Korean Job Discussion Forums

[itiswhatitis]

I have an interview for a public school position.

The interview is in person, every single job that I have had an in person interview for in Korea has been nothing more than a rubber stamp and I got the job. For my current position (a kindy in Gangnam) I thought that the interview (it was in March 2012) was going to be a REAL interview but all the director did was ask a few basic questions, ramble about how her hagwon is different from all the others (which it is not) and she told me I was hired.

Anyone had interviews in person these days for public school jobs????

Is it likely to a just a rubber stamp????

I'm a little concerned because my final day at my current position is August 31st and I am trying to get my new job sorted out.

I think it will be a rubber stamp because they advertised for the job last week (to have a September 1st start date!!!) and they insist on experienced teachers who are currently in Korea for an in person interview.

THANKS!!!!!!!

[YTMND]

Part of it depends on how you communicate your intentions. I went to one, showed 50/50 interest, and then said I wanted the job 2 days later. The recruiter was unsure thinking I wasn't interested at all and set up another interview with another teacher. Luckily, I had an email of the head English teacher (great person too) and explained I really wanted the job. She told me she wanted me to work there but I had to wait for the other teacher's interview to finish.

Will you get the same kind of teacher to help you out? Don't chance it. If you don't see a good reason to hold off, then show full interest. Ask follow up questions about anything the head English teacher says. Most likely, the principal (or vice principal) won't speak English, so you don't need to please them as much. They will be trusting the Korean English teacher's judgment. Basically, it's a checklist to make sure there won't be any problems. The difference is that a hagwon owner often speaks broken English and there will be confusion here and there. In the public school system, confusion means trouble. It means someone isn't doing their job.

Just make things easy to understand while the principal is around, don't ask or say confusing stuff. Ask them later in private with the English teacher. Keep it short and to the point. If you ask "Where" questions you can get an idea of how things are going. If they refrain from answering it might be a sign they aren't going to hire you. If they tell you exactly where to get things around town for your apartment, well, that is a good sign they have already approved of you.

[blm]

A lot of the evaluating will take place on a non verbal level.

[YTMND]