Ajarn Forum - Living and Teaching In Thailand - View Single Post

ellroy · 5th August 2008, 06:48

Quick update if anyone's interested:

I'll be working for SMOE as of the end of this month. It's taken about 3 months from my first enquiry with Footprints to booking the plane ticket. A lengthy and bureaucratic process, which cost about £200 (+ the refundable plane fare).

As for Footprints, well, all I'll say is that I entered my relationship with them well aware that when dealing with any form of agency (be in real estate, travel, etc), it's less to do with the company itself and more to do with the individual you deal with. The first person I dealt with was excellent; prompt at responding to enquiries, polite, efficient and business-like, but unfortunately she left. The second person was a bit dozy, wrote poorly worded emails, and seemed oblivious to how far on in the process I was (e.g. he sent me the tracking number for my letter of employment 3 days after I emailed him to let him the package had arrived from Korea). Anyway, no big deal as the contract stuff had already been done before he was assigned to me, so there wasn't anything that could've gone drastically wrong. I suppose it was useful to use a recruiter as I was overseas (and in this case essential as I wanted to work for SMOE), but it really wasn't that much of a taxing process and I'm sure I'd have managed quite easily doing it myself.

So, with a sense of excitement and trepidation, I'm currently preparing myself for a year in Seoul.

5th August 2008, 06:48	#77 (permalink)
ellroy ellroy is close to the edit Established User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Seoul. Posts: 127 vCash: 500 Rep Power: 64	Re: Korean Job Market: My Experiences Quick update if anyone's interested: I'll be working for SMOE as of the end of this month. It's taken about 3 months from my first enquiry with Footprints to booking the plane ticket. A lengthy and bureaucratic process, which cost about £200 (+ the refundable plane fare). As for Footprints, well, all I'll say is that I entered my relationship with them well aware that when dealing with any form of agency (be in real estate, travel, etc), it's less to do with the company itself and more to do with the individual you deal with. The first person I dealt with was excellent; prompt at responding to enquiries, polite, efficient and business-like, but unfortunately she left. The second person was a bit dozy, wrote poorly worded emails, and seemed oblivious to how far on in the process I was (e.g. he sent me the tracking number for my letter of employment 3 days after I emailed him to let him the package had arrived from Korea). Anyway, no big deal as the contract stuff had already been done before he was assigned to me, so there wasn't anything that could've gone drastically wrong. I suppose it was useful to use a recruiter as I was overseas (and in this case essential as I wanted to work for SMOE), but it really wasn't that much of a taxing process and I'm sure I'd have managed quite easily doing it myself. So, with a sense of excitement and trepidation, I'm currently preparing myself for a year in Seoul.