First Come First Serve

EPIK is operated on a first come, first serve basis. Unlike JET, which operates by periodically eliminating huge chunks of applicants, EPIK keeps on accepting applications until it overflows with superfluous job seekers, like a clogged storm drain during a flood. And it appears to be storm season.

Here's what showed up on the EPIK website yesterday:

Important Note: Position availability is very limited at this time. Chances of being placed onto a wait list for a province/city are very high. Applicants on the wait list are not guaranteed a position with EPIK.

Although my recruiter has told me I have a very good chance of landing a position, and as long as my papers and such are in order there shouldn't be a problem, this still makes me nervous. I've been languishing on the JET alternate wait list since the beginning of April. I don't think I could stand a repeat of that.

Actually, I tried to anticipate this on my EPIK application. When asked to choose where I would like to be placed, I was given a selection of major metropolitan areas as well as general provinces. I chose the provinces because I knew most people would pick cities first. I came in to this process in the middle of the hiring cycle and knew I wouldn't have as good a chance of getting placed as those in the first wave of applicants. Also, provincial positions pay a little more, which is always a good thing.

Here are my five choices, in order:

1. Gyeongbuk (also known as Gyeongsangbuk), located in the south east part of the peninsula.
2. Gangwon, in the north east on the border with North Korea. Actually, the province is split in two by the border.
3. Gyeongnam (also known as Gyeongsangnam). The southern version of Gyeongbuk.
4. Chungbuk, right in the center.
5. Gyeonggi, the province surrounding Seoul.

As it was explained to me during my interview, after my papers are received by EPIK they are then sent out to my first choice for placement. Assuming there are still positions available and the province board of education likes me, I will be accepted and they will send out contracts. If there are no positions left or they don't like me, my papers will move on to number two on the list, and so on. At this point, the likelihood of my getting a job depends on two things: how popular (or unpopular) the provinces are that I have selected, and how many positions they have left to fill.

Let's take a look at the number of positions available, as posted on the Korea discussion forums on Dave's ESL Cafe by a recruiter from Footprints last Friday.

1. Gyeongbuk: 40 positions (6 already filled)
2. Gangwon: 59 positions (10 already filled)
3. Gyeongnam: 7 positions (1 already filled)
4. Chungbuk: 24 positions (1 already filled)
5. Gyeonggi: 12 positions (7 already filled)

This is good news. My top two have the most positions available in the provinces and are not full (at least, as of last week). Should Gyeongbuk be full, my application will move on to Gangwon, which has a lot of available positions. I like the look of this.

Speed is of the essence right now to make sure my papers arrive at the Gyeongbuk Board of Education before all positions have been filled. There's a lot that could happen to slow down the process though. My papers are on their way to EPIK right now, where they will be triple checked. If anything is found to be wrong, they will be kicked back to me for fixing. They could be languishing at the bottom of a "to be checked" pile while other applications are duly sent on to boards of education. Also, should I be rejected by my first choice, my application re-enters the central bureaucracy and bogs down again before being sent back out.

However. Everyone here is in the same boat. Everyone's papers are being checked and checked again, sent back for reprocessing, rechecked. I have faith in my ability to follow directions and do it right the first time, and to be accepted by my first choice. Let's also not forget that everyone is not trying for these five provinces. There are eight provinces and seven major metropolitan cities with positions.

Hopefully soon I will get an email from my recruiter saying, "You passed at the Gyeongbuk provincial board of education. Contracts are on their way." If not, well, I don't even want to think about it.

*** Update ***

I wrote to my recruiter to try and clarify the EPIK hiring process. I'm glad I did. Essentially, EPIK looks at how many available positions there are in an area and then recommends that number of people. if I'm understanding this right, the "first come first served" part is over and now the positions are being filled by recommendation. Makes sense, right? This is, of course, dependent upon getting your papers in, making sure all of your papers are in order, etc.

Yakihito Is Going Korean

That's right, folks. I'm going to Korea. After what seemed like a long job hiring process, checking the job boards daily, updating my resume, interviewing via Skype and cellphone, I finally decided to take a job teaching English in public schools in Korea starting mid-August.

"Wait, what?" I hear you say, incredulously. "But Adam, you're all about Japan. You don't even speak Korean, for crying out loud."

You're right. I am all about Japan. But I'm also all about paying off my student loans and Japan is not the best place in the world to save money. It's also really difficult to get a job there right now. Well, a good job. I was offered a position with G.education Nova but given the company's recent history I decided not to take it. Japan will always be there. But right now, Korea beckons.

I'm going to be working for EPIK, a Korean government-run program that's similar to JET. I'll be working as an assistant English teacher in a variety of public schools. I don't know if that will be high school, middle school, elementary school (or a mix of all) or even where I'll be yet, but I have a tentative conformation for Gyeongsanbuk province. It's located in the south east of the country and was the center of the Silla kingdom more than 1000 years ago. I visited there on my trip to Korea in 2008 and really liked it.

None of this, however, is 100% certain. I have passed the interview stage, which means EPIK likes me. My required documents have been sent and will be passed on to the Gyeongsanbuk board of education, who will then give me the final OK. I have been working with a recruiter during this whole process and she assures me it's a done deal, that from here on out any delays are just due to matters of formality. I'm a little nervous that all of this will actually pan out—I've had to turn down that job offer and cancel pending interviews—but with about a month to wait for the contracts, I guess I had better just assume a stance of success and put it out of my mind.

T-minus two months and counting. Or not, as the case may be.