This is the second part in a series directed to recruiters, employers & schools looking to hire foreigners in Korea and helping them eliminate the mistakes they make when posting jobs online.  Would appreciate your commentary and thoughts below.

Part II:  Keep Unqualified Teachers Out of Your Inbox!

In the first part of this series, I wrote about how schools, hagwons and recruiters can attract potential candidates to click on the title of their online job posting.  The truth is, there's only one thing worse than an email inbox filled with unqualified applicants or uncommitted teachers that quit after two months on the job:  no applicants at all.   The body of your job posting is the time to truthfully disclose the role and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications sought, the compensation provided and some background on the employer to ensure you get dedicated, qualified employees applying for your open English teacher opportunity. 

The body of the email must present you as a credible, experienced professional recruiter/employer.  Unfortunately, you’ve got an uphill battle to convince a very skeptical set of foreign job applicants.  The Internet is rife with rumors and stories of teaching English in Korea: teacher’s that never received their benefits; were presented with a job that was much different than the one they originally applied for; lived in tiny, shared housing; or worse yet, were never paid.  If you are looking for dependable applicants, you’ve got to present yourself as a trustworthy source. 

Establish Credibility

One way to establish trust and credibility is to take just 2-3 sentences to describe your company or your school.  Include the history, size, successes, accreditations  and/or location.  If you also have foreign employees working for you, say so.   Here’s a sample of a recruiter I’ve always been impressed with (I’ve used ABC Recruiting instead of their real company name and taken some liberties with editing):

“ABC Recruiting is a premier recruiting agency for English programs all over Korea, with offices in North America and head offices in Busan and Seoul.  ABC Recruiting has been around for over 10 years ... and has played an integral part in the growth of the English industry in Korea.  We are licensed by the Korean government and are proud to be able to place teachers with only the most reputable private academies and public schools.”

Manage Expectations

Describe the role and its responsibilities in detail. Informing candidates about the nitty-gritty about a role ahead of time will often keep them from abandoning that job later.  The most important part of this section is to manage the expectations of the potential job candidate without killing the excitement inherent in the role.  You should touch on the following in this section:

1.  Classroom hours v. Total hours

2.   Number of classes each day

3.   Work days (Saturdays included?)

4.   Overtime

5.   Ages of students

6.   Non-classroom work (create lesson plans, school activities, set the curriculum, etc.).

7. Location:  don’t tell applicants what subway station the school is near to, tell them how far away that subway station is from the school, and whether it can be accessed by foot or bus.

8. Start-date

Although there is nothing wrong with creating a checklist like the one above, a more effective method may be to spell out the role in paragraph form:

“Beginning in September, The ABC School in Kangnam offers an exciting opportunity to introduce English to gifted elementary school students.   As an English Teacher at the ABC School, you’ll be given instant responsibility to lead classes of 7-9 students during the school week.  You’ll have 4 classes a day, each one lasting approximately 50 minutes, with 10 minute breaks.  You’ll also work closely with staff and co-workers to create a progressive course curriculum and set of lesson plans for use by you and all future foreign teachers.  Non-classroom work will be approximately 15 hours a week.  In addition, once a month on Saturday morning, you’ll participate in parent and teacher feedback sessions to help perfect your teaching methods and style.”

Once a teacher knows what’s in store for them, they’ll be less likely to apply for a job they aren’t interested in, and even more unlikely to take a job that doesn’t fit their expectations.

Get Rid of Unqualified Candidates

Tired of sifting through resumes that have no fit for the job opportunity?  Use this section to describe the perfect applicant along the following areas:

1.  Language capabilities:  Native English speaker required?  What accent?  (American, Australian, British?)

2.  Educational background:  Are undergraduate majors required?   If you need someone with a Master’s or Doctorate degree, say it up front.

3. Certification:  TEFL?  TESOL?  CETL?  PADI?  Other?

4. Teaching experience:   How many years?  If its not needed, be sure to let applicants know that “no prior teaching experience is required.”

5. Personality:  Will the teacher be working one on one with adults in a corporate setting?  If so, they should have a professional demeanor (and own a business suit).  Will they be working with 20 junior high school students?  Then they should have a strong presence and personality to maintain classroom order.

Describing Compensation & Pay

This is the easy part.  By saving this section to the end, you’ve gotten the applicant to read through and understand the role, thus better appreciating the remuneration available.  You need to be as thorough as possible here to highlight all of the benefits of the role as clearly as possible.

1. Base Salary:  The most important factor.  Don’t bother with post- or pre-tax calculations.  Just give the bottom line number in Korean won, if that’s the currency you intend to pay in.

2. Vacation:   foreigners that come to Korea do so for many reasons--one of which is the opportunity to experience Korean and other local cultures.  Be very clear about how many days vacation are available, whether they include Korean holidays, and when they can be taken.  Example:  “You’ll have 25 days of vacation available to travel or relax (in blocks of 5 days), which already includes 10 days of Korean holidays.”

3. Housing.  Not knowing where they’ll sleep scares foreign teachers.  Be as detailed as possible here, and even supply photos if possible.  If the housing requires a shared room or bathroom, say it!  If you also supply a housing subsidy, let the applicants know.

4. Bonus.  Severance bonuses, as you know, in most cases are required by law subject to a teacher completing their yearly contract.  An extra 2-3 million won is a nice benefit, however, so be sure to mention it.

5. Other.  Medical insurance contribution, airfare reimbursement, etc. are benefits that are nice to have, but are not necessarily the most important part of the decision making process.   Nonetheless, your job is to list everything that will entice a potential candidate, so mention them all!

For an example of good structure & formatting (although I do not like the posting title as much), see this listing:  http://hiexpat.com/jobs/detail_job/17787-incheon-english-village-now-hiring

Part III is here:  http://hiexpat.com/korea-blog/pt-iii-korean-recruiters-get-your-act-together.html

Good luck in finding the perfect employee.

Daniel Behrendt is a co-Founder of HiExpat.com, a website for English Teachers living in or coming to Korea.  The website has over 29,000 registered members and features a job board as well as 100s of posted resumes from qualified native English teachers.  He can be reached at danb@hiexpat.com.

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