Korean Job Discussion Forums

sneale · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Location: Toronto

Hey there,
Has anyone out there ever heard about or worked with Foot Prints Recruitment? Any info you have, good OR bad, would be much appreciated!

If anyone has used a recruitment agency and had a good experience with them, could you please give me the name of the agency?

Same goes for the bad ones...which one should I stay away from?

THank you so much...it's really difficult trying to figure out which ones are sincere and which ones just want the $ they get from placing you!

some waygug-in · Joined: 25 Jan 2003

None of them are sincere, but they will sure claim to be.

Once you've signed the contract and they get their cash, that's the last you'll see of them.

keithinkorea · Joined: 17 Mar 2004

manlyboy · Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 5:16 am Post subject:

Yeah. I don't really understand what all the fuss is about. Use them for the intro, and if you like the place do the rest yourself.
My recruiter for my current job keeps calling me and asking if everything is ok, and is there anything they can do. It's nice of them, but I just don't understand why. Why would I want these strangers taking care of my business for me. Much rather do it myself.

bosintang · Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 5:44 am Post subject:

I voted "YES". There's no reason *not* to use recruiters, and a quick search at the job boards will show that you severely limit yourself if you don't.

However, treat recruiters for what they really are: job advertising services. Do your own research into a school after the recruiter sets up contact, and don't let them limit you or pressure you into anything you otherwise would not be willing to accept.

LandRover · Joined: 04 Aug 2004

I'm planning to go to Korea in January and will be using Footprints. From the research I've done and from talking to them I feel pretty comfortable about it. They seem to have a better reputation than other agencies. However I haven't actually come to Korea yet so obviously I'm also interested in any experiences anyone has had with them.

Demophobe · Joined: 17 May 2004

bosintang · Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 8:15 pm Post subject:

dull artist · Joined: 20 Jun 2004 Location: Osan

My recruiter was awesome. It was through Morning Calm recruiting, and not only did she hook me up, when I got here she invited me to party on the weekend and stay in her home with another person she recruited (it sounds bad, but it wasn't like that). I guess I lucked out because I've heard some amazingly bad stories about recruiters in general.

sneale · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Location: Toronto

Thanks for the advice... I am going to look into that Morning Calm one.

As for what do I expect from my recruiter...just that the school I am put in contact with is a reliable one and that the contracts that they help us get are honourable.

My problem is that I took that horrible Oxford Seminar ESL course, paid $800 for it and the job placement it promised. Turns out they just turned our name over to a recruitment agency in New Mexico. (I live in Toronto) so I was a little surprised and angered by this, especially after hearing all of the horror stories about shitty recruiters.

ANY WAY... I am really just looking to gather the names of a few agency that other people had good experiences with.

keithinkorea · Joined: 17 Mar 2004

Neale mate.

Look into the morning calm thing. My new job is being arranged by those folks. They seem helpful and pretty good. I had a load of idiots calling me before who were offering me jobs in Seoul that turned out to be in Bundang and Incheon which is not Seoul at all and not even very close. I was very picky about my location and that certainly hindered my job search with other agencies.

I'm flying out tomorrow so I'll see if it is bad or not, but Morning Calm have been fine so far. I'll post an update when I get to Seoul next week.

I found Morning Calm through monster.com, good luck in your search.

sneale · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Location: Toronto

Thanks a lot KenithinKorea!!

I am very interested to hear how it goes!! GOOD LUCK!!!!

sadsac · Joined: 22 Dec 2003 Location: Gwangwang

I have never used a recruiter personall, but I did recruit 4 teachers through Footprints and they were excellent. Smile

Ben Glickman · Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Canada

Granted- my opinion is biased- but to add my two cents to the discussion- not all recruiters are shady. As a recruiter, it wouldn't be in our best interest to introduce teachers to shady schools, because then we would get a bad reputation and quickly be out of business. Using the same logic, it is also not in our best interest to introduce shaky teachers to our clients- as they pay the bills and if we introduced unqualified/unstable teachers to schools that are paying for our services, we would also go out of business quickly.
In terms of recruiters just being an advertising service for jobs, I take issue with this argument. When a teacher applies to our agency and says they are working with multiple other recruiters or applying to many other schools, I put their file on the back burner- why waste our resources on someone who in the end probably won't sign a contract through us? We would much rather work with teachers that are commited to working with us specifically. Granted, it is the teacher's perogative if they want to submit multiple applications at the same time, but at least with us, we don't look favourably upon this.
Once a teacher arrives in Korea, personalities are different. Many teachers only contact us again if there is a problem, and that is part of our job as well- to try to diffuse any problems that may arise between our teachers and our client schools. For those teachers that need it, particularly first time teachers we can offer support in terms of lesson planning, advice on Korean culture, etc. Once a teacher finishes their first contract we can also help them with finding a job in Korea, or another country. So in summation, if a teacher simply wants a job through us, that is fine, but if they want further support, our agency, and I imagine others, offer it if it is necessary or wanted.

Kim Jong Jordan · Joined: 13 Mar 2004 Location: The Internet

Don't limit yourself to Footprints. Back in mid-August they told me I was "accepted" as a teacher to be placed and they sent me a couple e-mails notifying me of jobs in some towns. I told them to pass my file along, didn't hear from them for three weeks, found a job through another recruiter, e-mailed that I had found work to Footprints, and a week later they sent me more job offers. Ben was a really nice guy but I don't think he ever knew who I was nor read any of my e-mails. I contacted over 15 different recruiters and within a couple weeks had too many job interviews because they all wanted to talk to me at the same time every night. Give yourself options.