Korean Job Discussion Forums

[boyardee]

So��

I recently quit my afternoon job and have been looking for a new one. I finish teaching at my main job at a university by 1pm at the latest and was looking for a way to earn some extra cash without too much stress that wouldn��t have me running all over the city doing privates. After about a month of being quite choosy I finally ended up taking a job at a public school afternoon program—but the whole process has left me with a really bad taste in my mouth. I had interviews and was all but hired at a public school without a recruiter, only to have it fall through at the last minute because the new principal at the school already had ��a relationship�� with a recruiter. They apologized and said they could still hire me but for significantly less money than I had agreed to and for more working hours. I laughed and started looking for other work. Now, as has been discussed on this board before, agents cannot legally take a cut of your salary if you work for the public school system, so the agents ask you to sign two contracts and you give them your bank information and they send an agreed upon amount to your real account after they take their cut. I agreed to this kind of setup for this job because it��s just a second job for me; if things go bad I can just tell them to shove it. What I can��t understand is how this whole scam where principals are getting their cronies rich can go on so openly. I��m being paid 2.1 for 15 hours of teaching per week over 4 days which seems pretty good to me, but the school is paying me 2.4 plus bimonthly bonuses for enrollment . Nice racket for the retired principal who owns the recruiting agency. Does anyone have anything to add on this subject? How many of you public school teachers have this kind of agreement with an agent? Any thoughts? Also, those of you with PS jobs who did not go through a recruiter, how did you find your job?

Thanks,

BRD

[dandoeskorea]

I work an after-school program at a Public Elementary School in Incheon, but have had no such troubles. I think many are being put off the after-school route when they hear such stories, but there are some legitimate schemes out there, and as with any teaching job, you just have to be careful. I didn't go through a recruiter but am actually employed by the company who provide the after-school program to the school. My contract was with them, and as such they pay my salary, provide my housing and half my pension and insurance costs, paid for my visa-run, and will ultimately pay my severance and flight back home. Obviously they have their own arrangement with the school itself - proven by the fact that the school are my visa sponsors - but it doesn't directly effect me. All in all they're a very good company to work for and are actually well respected within Korea's after-school network (they provide a host of programs as well as English, such as computer classes etc). I also know that they are currently recruiting for positions like mine, but only in Incheon right now. Anyone who would like to know more or would like to get in contact with them is free to PM me.

[boyardee]

Thanks for your post. The last thing I want to do is turn people off the prospect of working at public schools. In my limited experience the public school thing seems to be much better than the hagwon scene. Actually, I think my employer is similar to the company that you are with--they set up the afterschool programs at a few different schools in seoul and I get my pay from them. The whole crazy spy vs. spy runaround buiness with a fake bank account was the only way I got the impression that this is illegal. Does anyone know for sure about the legalities of this? I'm just curious, not that concerned. The whole situation just makes me laugh more than anything.

brd

[granola]

i work at a public school after the hours of my university. i work 3 days a week for an hour for over 65, 000 won an hour. no hassles, great students, no recruiter.

[paperbag princess]

last year my public school recruiter made serious money off me. the school thought they were paying me double what i was getting.

next month i start at an afterschool program thru my uni, we'll be getting 45,000/hour. that's more like it!

[DallasTexas]

I'm trying to get the facts and figures on this recruiter "tuition bank account" thing. And I'm attempting to get the definitive answer on the legality of it all.
These recruiter kickback schemes seem to turn up pretty routinely....anyway I'm trying to write an editorial for an English editon.

Want to let me know what recruiter and what school? Or remain anonymous and just give the details of exactly how it works. Can you view your bank account and see where the money goes? Does it go only to the agent or to more than one person? Any details are appreciated.
You can PM me....
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=54384&sid=e997946969c3973d9bad748af55f80c7

[boyardee]

DT,

I pm'd you.

[Cheonmunka]

DT: Why are you still trying to find out. It's been a while.
I pieced his all together about a month ago.
For the public school, tuition bank accounts are not illegal. In fact, the ED dept insists that payment is only made to teachers. That's their system.

What we could be saying is why not school pay the teacher and the teacher pays the recruiter. Rather than the recruiter getting involved. But, that system is not illegal. Not for tax either.

But, personally I think it is a terrible system and a terrible flaw in the bureacracy.

BTW: There's no reason on opening an account not to facilitate internet banking. Then you can see everything you want to see.

[DallasTexas]

[Cheonmunka]

There is much more to this than meets the eye...

First, the Seoul Metro Govt is subsidized by another Govt body to put English teachers into schools. They themselves receive a fair bit of money to run programs and some of this is trickled down to the teacher. There is GEPIK, EPIK that run the same.
Some private groups run programs but do not receive a government subsidy to do so. They are the ones that cannot be paid directly by the school so request bank accounts etc... (I wonder if the schools need to pay additional money to the goverment or to programs such as GEPIK.) I heard that they do.

Anyway, these independent groups are competition with govt funded ones. But, both of them act in the same way. They receive that very same money from parents and/or taxation. But, there is in all cases, including the GEPIK, EPIK, a middle person. What's more, I'm sure I read the SMOE also run programs, which makes them the middle people, too.

With most of the independent programs parents know that there are recruiter types in the middle, because they (the parents) deal with them when enrolling their children in the programs. With Govt sponsored programs most of the money is paid by a govt body. For some reason some schools don't opt for the sponsored program and go for the independent programs. I don't know why. Maybe they feel some programs like GEPIK are not as competent? Maybe there's a kick back issue.

And after all is said and done the bank account thingies are not illegal. Which is what the whole dilemna was about originally.
Further, I would suggest that Seoul Metro etc have a vested interest in keeping the status quo, too. Actually because it enhances their own field capacity. Their ability to run the program glitch free. It could be the independents that have a harder time.
As such, they may be harder working.

I'm not a apologist? for shady recruiters and shady tricks. There are likely some real cats who deserve to go down. But, there are also some really incompetent people at these govt programs. They should also be culpable.
I think the basis is sound for independents. They should be allowed to compete against this monopoly.

I think you should research a lot more before putting this into papers. There are innocent people involved that don't deserve to be made an example of. I've only heard the tip of the iceberg from program organisers like after school programs. If you talk to them and hear their stories you may be less willing to believe at face value all that SMOE or other organisations let you know. There are a lot of hidden agendas and half-truths also within govt sponsored organisations.

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