Katie in Korea
Applying with Korvia
So like most people wanting to come to South Korea to teach English, I went through a recruiter. I had heard a lot of good things about Korvia through youtubers like chonunmigooksaram and such. I had applied with Korvia is early May, but had actually been speaking with them since March just asking random questions. Whenever I had emailed them first in March it usually took them a day to get back with me because of the time difference, and when I actually applied they returned my email just a day later. They were very friendly at the start however after I applied and was assigned to a recruiter I felt the overall mood and willingness to help faded away.
Applying with GEPIK
After being assigned to my recruiter who we will call "D". I thought that this meant I was for sure going to get placed because I already had a lot of the documents ready (this was discussed in earlier emails). My initial interview with my "D" did not start off the way I planned. The interview was to start at 10:40am KST however the actual interview did not start until around 11:10. I was given no notification that the interview was going to be behind schedule. With the interview starting late, it did however give me more time to relax. However once the actual interview started I kept getting the strange vibe from "D" that they had little to no interest interviewing me in the first place. So first thing is that they did not apologize for being late, or even say/makeup an excuse as to why the interview started so later. I pretty much just blew it off and didn’t really let it get to me. (This is what really upset me though during the interview) I had a smile on the whole time and tried to be as friendly as possible, but "D" looked down the entire time she interviewed me! She rarely looked up and when she did it seemed as if she was looking at someone standing behind the computer. Like stated earlier I just really felt like she didn't even want to interview me, like it was such a hassle for her to be talking to me. Through all of this though I completed the interview and was told that I would apply with GEPIK and start with gathering the documents and that my recruiter and others would send me job offers. (Just a reminder this all started in May)
So a few weeks later I received some information from another recruiter for a school. I was hyped because it had not been long since I last spoke with "D" and couldn't believe I was already getting an offer. Unfortunate for them though I was not stupid and did research on the school they sent me. Looking on forums and blacklist I soon found the school made the list and then asked others about the job, only for them to confirm what the other forums stated. I quickly declined the offer as I did not want my first year to be miserable and I never want to teach again.
A few weeks later I received emails from "D" asking how documents were going and I believe around this time I had all of them ready....(If you are not a part of the Korvia GEPIK page or have used Korvia be known that they post jobs weekly or every other week on their facebook page). So because of the jobs that they post I inquired with "D" about them. At this point is where I really felt like she did not want to help me. It would take her a minimum of 2 days to respond back and every time she did she simply told me that the position was filled or there were more requirements needed besides the ones that were already posted -_-....
About a month later I was given another offer from another recruiter, once again not a single offer came to me from my ASSIGNED recruiter. This position was for a religious school and living in dorms... Now I know some of you may be thinking, wow so picky... but I had just graduated from a 4 year university and had a roommate all four years. Along with that I did not feel comfortable teaching at a religious school, not because I did not practice the same religion its just I did not feel comfortable doing it. So I declined that offer as well.
During this time I also had been asking "D" about more job offers, only to get the same response. What really made me lose all hope with her was the fact that it took her over a week to get back with me and only because I asked on the FB page if she was out. She responded on FB almost immediately saying she never received my email.... ok o.O
KORVIA LET DOWN. . .
Mid-August comes around and all of the job offers that I inquired about were full or "D" would say they were still hiring and she said she would give them my information (mind you I had to ask her about these jobs and then get her to apply me to them... I thought this was the recruiters job ehh, add to this point in time that she had asked me 3 times if I had documents ready when I had already told her over a month ago that they were ready..) August 27th was the last time I spoke with "D" as the semester had already started, mind you that she never once told me that or stated that I would have to do a late intake.
I had been told that I should use other recruiters and then even at one point near the end with "D" was told I should use other recruiters too to find jobs. However I also saw that when using the public school systems you shouldn’t because your application would be sent in multiple times and they look away from those. During this point though I went an applied with others as I realized that all hope was lost using "D" and Korvia. :{
In the point in time (September 15" I have yet to hear anything from Korvia....but good news is ahead!!