Korean Job Discussion Forums

Mr Lee's Monkey · Joined: 24 Oct 2007

Has anyone ever lost a job over rumors or allegations that were unsubstantiated? Ever been given a good reference on paper but gotten a bad one from the same director? Is there a shit list of foreign teachers circulated among recruiters and hagwon owners?

Moondoggy · Joined: 07 Jun 2011

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

Mr Lee's Monkey · Joined: 24 Oct 2007

Thanks, Ttompatz - I'd heard there were lists among hagwon associations, and those were the ones I was curious about. I can see that if someone does something "wrong", they would deserve to be on a list with a govt program or agency, such as immigration.

I once completed a year's contract and got glowing references on paper. I went to the pension office and requested my refund, and while I was there it was discovered that the director for whom I'd finished working had reported my wages as 800,000 won when they were actually 2.4M monthly. He had made deductions based on the 2.4, but paid them to the pension office based on 800,000. The pension office got me my full refund and I think the director might have been fined. In any case, when the director was subsequently called to provide a reference - despite what he'd written when I finished the contract with his school - he tanked all possibilities with the prospective employer.
A person could end up on a hagwon shit list without having been a bad employee or teacher. I didn't want to lead the question initially, but I can't imagine I'm the only one who has had this kind of experience. I was hoping others would share some of theirs, and help to make it clear to people thinking about hagwon work and thinking about how not to get fired, etc, that hagwons are a crap shoot and the notions we bring to Korea surrounding work and job security can be very misguided. Telling these stories might be helpful, I think.