Job Applications: subtitled "Paul Gets to Pick His New Coworker"

[samedi]

The 교포 teacher is leaving our academy at the start of next month, which means finding a replacement teacher from one of the seven countries that the Korean government recognizes as eligible for the E-2 teaching visa. (Those countries are the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.) After

Comments

[about_right]

Bwahahaha! Clubbing photo! I think the winner is the fourth guy. You should ask what if questions during the interview. Like, "You're teaching first graders and one of them accidentally pees on their pants. What would you do?" lol!

[samedi]

Well, it seems like we won't be contacting either of the English teachers, and two of the three people I called today didn't answer - even though I called at a time when they said they would be available. The one person I talked to was the fourth guy and the interview seemed to go well. However, when I asked if he had ever traveled abroad he mentioned moving from Mississippi to Colorado for university and that it was an 'intense experience'. He's also been to South America, but ... Colorado is intense?

[about_right]

Maybe it's the high altitude.. :P

[samedi]

I think she and I enjoy two very different kinds of dancing! You do have me curious if cover letters might not be important for job applications in Britain, although I was asked to include one for the research assistant position at Cambridge. And one of the English applicants did have a cover letter, which makes me wonder about the second guy's decision not to include one.

Thanks. You may want to read my reply to Inok above, as there's a mention of Colorado. ;)

[samedi]

Yeah, I'm not sure if it's in our best interest to hire someone who may have severe culture shock after the first couple weeks of work.

touch choice

[anonymous]

As there are only four, I guess it makes sense to interview all of them. For one thing, that'll give you practice if you've never interviewed people before. As you said, though, beggars... - they've probably all applied elsewhere and you might end up offering it to someone you think unsuitable to have even them tell you they've decided on somewhere else.

TEFLtastic blog - www.tefl.net/alexcase

[anonymous]

"...However, her application photo is of her dancing at a club..."

You have to thinking like a Korean when employing a new teacher and ask yourself, 'Is she hot enough to work here?'

Makes things easier. ;)

David
staypuff.net

[samedi]

Thanks for the comment and link, David. I usually talk to job applicants when we have an open position - this will be my third time in 15 months - but that hasn't made the process any more comfortable. Like you said, it's highly unlikely that they're only applying to our academy out of the scores that are hiring now.

About the club photo -- wouldn't an equally plausible reaction be that she's lacking the "morals" needed to be an effective teacher? Or does that only hold true for us male teachers? ;)

[shortbutfast]

However, her application photo is of her dancing at a club

that's hilarious. i can't believe anyone would do this and expect to be taken seriously? good luck with this whole process. i've done hiring and it's not always easy. i'd say go with your very first impressions - they're usually right.

[samedi]

The TEFL industry in Korea has an unfortunate reputation for hiring just about anyone who is white. Obviously there are some exceptions -- having a ton of tattoos or body piercings doesn't go over so well in a traditionally Confucian society. I called three of the applicants today; two of them had listed times when they wanted to be called but didn't answer the phone when I tried to reach them in that window, while the one person I did talk to was the guy with no teaching experience.