#reachtoteach

[mybackyardadventures]

Timeline

February 1st - The day EPIK opened its doors for applications February 19th - Sent in an application to Reach To Teach (Not the EPIK application) February 24th - Reach To Teach sent me an email after reviewing my resume and cover letter (the application). The agency also emailed me the necessary EPIK documents

March 1st - Went to a Commissionaire’s office to get a RCMP check March 8th - Emailed the complete EPIK application with lesson plan and essay to Reach To Teach March 11th - Got my RCMP check in the mail March 12th - Received a call from Reach To Teach to go over my EPIK application March 16th - My recruiter emailed me back the EPIK application with parts to fix March 17th - Emailed the pdf versions of the two reference letters with signatures to my recruiter March 18th - Emailed the EPIK application back after correcting it to my recruiter

April 1st - The day EPIK opened its door for applications from recruiters April 1st - Reach to Teach sent in my EPIK application to the EPIK office April 11th - Received an email stating my interview date and time April 15th - Had my interview at 10:20 p.m. EST April 16th - PASSED MY INTERVIEW (banzai, banzai, banzai) April 28th - This day was a bit hectic. I picked up the hard copies of my reference letters, my transcripts and graduation letter from the university, then went to the public notary to get the letter notarized and then to the korean consulate to get both the CRC and the grad letter to be notarized. Also, scanned my documents in the order I’ll be sending it off to Reach to Teach, to make sure if I had every piece of document

May 2nd - Sent all my documents by FedEx to Reach to Teach May 5th - Reach to Teach received my package May 6th - Reach to Teach sent my documents to the EPIK office May 16th - EPIK no longer accepts applications for Fall 2014 May 30th - EPIK began receiving placement results from Offices of Educations *

June 13th - Received my degree (Finalllly, I deserve a night out) June 18th - Went to my university to pick up another set of transcripts and notarized my degree at a public notary, then at the Korean Consulate June 19th - Mailed my notarized degree to the agency through FedEx June 23rd - Estimated Delivery of the package

July 15th - Last date to send in all documents to the EPIK office for the August intake

August 15th - Last date to send in all documents to the EPIK office for the September intake

*Certain Offices of Educations started giving out placement results before others. I still haven’t received mine and my first choice was Gangwondo. So depending on where you were recommended, it might take longer to process the recommendations.

**I tried to bold the EPIK dates and italicize my personal ones. 

[mybackyardadventures]

The Beginning - Recruiter???

So once January came, I was emailing different recruiting agencies, asking them all the same questions to get a feel of how they would respond. Trust me, when I say a lot, I mean like at least 10 to 12 different agencies. I finally chose Reach to Teach, a placement agency that places ESL teachers not only in Korea but also China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and UAE.

This is their link, feel free to check it out:

http://www.reachtoteachrecruiting.com

Now there are advantages and disadvantages when applying through a recruiter. First and foremost, your application will be given into EPIK later than those who apply directly. So now that I’ve got that out of the way, let me list some of the pros of going through a recruiter:

Pros:

1. The agency will thoroughly check your application and lesson plan before sending it in to the EPIK office in Korea.

- Meaning if you missed any information or even added information that the EPIK office might think is irrelevant, they’ll tell you. For example, in my lesson plan, I had a lot of back-up activities and my recruiter thought that it might come across to EPIK that I don’t know how to manage my classroom time properly. Of course, the decision was up to me on whether or not I wanted to change it but I decided to take his advice and I’m glad I did.

2. A Mock Interview

- I thought this was the best part. If you’re anything like me, shy, nervous etc., then this mock interview will help you a lot. The idea of the mock interview is to get you prepared for the actual EPIK interview. The interviewer will give you constructive criticism at the end of the interview. (I’ll get into the details of the interview in a later post)

3. Recruiters offer a wealth of support for ESL teachers, during the process and also after you reach your destination. For example, how to get your work visa, helping you book your flights and even helping you if you have any issues with your landlord. So, basically they assist you throughout your year abroad too.

Pros on applying directly to EPIK:

1. Faster response time because recruiting agencies can only send in applications after a certain date. (timeline will be posted)

2. So, you’ll be granted interview times quicker than those who go through a recruiter. So for those of you who go through a recruiter, this means you have to be on top of your game in handing everything in on time.

3. You might think flying solo means there won’t be someone assigned to you, but an EPIK coordinator will be assigned to you, to support you through the process.

Each recruiting agency works differently and some might have more benefits than others. One thing I can think straight off the top my head is, Korvia (another recruiting agency) gives you a cell phone when you arrive at the airport. Unfortunately, my agency does not, but I knew that when I applied. Another thing I noticed during my frenzied moments was that if I did in fact fail the EPIK interview, my recruiter would have helped me find another school to teach English.

I’ve stated only some of the pros and cons, so hopefully from this you can make a decision on whether to use a recruiter or to apply directly to EPIK.

P.S. Feel free to ask any questions you may have and I’ll try to answer them to the best of my ability.