Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel! In my previous video, I kind of talked about the
timeline and the process of finding a [hagwon] job. I kind of discussed the documentation
that you need, the qualifications and just the step-by-step process. Today, I'll go a little
bit more into how to find a recruiter, what to expect when talking to them and also what
questions you might be asked in the interviews with your recruiter and with your school.
When starting the whole process the best way to go about it is to find a recruiter. So you
can either go through recruiters to try and find interviews with jobs who are looking for
teachers or you can go direct, as well. I went both ways - so I started off with recruiters
and then I actually got told about a job from a teacher who was working at a school. And so
I got in touch with her school and set up an interview that way as well.
Schools also post to job boards, the same job boards that recruiters do, so you can all kind
of go to one place to find both options. So there are two websites that I used: they were
Dave's ESL cafe and ESLrok. Pretty much schools and recruiters post job listings and you can
email the recruiters or email the schools. There are a few things that you'll want to include in
your email. Pretty much just make it a bit like a mini cover letter. So briefly talk about yourself,
what degree you have and why you're interested in teaching English in South Korea. Then go into
what location you're looking for, what hours you might want to work. So generally two kinds
of shifts that most hagwons have - most of them will have the morning shift which is usually like
your general like 9-5, 9-6 type shifts and then there are also ones in the afternoon, evening. And
also talk about what documents you already have on hand. Things you might want to include would be,
you know, saying that you have your degree and your criminal background check apostilled. Those
are kind of like the time-consuming bits so if that's already done then that's perfect and you
definitely want to add that into your email to let your recruiters know. I talked a little bit about
the exact documentation and qualifications that you might need in my previous video, so I'll link
that below. Honestly, I sent out emails to around like 15 to 20 recruiters - not all of them will
get back to you - so yeah just bear that in mind. So once you do hear back from some recruiters
they'll likely ask to set up an interview with you that will usually be over like Skype or Zoom.
And those are just kind of like interviews to get to know you a little bit better. Things that you
might expect them to ask: they'll usually, you know, just confirm the information that you told
them in your email, they will also probably ask you some scenario-based questions. So just like,
how you would deal with a student who is disruptive, how would you deal with a situation
where you might have a disagreement with a co-worker, like that kind of stuff. They might ask
you, you know, what is your teaching style? And if you've never taught before, that can be a bit of
a daunting question. But that's why I definitely recommend doing a TEFL, CELTA or TESL certificate,
because if you've never taught before it is very very helpful in terms of, you know, learning what
your teaching style is and also, you know, how to handle situations in the classroom. If you're
going through the EPIK program you absolutely need to have that qualification or at least, you know,
like a degree in education. With hagwons you don't necessarily need it, but you know, you are going
to be teaching a classroom of students and you want to be as knowledgeable and as helpful as you
can be, so getting this qualification is probably in the best interest of yourself and the students.
Those are kind of the questions when doing a recruiter interview, it really is just a kind
of like get to know you interview. My first one I was obviously very nervous because it's the first
one and I didn't really know what to expect but the more you do it, the more confident you become
and the more you know what to expect. After you've done your recruiter interviews they'll likely
email you and be like: 'Hey I've got this school in this location' and give you, you know, like
a few very basic facts about the school. I found that they usually don't tell you the name of the
school um so ask them what the name of the school is so that you can do a bit of your own research.
You know, go on the school website, there are a couple of lists one is called The Blacklist
and the other one is called The Green List, I'll link them both below. Pretty much they're
a forum where teachers can go and leave, I guess like reviews on their teaching experience
at the school. The Blacklist is obviously the list where teachers have had not great experiences and
The Green List is where teachers have had good experiences. I would say though that take this all
with a grain of salt, everybody has different experiences. Obviously, if you see, you know,
multiple listings under a school that are not so great maybe it's not somewhere you would want
to work at. However, I definitely recommend like still doing an interview and feeling it
out for yourself. And so this kind of leads me to actually interviewing with hagwons. My experience
interviewing was pretty casual. It essentially was very similar to my recruiter interviews,
a lot of them actually were just kind of like the interviewer telling me about their school
and I just you know asked some questions and they asked me a few questions about myself.
So this is really just a good opportunity for you to ask them some questions. I definitely recommend
asking questions because one, it shows that you're you know like interested in the school and two,
there's you know some vital information that could help you make up your mind. Some questions
that you might want to think about are like lunch breaks. Some hagwons will require you
to take your lunch break but also supervise the students at the same time, so you're essentially
having lunch at the same time as the students but it's not necessarily a break. You may be totally
cool with that and if so, awesome. If you would rather have, you know, like a proper break break
then, you know, that might be something that you would consider when deciding if you want to go
with that school or not. Other things will also be prep time: so you know when you're
prepping for a class, how much prep time do you have? For example, if you're literally teaching
throughout all the hours that you're at school, bar you know maybe a break time, then
you know that probably means you will have to be prepping your classes outside of work,
which is not ideal - so that might be something that you would consider. Also, things like sick
days: how many paid sick days might you have? But yeah, just kind of things like that. There are
a lot of really great videos out there, with you know exact questions that you might be asked
and exact questions that you should probably ask. But off the top of my head, those are kind of the
main things that I would consider. I think that you should make a list of, you know, things that
you will not budge on. For example, you know, you definitely want to have at least three paid sick
days. You definitely want to have at least an hour break, you definitely want to have a salary of
XYZ - which can help you know narrow down your options. Something else I'd recommend
would be asking to talk to a current or previous teacher. Ideally, someone who has worked there for
at least a year or who is renewing their contract. You can either do that during the interview
or afterwards you could talk to your recruiter and ask them if the school can get you in touch with
someone. I personally talked to three teachers at the school that I have signed with, one of them
was the teacher who told me about the school in the first place she was fairly new though.
So I also talked to another teacher who had been there for a longer amount of time and then it was
actually the headteacher who interviewed me. And all of them were very honest about their
experience they didn't sugarcoat anything so they weren't like 'oh yes, it's like the most
amazing place ever'. They were very realistic and it was because they were so realistic that really
convinced me that this was, you know, the school that I wanted to go to. I interviewed with another
school and they were really lovely but I guess I felt like they weren't as honest about you know
how things were. Like they were very vague about a lot of things, whereas I would much rather go
into a situation, you know, like knowing what I'm getting into than going in thinking it's going to
be the most amazing thing ever and it turns out that it's, you know, like the complete opposite.
I think like it's important to remember this is going to be a full-time job,
you know, you're going to be working every weekday. Like, yes you want to be having like
a great time, you know you're moving overseas it's like a very big thing. But you are moving to teach
English and you are moving to work a full-time job, so I think it's really important to just
keep that in mind. Pretty much, a quick summary is that recruiters - find recruiters on job boards,
you'll interview with some recruiters - it's almost like a get-to-know-you type of interview -
and make sure that you're super clear on what you want. Because you know some recruiters might hand
you an interview at a place that is completely like the opposite side of the country that you
had asked for. Unless you are really cool to like go to that place, like go for it, but
make sure to be clear about what you want. Interviews with the actual schools: make sure
that you have some questions up your sleeve to ask them, things that are important for you. Stick to
your guns and make sure that you are really happy with the decision that you're going with. You are
moving to a completely different country where you potentially may not know the language,
may not have any friends, so you want to try and make the whole experience and transition as, you
know, smooth as possible. Like there are probably going to be some bumps on the road no matter what,
but you want to try and make it as smooth as possible. You know honestly, everything moves
very quickly after the interview stage. You know I'm used to waiting
at least like three days to up to a week to hear back from you know like a job interview.
With hagwons, if they like you they will probably tell you like literally the next day.
They will tell you and then they will send you a contract. And with the contract - the contract is
obviously the most important thing - you want to go through that with a fine-tooth comb.
Something that I found incredibly helpful
was being part of a [kakaotalk] group chat where you can talk about hagwons, the process you know,
that was where I actually found my current job, through a teacher who was in their group chat.
So I would definitely recommend trying to find one of those group chats because they are incredibly
helpful. And the reason why I bring this up when talking about contracts is that a lot of people
share the contracts that they have been sent from their schools so that other people can kind of
like help them go through it and you know spot any potential red flags. So that is definitely helpful
there is also a subreddit which, I can't remember the name off the top of my head right now but I'll
link that below. And essentially you can kind of fill out a little form that explains you know some
of the points in your contract and other people can review that for you and let you know again if
there is anything that is not quite right or that you should ask about. The thing about the contract
process is that just like they make decisions very quickly, they also expect you to make decisions
very quickly. So if you feel like your recruiter is really pushing and you are still kind of unsure
like don't sign a contract if you are unsure about something. Just because you know your recruiters
like 'if you don't sign in, you know, the next 24 hours we'll give it to someone else'. Like,
you want to make sure that you are comfortable with the decision you're making. You know
you may hear a lot of, I guess, hagwon horror stories, I have definitely heard my fair share,
but I think that if you know what you're looking for, I mean it's - you really never know what
a school is going to be like like until you're there right. But I think if you know what you're
looking out for then it will definitely make the process better and more likely that you will be
able to find a great school. I feel like this was a super long rambling video and I apologise.
But I hope that you were able to get something out of it, I will leave all the
links and websites etc that I mentioned, below. Please, please feel free to ask me questions if
there is anything I might have missed or that you need some clarity on, I am more than happy
to answer that. Please feel free to like and subscribe if you would like to continue seeing
my journey as I make it to South Korea and yeah, I'll catch you in my next video. Bye!