According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) Tuesday, it hired too many foreign English teachers to fill the 560 positions planned at elementary and secondary schools. It said it hired more applicants than necessary as some tend to fail to come to Seoul.

“About 100 applicants more than necessary were picked. Of them, we had to withdraw employment notices for about 56 applicants, and the rest voluntarily quit,” an SOME official said.

The sudden cancellation has frustrated prospective teachers, leaving many with complaints that they are now stuck without a job and demanding that the employer compensate for costs such as airline tickets and work visa applications.

“I just got a call from my recruiter. SMOE has apparently rejected my contract. After signing my contract and sending all my documents, they have said that they do not want me anymore. So now what should I do?” said an applicant using the ID “t1m1ty” on Dave’s ESL Cafe.

“They are doing this a week before it starts! Bearing in mind, I’ve already received my notice of appointment. Is there a clause in the contract to allow this? At the moment, this leaves me stuck without a job and all the costs. They said they will keep me on file to apply in either March or August 2010. Do I have any other options now?” said user Monochroma on the online cafe.

An official from the education office said, “Many foreign teachers give up working with us at the last minute, perplexing schools that are supposed to have native English speakers, so we secure extra teaching hopefuls every year. For this semester, we selected enough applicants for a possible shortage as we recruit a large number of teachers.”

She added some of the foreign teachers whose contracts were withdrawn had failed to submit necessary documents and skip mandatory orientation programs.

Last spring, the office hired 300, hiking the total number of teachers to 861 in Seoul, and has recruited 560 for the coming semester, the largest number since it started to bring in native English teachers.

SMOE also made it clear that almost all of the failed applicants agreed to the plan.

“We obtained consent from all of the teaching hopefuls on the job cancellation and we put some of them on the waiting list,” said another official from the office, indicating that they didn’t violate any contract agreements.

The office, however, helped some 10 failed applicants who have already arrived in Seoul land jobs on the English Program in Korea (EPIK) organized by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

Those with questions on the issue should call the education office on (02) 3999-774.

By Kang Shin-who

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Teach Away, a Toronto-based agency that helps North Americans find teaching jobs overseas, says applications to teach English in Asia and elsewhere have jumped about 400 percent since late 2008.

“Positions are filling quicker this year than ever before,” said director Rene Frey.

Vancouver-based Footprints Recruiting has experienced a similar trend, receiving 100 more applications a week than it did last year, said co-founder Ben Glickman.

“We definitely see economic causalities come through the door. You see a lot of fallout from the financial industry, where people that were involved in finances are now teaching overseas,” said Glickman.

“I interviewed a guy the other day — he has a masters degree in quantitative science. I mean last year he probably wouldn’t be applying to teach in Korea.”

In Canada, the unemployment rate climbed to 8.7 percent in September, its highest in 11 years.

Footprints, which places most of its applicants in South Korean schools, says more teachers working overseas are staying put rather than coming back because jobs at home are scarce.

Applicants to teach English overseas need a four-year university degree rather than formal teaching experience. But agencies say more people with post-graduate degrees and stronger qualifications are applying for the jobs.

“The schools and the different employers we work with overseas are definitely being more selective comparative to years past,” said Glickman.

Indeed South Korean schools are hiring more ESL teachers this year than ever, agencies say.

Footprints, which handles applicants from Canada, the United States, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. currently has more than 1,000 ESL teachers placed overseas.

(Reporting by Nina Lex; Editing by Frank McGurty)

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