Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Prof5319]

I have recently applied and had an interview with a recruiter. It was my first experience interviewing for a teaching job. I have a BA, as well as a teaching certificate from my state here in the U.S. I was offered a job following the interview through an email that noted the various cities in which jobs were available. Also in the email was a paragraph detailing reasons for which an employment offering could be rescinded. I addressed this concern with the recruiter, it had to do with how many "F's" you incurred during your time in college. Their cutoff was no more than 4. As I detailed to the recruiter, my time in college was often marred by deaths in my family that took a severe emotional toll, where I had little concern at the time for my college career. Following my degree, I took certification coursework at an accredited university and did exemplary academically. When I received a reply to my concerns I was told that the schoolboards were strict on the academic guidelines and that the job offering was being rescinded.

My questions are such:
Is this a common concern in hiring teachers in Korea, or the decision of a sensible recruiter looking to secure the best candidate for their school?

Should the BA alone, regardless of academic performance suffice to get a job?

And lastly:
Should I have not addressed my concern to the recruiter concerning my academic performance at all, such that the detail would have been overlooked in my hiring process? Did I shoot myself in the foot?

Any help and experience you can lob my way will be greatly appreciated. I have always wanted to teach in Korea and believe I have the skill set to do so, regardless of what my transcripts say of my academic performance.

[YTMND]

[Stan Rogers]

Yes F is bad. You see Koreans do not have F scores on their transcripts.

[Ibsen]

I think your best bet would be to just not mention anything about grades or transcripts and see what happens. Out of all the recruiters I used, none of them were concerned with my grades from college. Just do the initial interview with the recruiter and if he/she presents you with schools willing to interview you, then just run with it.

[Son Deureo!]

This is the first time I've ever heard of an employer here even looking at the grades for their native-speaking teachers. It sounds to me like that's just the recruiter's policy, if he turns you down just contact some different recruiters. With your qualifications, you shouldn't have much trouble finding something here.

[Gorf]

If you actually meet an employer who cares about grades (I never have) then you should just avoid them, because you're going to be nickel and dimed and scrutinized and micromanaged beyond belief. Happened to a friend of mine for the same reason. "...but your grades weren't very good in school, so we wanted to make sure that you did blah blah blah" ad nauseum.

[Prof5319]

Thanks for the speedy responses from everyone. I had a feeling that I could get a job regardless of my college performance but it is hard when the first person tells you no and knocks your confidence down a bit. That being said, everything was a good learning experience, even being turned down for a job.

[Weigookin74]

[Stan Rogers]