Does anyone know a good recruitment agency?

[bexwat]

In a few months my current contract on the TaLK program will end, and I'm hoping to either go to a Hagwon or Epik. There seem to be so many recruitment agencies out there, does anyone know the good from the bad? I also have a slight problem in that I will need to leave Korea for a few days after my contract ends to go to my sisters wedding, do you think new employers would mind this, or will they kick up a fuss (a strange question I know, but it has been worrying me slightly). Any info would be extremely helpful thanks!

[hien_t]

Well, rather than going through a recruitment agency, have you thought about just going straight to the company instead?

I originally went through a recruitment company called Aclipse, but then they just redirected me to EPIK later on and forwarded all my paperwork there.  I suppose it's kid of convenient since you only have to put through the paperwork and forms once, then they just forward it to whichever company needs request it.  But, I heard there were tons of teachers, who just applied directly to EPIK also.

Having been with EPIK for a couple years, I'd say its a good program but also a dice roll.  You will most likely be teaching in an elementary or middle school and where you are placed is kind of random.  Some of my fellow teachers said that they didn't like their school nor their location, and I'd understand that.  I've also had my share of students being so noisy and not listening to a single thing I say in class that I wonder why I am even in the classroom.  For some reason, the boy classes seem pretty consistent in how they don't listen to me and are just noisy to a moderate level.  But, for the girls, I get some classes are that just through in noise level, while others are so quiet that I start seeing tumbleweeds roll by in class.

But, anyways back to the point.  All of the people who applied to EPIK directly generally were pretty satisfied with it, so I'd consider doing that route.  But I've only tried Aclipse, and it was fine for me, so you could try looking into that as well.  I can't remember where I found out about Aclipse but it might have been from dave's esl.

[omgitsmax]

Recruiters are an interesting bunch...

If you think you can do a direct apply, i would advise to do that. If you really want to use a recruiter (for peace of mind or whatnot) I would suggest joyce from korvia or footprints. Both of those companies I have dealt with and out of the 20+ recruiters i talked to they seem to have their stuff together the most.

Good luck

[aemann]

If you want EPIK, I would skip the recruiter, since you can just apply directly to EPIK without a middleman.

I applied directly through EPIK, but I heard one or two people say that their recruiting agency would wait until the last minute to send paperwork in. (Granted, I heard a lot more people say that they had no troubles with their recruiter, but why take the risk when it is easy enough to do it yourself?)

[notinKS]

I'd like to second Korvia. I've worked with two different recruiters that work for Korvia now and they've been both been fantastic and very helpful. They're primarily for GEPIK though, so who knows what's going to happen between now and August.

[english86]

I used ESL starter. They were awesome!

[longname]

I used Teachaway.  I was recommended by some friends who went through them.  They were awesome.  I was also redirected to EPIK, but Teachaway took care of all my paperwork for me.  And they did a great job preparing me for Korea.  We had on-line meetings.  They set up facebook discussion boards for us.  Got us intouch with other teachers coming to Korea.

[ashay]

Canadian Connections in Jeollanamdo is a  great option. 

[dwebsterlfc]

Korean Horizons were great. Alistair will really help with everything. Myself and my girlfriend are a 10 minute walk away from each other. We were also given tourist booklets a korean/english dictionary etc free when we got here.

[wendarzhang]

I went with ESLstarters and they were such a major help! The guy who helped me was always to nice and responded to my questions right away.

[Cereal]

I used Mary from MarynJames. I thought she was fantastic. She took care of everything and explained to the EPIK people that I was a special case. I was applying from Laos and I am a Canadian and there is no Canadian Embassy or consulate there to confirm the stuff that needs to be confirmed; CRC etc. The Aussie Embassy takes care of all that and the Korean folks were slightly confused why a Canadian used an Australian Embassy for their paperwork.

Mary made it easy. I also got to pick my town and school.

[Sully]

I used ESL starter. They were awesome!

I went with ESLstarters and they were such a major help! The guy who helped me was always to nice and responded to my questions right away.

I also went through ESLstarter to teach with EPIK and they were fantastic. Cannot recommend them enough! I heard you can apply directly to EPIK but I would recommend this recruiter especially as you have questions about leaving the country and whatnot.  They responded to all my questions, however small, in a speedy manner and are very genuine people!

[simplypanda]

I've gone through worknplay twice and they were great both times.

[riswyk]

I went through I Love Esl.  Their site is Iloveesl.com.  My recruiter was a Korean-Canadian and he was very helpful.

[hellokitty]

Korvia!!

[Obilen]

the three i found most efficient are AskNow, JJ recruiting, and WorkNPlay.

[omgitsmax]

Ask now is definitely a good choice if you have absolutely no idea what you are doing. They have tons of information and will walk you through everything. Work n Play is also a good one. They are one of the big firms and it kind of boils down to who you end up dealing with there. Jane from WorkNPlay was great to me, I can't recommend her enough. JJ recruiting is one i would stay away from if I were doing it all over again. Very impersonal and the people i dealt with from their firm didn't really answer my questions or help me much at all. They just kept presenting me with terrible jobs that were nothing close to what I asked for. I still get their spam emails about job listings...

honestly, just send out a few e-mails and see who email you back. Talk to them a bit and see if you like them and make your choice. It will all be pretty much the same as they just act as a middle man.

[Lorgie]

Korvia!!

Yep, t'is true.

[gbelley87]

I used Footprints (based in Vancouver, Canada) and it was great - answered all my questions quickly, they never seemed unsure, and everything turned out great. Google them!

[daycint]

I used ESL starter. They were awesome!

i second this!

but if you're hoping to go through EPIK i'd hurry up and apply - the fall semester program opened 10 days ago so if you want a specific city you'd need to apply straight away.