Korean Job Discussion Forums

[purple_buddha]

......

[Roch]

Cool Sujin is a s!@#$y thingy that owns Brix Bar in I'taewon.

[purple_buddha]

I guess not. My gut feeling is to stay away though, as they want to pay your salary and not the school.

[inkoreaforgood]

[purple_buddha]

........

[livinginkorea]

I had an interview there a little while ago and they said the same to me about the payment. I was a little confused by that and it smelled fishy to me.

Anyway I didn't take the job offered and I still get the odd email from them advertising available jobs.

[purple_buddha]

The bottom (feeder) line here is: avoid this recruiting agency.

Something definitely stinks there, and it's not the dried squid or the kim chi.

[Ilsanman]

I work for them and they've never missed a payment, and actually been quite understanding in a lot of situations.

That's been almost a year now.

[purple_buddha]

Whether or not they missed a payment is irrelevant in my situation, as I am not comfortable signing two contracts: one with them and one with a prospective school. Additionally, there "way" of doing business (i.e., 3rd party payment) is illegal in Korea.

[Ilsanman]

If it's illegal, then you don't have to follow it anyways.

The law supercedes any and all contracts.

[Canucksaram]

purple_buddha,

I-Biztrip has been around a long time.

Their reputation is spotty because . . . it's easy to slander a person or a business in this Internet Age.

Internet anonymity emboldens people, so much so that it might soon become de rigeur for governments to try and enforce a "real name on the internet"-style of user protocol, such as the South Korean government is toying with.

Basically, in the world of grey-zone legality (which ALL Korean ESL recruiters are to be found) you form relationships based on first impressions, trust, and reliability. Some people working as teachers will get along with certain recruiters, while other such people will not; it's just like any other part of life.

When I was in Korea I worked for a handful of agencies and had always been paid on time and in full. I-Biztrip is among the agencies that I have worked for. I personally know of no person that has been screwed over by I-Biz, or any other agent, but of course the internet is rife with stories and rumours.

Once you've got your main job tacked down, do you really want to give up the chance to earn an extra 700K to 1.0 million won or more in "illegal" private lessons?

As for signing additional contracts with an agency, the truth is this: any contract you are asked to sign by an agent arranging a non-E2 job will NOT be legally binding. It is an acknowledgement of a "working relationship" and is a technique used upon the unsuspecting. Politely refuse to sign it, but tell them that you are ready to work.

But of course, here in the Land of the Steaming Morning Pile of Kimchi Vomit, even so-called legally binding contracts are routinely broken and dishonored by legit employers.

So why not go with the flow and get what you can get while the gettin's good?

[cellphone]

It's always nice to read "feel good" type comments, "let's be nice and not judgemental." Now let's be realistic.

First of all it depends on what your definition of "screwed over" is. Yes I-Biz will eventually screw you over, they are Korean and this is Korea. Their confucian values reign supreme and they WILL side with the schools.

Look at it like this: the schools are I-Biz's customers. They will screw over the day labor guy - you - and side with the school. What's even worse are the Canucks that actually put up with that and accept their fate!

I worked for them for quite awhile. There were little 60,000 won deductions here and there, "the school said that because you (this) therefore they don't want to pay for that" etc. etc. .... Keep in mind also that you are footing all of your expenses. If you have to make visa trips, air tickets are $300 a pop and be realistic, you will spend cash while on the trips, easily wasting $500 to $800 per trip. I-Biz, and Korea, obviously makes out like a king on this one. 4 trips per year, they don't pay a cent.

Calls at 10:25am "Hey can you make it to a class at 11 all the way across town? Yes? Oh thank you, you so nice teacher." Nothing later on when it comes time to reciprocating. You'll also notice that the jobs you get are crappier and crappier, further and further away, they stop giving the transportation fees, their attitude gets more distant, etc.

I agree with the last post, internet anonymity actually does allow for fantasizing. People come on here all the time and stick up for ruthless, senseless, hypocritical treatment of foreigners. So be realistic. A long while back I saw a comment on English Spectrum in a thread regarding I-Biz Trip. His comment said, "Just use them - work for them for about 3 months, get your cash, and put in a notice and get out. Because that's all they're doing to you." Trust me, I-Biz will burn you and leave you with NOTHING in the end. Oh yah, that Mike Kim guy (owner) is awful too. He's got some real nice Kindergarten E2 contracts that "you really like!"

[Ilsanman]

And with people saying things like 'just quit after 3 months' they're the bad guys????????????

[purple_buddha]

Canucksaram wrote: