Yup…I was right! The recruiters I was working with turned out to be shady and unprofessional.
You know when people say “listen to your intuition”…Listen! I was reading about rumors for the program I was applying to called GEPIK and that it was cutting jobs left and right.
I asked the recruiter ( who I sent my entire application package to mind you) if she could tell me what’s going on and would this affect me at all. Of course she said no and to continue to wait to hear back regarding a job by July 20th.
Well imagine my annoyance when I was stumbled upon this article Budget Cuts! this week about the slashing of hundreds of GEPIK program jobs!
I emailed my recruiter again to get an update and did not hear back. I got an email back the next day stating that unfortunately she can’t help me and “how about applying to EPIK for 2012”. Really? Really? because I am pretty sure I said that I wanted to be in Korea this fall. I wasted so many months going back and fourth and getting paper work in for this news? *sigh*
The other two recruiters (reached about to 2 more when recruiter number 1 was being really slow about emails and paperwork) who were placing for jobs in the same area that is doing budget cuts haven’t even had the decency to email and let me know what’s up. Whatever…moving right along! I have found another recruiter and sent in my paperwork for schools in a completely different area.
I think I have learned enough in the last few weeks dealing with recruiters to share some advice:
1. Use more than one if you are not applying to a EPIK/SMOE school or Hogwan…just do it because its not safe to put all your eggs in one basket if you REALLY want to get to Korea.
2. Don’t use one if you don’t have patience. After all you don’t need to use a recruiter to get a job in Korea. I choose to use one because this is my first time finding employment in this country you dont need to use one.
3. Try to get in touch with them weekly unless you arranged a timeline for hearing back about a job.
4. Don’t take no for an answer if they change your location and want to place you in a rural area. If you want a specific location find recruiters that hire for that location. Google will become your best friend!
5. Do your research on these recruiters! There is enough information online about almost ALL of the major recruiters. Take people’s comments with a grain of salt but make sure you have found all the information you can!
So I now have a new recruiter and have turned in my application for another part of Korea (I work fast lol). If this is something you really want to do, never give up! Just keep trying to find the right recruiter that will work for you!
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| Picture of some guys shirt I snapped while in Rome |
Now hopefully my next post will deliver some good news:)