Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ironclad80]

I just found out my old teaching director is giving me a bad reference and therefore costing me job opportunities. When they ask the stereotypical is he "energetic/active" question she is apparently saying something quite contrary and it is costing me jobs. Ironically, I was never even observed teaching an elementary class and I know I was very well liked by my students.

My teaching director was pretty much loathed by every person that ever worked for her but I still I thought I left on good terms. I even bought her a gift on the last day to show there were no hard feelings despite some disputes we had.

There are laws against this sort of thing in the U.S. and someone told me there are similar laws in Korea mainly to protect schools (i.e. the black list). I know the law is on their side but is there any measure I can take or at least threaten to cut the nonsense?

[PastorYoon]

Sounds like she sucks pretty bad. I haven't bought anyone a gift here in two years. I learned that lesson in my first year. Good luck on finding something.

[ironclad80]

she's bad. real bad. i don't think there is a soul out there who truly likes her.
you're right about gifts, but i suspected something like this might happen (not because of my performance but because of her personality) so i thought a gift MIGHT help. apparently it didn't.

i'm gonna climb the ladder and try to get a reference from those above her. the president of the whole chain was a heck of a nice guy, i wonder how he'll feel about this. i have a friend on the ground in korea who was closer to him than me who is going to approach him about it this weekend.

i'm not going down without a fight.

[jrwhite82]

Your best recourse is to stop using her as a reference. It will be awfully hard to prove that she said those things about you. Because neither your new employers or her will admit to asking or answering those questions.

[ironclad80]

i didn't intentionally request she be one of my references. they saw my resume and my recruiter gave them the number of my hagwon's branch.
i was a little worried she'd say something rotten, but thought "nahhh" she's not THAT bad, now i know she is indeed.
like i said, from now on, any reference will be someone at the head branch of my hagwon who knows me. i can't hide the fact that i worked there. it will come up later if i were to get a job, especially a public school job who works with the government.

[jrwhite82]

Oh, they are contacting them on their own.

Well then yeah, your best bet is to include a contact name and number of someone who you know will give you a good reference.

You probably already know, but you should ask someone in advance that you'd like to use them as a reference. That way they aren't getting blindsided by people calling them asking about someone they haven't spoken to in months.

It doesn't even have to be someone you worked under or directly with. If there was a teacher at the school who you got along with well, you could use them.

[Koharski]

Being discussed in the other thread you started about this situation:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=204027

Please do a search for your topic before reposting.

Koharski