Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kim Jong Jordan]

This man who is acting as my recruiter told me that I should just stick with him because using other recruiters would adversely affect my ability to find a job. I think this is BS and am using a number of recruiters in order to find a decent job. I have turned down a number of job offers already because they lacked various things such as paid housing and/or offered horrible hours like 6:30am - 10:00pm. I think that using a number of recruiters only create options rather than build concrete walls to employment. I suspect he was just trying to secure me as a "client" and didn't want to lose the potential finders fee associated with finding me a job. Am I right? Or, should I sit on my a*s waiting for this guy to find me a job, while ignoring other recruiters? I think I saw a similar post a couple of months ago but I couldn't locate it in the search.

[Son Deureo!]

[Nolan Ryan]

Hi!

Recruiters are more trouble than they are worth. They promise you the moon but fail to deliver the goods. Once they get their money from the school,they are finished with you. They help you acquire a job,and they receive their fee in return. Their job is essentially done! If they said, "we will find you a job and not help you with anything else",well,at least they would be true to their word. However, they add things such as
"we follow your progress",and "we monitor the schools that we do business with..." etc. Well, here's my rant...

I dealt with a few in my time.The first time in 1997,I was promised that I would be picked up at the airport by the recruiter and the owner. That didn't happen and here I was alone in kimpo airport waiting for two and half hours for somebody to come and at least show me where I was going to live. Welcome to Korea! A rep from the recruiting company came and the owner met me at Walker Hill....What class! The boss was a total *beep* who didnt speak a lick of English(contrary to what the recruiter said-"the owner is a fluent speaker of English and educated in the U.S.A). The hagwon wouldn't pass a safety/health inspection("you'll be working in a clean,newly constructed school") and I was the only English teacher there("you'll be working alongside of two other foreign teachers"). I was also promised by the recruiters,"a fully furnished apartment" but was given an unfurnished one room rooftop shed (what a dump!) that you see on top of villas. Given that it was 1997 and salaries were 1.3 on average,IMF,and facing a student loan, I was finally able to get myself out of that job after 9months.

On other occasions, I used other recruiters,just to see if I could get what's best for me..not for them! I was offered many a contract with many promises but when I asked them to send pictures of apartments and references of other teachers there,they refused. To me it meant that they couldn't deliver for me. I was giving them extra work to do,and squeezing their commission... they were totally unreliable! So, IMHO don't trust any of them! Do as I did, find the right job by yourself!

[chronicpride]

Use a recruiter for what they are worth. Access to a larger employment market. Even if they are only placing for 10 jobs. That's 10 jobs more than what you've got from looking on your own.

But don't expect anything more than an introduction. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Some recruiters do great post-placement service, some just drop you off at the school and scoot your butt in the door, and take their cut.

Don't look at a recruiter for the things that they say on a website or in an email, regarding quality assurance and post-placement assistance. Use them for their access to more gigs that you can't otherwise find. Thoroughly qualify the school, independently from the recruiter. Totally talk around the recruiter. Talk to the school as much as possible. The recruiter will still get his cut, if you sign, but don't let him get in the way of your qualifying of the gig. 90% don't know shit about ESL and what makes/breaks a school. They are salesmen and only know the surface product knowledge. Just enough to pitch you.

The only logical reason why someone would exclude a recruiter's access to the larger market, is because the teacher is a push-over and doesn't know how to say no to a hard-selling salesman, and they probably have a closet full of vacuum cleaners and magazine subscriptions back home.

Saying that you don't want to aim for the full field of opportunity, because the other team isn't playing fair, is laughable. A recruiter can be played like a fiddle, especially since we know what their real motivations are.

PS.

In response to the OP. The reason why he wants you to be exclusive to him is either,

1) You are a hot commodity. Young, North American, no picky hang-ups, handsome/pretty, smiling picture, etc..
2) The recruiter has a lot of the same gigs that rival recruiters have and he doesn't want to look like an idiot when he emails your resume/photo to a school, which may have also received your resume/photo from 5 other recruiters, and the school will think he is no better than the others, especially since he told the school how exclusive and picky he is in his overseas recruitment efforts. Schools hate getting the same packages of teachers from recruiters, and it reflects poorly on the agents.

Or a combination of both. My advice:

Hit as many recruiters as you can find. But don't send all in one email. If you put all email addresses into one mail and hit send, you just wasted a helluva lot of time. They don't respond to bulk emails. Send them individually. Once you email about 30-40, email them again, every other day until they respond. Don't let up. Be an absolute monster with the emailing. Make sure you have an eye-catching subject line. 'North American young teacher available ASAP', will catch their eye, amongst the hundreds of other subject lines that say 'resume', 'esl teacher for you', etc...

Don't hold out for any one. They aren't your friends and they show no loyalty. They have 50-100+ emails of resumes/photos in their inbox, and they are bulk-emailing anybody with a young smiling face from North America, with what ever asshat gig they are desperately trying to unload. Whoever says 'yes' first, gets it. And they want you to stand by and be loyal?

Be decidedly unloyal, unless you clearly have found a winner and has tangibly bent over backwards for you.

[eamo]

What chronicpride said.

Recruiters should only lead you to one situation; You and a school director sitting at his desk and talking about a contract. It's up to you when it gets to that stage.

[J.B. Clamence]

Exactly. Don't trust a school just because your recruiter vouches for them because, chances are, your recruiter would vouch for Pol Pot. Check the situation out for yourself.

[Kim Jong Jordan]

Thanks folks, these things are what I was thinking, its just nice to see them in writing from others.

Peace.

[McNasty]

One last thing in regards to using multiple recruiters.

Send them your resume and scanned copies of your necessary documents all in a neat little package. They really like that sort of thing since it is all prepped and ready to send to any and every available employer that they have on their client list.

This will open up many job opportunities for you to choose from and the best part is that you don't have to worry about them somehow processing your paperwork without your knowledge(some people send there originals simply because the recruiter is pressuring them).

Until you make a final decision on a job, the employer has given the nod of approval, and then you have signed the contract. Send your original documents after these steps have been taken not before.

I realize that some people will read this and think who could be so naive.
My answer to that is that it has been done in the past, and it will be done again in the future. Just trying to give people a heads up.

[Kim Jong Jordan]

Thanks Mcnasty, I value your good advice.

[chronicpride]

Good advice, re: planning your attachments. But in my experience as a former recruiter, I never once sent a teacher's scanned documents to schools, at any time of the process. Teachers would send these massive attachments, with scanned passport, degree, transcript, references, and all that jazz. But the only thing that doesn't hit the trash bin, is the photo and resume. You don't even need to bother with the cover letter.

In fact, teachers would often scan and email their degree, before they would send a picture. By far, the biggest request that I would ask of teachers in initial emails is to send their photo. Or at least a better photo. Don't just send the photo of you in your passport.

Schools want to see the photo first, and the resume, a distant 2nd. Many recruiters even send out bulk faxes of only headshots, with small comments written about each teacher. The resume will be sent later, if there is interest.

Frankly, save yourself the time and trouble, and only prep your resume and get a professional photo of yourself done. That's all they want, until you sign something. Then send the hardcopies of your documents in the courier with your signed contract.

Edit: Ah, I see McNasty's point, on sending the scanned copies in advance, via mail. Not a bad idea. I think it's unnecessary work and extra cost, IMO. The back and forth between school and recruiter is done in email, and will still ask you for your emailable resume/photo.

For the visa process, they just need the original or notarized degree, which has to be mailed/couriered. Immigration will take a faxed signed contract, as well as the recruiter can print your scanned passport off your email. So, technically, you are creating more work for yourself, that can be done thru email attachments, with exception to the final step, involving the degree.

[McNasty]

chronicpride,

[chronicpride]

If the picture was not there, I would check the resume for the photo. I would imagine most foreign recruiters would do the same, unless they had poor email management skills.

A Korean recruiter, especially a newb, will often overlook that teachers may have inserted their picture into the resume, and will take a quick look at the attachments, see that the photo file is missing, and ask you to send it.

It's hit and miss, I suppose. Frankly, teachers should cater their job hunt/application format to the whims and weaknesses of the avg. recruiter's poor email managment skills.

Have the picture in your resume, but also as an attachment. On this note, I've mentioned this in other threads, but I can't emphasize enough about the photo. Get as many photos as you can of yourself, in appropriate settings. Classroom settings. With children. You laughing with people. Etc...Some of the best resume/photo packages that I've seen, that blew the socks off of every director that I pitched to, had 3 or 4 attached photos of the teacher. It may sound corny. It may sound superficial and cheezy. But this is Korean hiring practices, not our Western traditional cover letter/resume. You must absolutely build your application email around your photos, not your resume. Your photo means SO much here. The photo will make or break your employability, not your resume.