited by icyx on Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:13 am; edited 2 times in total
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wylies99



Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!

PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah, shady recruiters trying to charge some kind of fees to applicants. Don't pay it and please tell us who is trying to do this.
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pangaea



Joined: 20 Dec 2007

PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 2:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't pay them anything. You should never pay a recruiter anything for finding a job for you. They get fees from the schools they represent when they place a teacher. As for a $100 mail fee...???? What are they mailing? There shouldn't be any reason they need to mail anything between Korea and America. The school should be covering visa costs on their end and you will be covering the costs on your end - the only substantial cost I can think of will be the visa cost when you send/take your passport to the embassy in the U.S. This is definitely shady. And I second the request for the name of the recruiter who is asking for it.
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blonde researcher



Joined: 16 Oct 2006
Location: Globalizing in Korea for the time being

PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I assume the recruiter in question is working for EPIK and that is why they are requesting the $100 upfront?

If the recruiter is requesting that the applicant send the visa papers (Apostille CRC etc) to them in USA, so that they can hold on to them to get some security of the person staying committed to them), then the recruiter will have to later send the papers by Fed ex to Korea to get the visa . This cost is about $90 per package. I think that the recruiter would probably be able to send 2-10 peoples' papers to Korea at the same time, especially if they are for EPIK. (making the cost cheaper surely, but still a cost ?)

There is never a delivery cost to a recruiter for a hagwon or immigration placement as all that comes out is a computer number that can be emailed. so being asked to fund delivery for a hagwon is a bit of a cheek!

BUT- apparently if there is a notice of appointment (NOA) and contracts issued by EPIK, then EPIK make the recruiter responsible for paying for the Fed Ex or EMS delivery of these papers from Korea to USA.

Doing the math means the following :

EPIK fee paid to main recruiter for metro city such as Seoul or Busan is 900 000 won.
If the cost is split half with another recruiter ( example is Korvia have an agent in USA who brought in the applicant to start with )
- then the fee is 450 000 won each
Take away the cost of Fed Ex to Korea $90?
Take away the cost of Fed Ex/ EMS for the NOA to USA - $90

450,000 won minus 90,000 each recruiter =360,000 won

Then EPIK expects that the recruiter funds the cost and time of collection at the airport and delivery to the school - say 60,000 (30,000 each agent )

= 300,000 gross income to each recruiter without office costs involved. The same as the arrival settlement fee given free to anew EPIK arriver!

Work out the cost to the agents of organizing the paperwork with EPIK processing phone calls , arranging interviews, having the person pull out after papers are sent , and then the requirement to have to repay the fee if the teacher arrives leaves before 9 months, and it does not look like the profit is very much at all. (if any profit at all)
In fact it seems like a losing business to me ??

A main EPIK agent in Seoul explained these costs to me a short time ago and I was a little shocked as it seems like a loss leader to me to be carrying the EPIK jobs especially in Seoul and Busan.

Apparently most the EPIK agents do want to have the ability to be able to place teachers in the public schools, so they often take a loss on EPIK placements and make money on the hagwon placements where the average fee is 1.2 million and the teacher and the school pay for the Fed Ex and collection at airport most the times.

Apparently EPIK have even brought in a worse new rule this year:
That is - if the teacher does a runner at any time before 6 months then the recruiter has to refund the 1.3 mill won airfare entrance !!
Is anyone able to verify this new rule?

It would seem to me that a recruiting company -such as Korvia (working with another partner agent in USA for example ) would have place 4+ teachers in EPIK and have them stay more than 9 months, simply to cover the costs of one midnight runner before the 6 months mark!

Scenario: Pay back the 900 000 fee to EPIK for leaving early or provide another new teacher for free!
Pay back the 1.3 million airfare entrance for a runner 2.2 million total!!!

Any recruiters out there who can verify if what I have been told is correct for EPIK in 2010 ?
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wesharris



Joined: 10 Oct 2008

PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What recruiter was this mate ?
Make it interesting for them through others.
_+_+
Wes
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Manuel_the_Bandito



Joined: 12 Sep 2009

PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If there are enough desperate applicants they can charge it.
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big_fella1



Joined: 08 Dec 2005

PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 6:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Blonde, EPIK placements work on volume for the recruiter, 50 placements = w15,000,000. This covers 6 months salary for a staff member or 12 months when they con an F4 without a degree to be an intern for 1 year. This is assuming they have to split all of the fees which isn't the case.

Staff do other work on top of this, so it is still profitable. I would love to have a guaranteed w30,000,000+ client in my business.

As far as making recruiters responsible for airfare allowances, I think this stinks. I am no fan of recruiters, but everyone knows runners happen. The aim should be to keep this figure low, but you will always a have a percentage of runners with a program like EPIK, SMOE, or GEPIK. Transferring this program cost to the small guys is ethically wrong. Runners are an expense of bringing people to another country to work, like office rent or electricity. Having said that if it is true recruiters will have to look at their percentage of runners and if it's too high, they will leave the business.

The government programs shouldn't really need recruiters. But in Korea, everyone wants to have someone outside the organisation to blame when things go wrong.

To the OP, do not pay the recruiter anything, if they can't cover $100 to place you, then find a recruiter who can.
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TheUrbanMyth



Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired

PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 6:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

blonde researcher wrote:
I
Apparently EPIK have even brought in a worse new rule this year:
That is - if the teacher does a runner at any time before 6 months then the recruiter has to refund the 1.3 mill won airfare entrance !!
Is anyone able to verify this new rule?

?


This has been the case for years.
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wesharris



Joined: 10 Oct 2008

PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 6:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very interesting. This means that recruiters have an incentive to make sure that the employee is happy for the first six months.
Interesting.
_+_+
Wes
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shostahoosier



Joined: 14 Apr 2009

PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

wesharris wrote:
Very interesting. This means that recruiters have an incentive to make sure that the employee is happy for the first six months.
Interesting.
_+_+
Wes


Or it means recruiters have incentive to place as many people as possible, regardless of competence, to help soften the blow.

I guess the glass is half empty or half full Very Happy
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curiousaboutkorea



Joined: 21 Jan 2009

PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 2:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Name and shame, please
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The Goalie



Joined: 17 Nov 2009
Location: Chungcheongnamdo

PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is it possible that the blonde researcher is a Korean recruiter who has dyed his/her hair?
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icyx



Joined: 29 Jan 2009
Location: TORONTO

PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

THe recruiter is Teach ESL Korea. i e-mailed them a few days ago about the mailing fee, and they just got back to me with a roundabout reply. i call BS!!!
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Troglodyte



Joined: 06 Dec 2009

PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Blond Researcher. If the recruiters are earning such a low profit, here's a great solution for them AND the teachers. Take a hike. There ARE some good recruiters out there, but for the most part, they are all scum. They take advantage of the school AND the teacher. They will place any incompetent teacher they can, and they'll send a teacher to any hole-in-the-ground hogwan without checking up on either the teacher or the school. All that they care about is getting paid - quality be damned.

Do not pay any fees to the recruiter. They don't work for you. They work for the school. They schools hire them to find you. You are already making them money by signing a contract. You don't need to pay them anything (nor should you even consider it).
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wylies99



Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!

PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 11:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Recruiters always try to charge these kinds of fees to newbies because experienced teachers would never pay fees to recruiters. Don't pay the fees, OP.
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