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RLib
Joined: 17 Apr 2012
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 Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:25 am Post subject: Rejected from EPIK- was it my ethnic sounding name? |
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I have a very ethnic sounding name, Abu-Xxxxx. Professionally, I usually drop the Abu and just go with the Xxxxx- it dramatically increases my chances of getting callbacks for jobs. Really shitty, but whatever. With the EPIK application, I decided to use my full last name to prevent any confusion if I was offered a position and had to submit all of my materials.
I know not to take it personally when EPIK rejects you, especially considering they've already received 2,000+ applicants for 500 positions, and I also know that they have a thousand arbitrary reasons to reject someone. However, I am fairly confident that I had a strong application, and I'm slightly bitter that I wasn't even offered an interview. Maybe it's all in my head from years of having to deal with this shit, but knowing how EPIK seems to prefer very Caucasian applicants, I can't help but think my name & ethnicity was a big reason for why they rejected me. Or maybe they just rejected every tenth applicant they came across that day, or maybe they didn't like the shirt I wore in my picture, or maybe my application really was an awful piece of shit. I'll never know, really.
All that being said, I'm going to go the recruiter route. Should I revert back to using only the second part of my last name to increase my chances of being offered a position at a good school, or will it just cause a mess of problems if I'm offered a position and have to submit all of my materials? I know recruiters have an incentive to get you a position, but I'm concerned decent schools will see my ethnic name and turn me down, leaving only desperate, flailing schools for me to choose from. |
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Otherside
Joined: 06 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 5:14 am Post subject: |
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I doubt that was the reason the EPIK turned you down.
The government schools are one of the few employers here in Korea which are pretty much colour-blind. Over the years I've met many teachers in the government programmes that aren't white or have "ethnic" sounding names, or both. |
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Tyshine
Joined: 04 Apr 2011
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:15 am Post subject: |
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| Doubt it. At my orientation there were plenty of diverse sounding names. |
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The Sultan of Seoul
Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Location: right... behind.. YOU
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:01 am Post subject: |
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| Tyshine wrote: |
| Doubt it. At my orientation there were plenty of diverse sounding names. |
Agreed, have met hispanics, gyopos, abc's, black Americans and South African fellow teachers when I worked at epik.
Even..... a man from Birmingham once! 
Most likely reason to be rejected by epik these days sadly, is having experience and not fitting into the lowest wage bracket on the pay scale.
And applying for them through recruiters has always been the best option weirdly. |
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RLib
Joined: 17 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:04 am Post subject: |
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| The Sultan of Seoul wrote: |
| Tyshine wrote: |
| Doubt it. At my orientation there were plenty of diverse sounding names. |
Agreed, have met hispanics, gyopos, abc's, black Americans and South African fellow teachers when I worked at epik.
Even..... a man from Birmingham once!
Most likely reason to be rejected by epik these days sadly, is having experience and not fitting into the lowest wage bracket on the pay scale.
And applying for them through recruiters has always been the best option weirdly. |
Gracias, I'm perhaps being overly sensitive about the whole thing.
I was originally going through Teach Away, who said I was a strong applicant, and they didn't see any problems with my application or materials. But then they lost their official EPIK recruiter status. Educon offered to take their EPIK applicants, and I discussed with Teach Away whether it would be best for me to go through them or apply directly to EPIK. They said my chances were good either way-- although, that was before they knew how many applicants EPIK would end up receiving. I opted to have my materials forwarded to Educon, but after 2.5 weeks without hearing anything from them and not having my emails answered, I decided to apply directly to EPIK (my old Spring 2012 application was forwarded to Educon, so I'm fairly positive it wasn't submitted to EPIK).
It would have been one thing if I was rejected after the interview, but I'm really surprised I didn't even get that far. But whatever. Onward, or something like that. |
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aieshaapple
Joined: 23 May 2011
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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You'd be more likely to be rejected if you listed any medical problems over anything else.
Or if you did submit two different applications through different recruiters they will reject you as well. |
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hapigokelli
Joined: 04 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 1:13 am Post subject: |
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| That would be it. You submitted 2 applications, automatic rejection. |
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