A fine frenzy

Here I am, still waiting for my official placement in the Seoul public school system, less than one month from my scheduled departure to the Asian motherland. (Okay, it's not my motherland, but at least it's not across an ocean.) The placement is needed before any kind of work visa could be issued. I was pretty concerned about whether there'd be enough time for my work visa to be completed, but I was told by my recruiter that despite the tight timeline, things should get done soon ("soon" as in before July 31st).

I was wondering why it was taking so long, since I submitted everything over a month ago. In fact, I thought I made good haste on my part -- whenever something was requested, I managed to get it done or submit it within the week. I didn't want to be screwed by a bump down the road.

Looks like it wasn't me I had to worry about. It was them. I did some research and apparently I'm not the only one who's waiting around for the placement; there are a lot of people on the same boat, apparently, because there is a huge backlog on the clerical end.

Why the huge backlog, you ask? Well, it's something that I found somewhat mind-boggling. I mean, I know these things happen, but it's still mind-boggling.

What happened was that EPIK was doing some massive recruitment campaigns this year in an attempt to attract more teachers. (EPIK is the English Program in Korea -- the program that handles all foreign English teacher hirings outside Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, and the program to which I applied.) In previous years, the applicant rate was low enough so that your chances of getting hired were much higher.

They got their wish -- a lot of people applied. In fact, too many. Way too many.

Usually, they would interview people and then an average ratio of those interviewees would be notified that their interviews were successful. Let's say, for the sake of argument, the ratio is 1 in 3. Normally, as long as they kept up with that ratio, they'd reach their quota by the time they got through everyone.

Of course, 33% of 1000 applicants would be a much lower number of hirees than, say, 33% of 2000 or 3000 applicants. Apparently that was what happened this year -- the number of applicants skyrocketed, and they quickly realized that this ratio wouldn't work.

Oh noes! What to do with the people they accepted? Apparently SMOE (Seoul Metropolitan Board of Education) is in need of some teachers, so about 100 positions in Seoul were opened up for EPIK applicants. Only the Level 1 and Level 2 applicants (who have the highest pay rates and qualifications within the EPIK system) would qualify for those positions. I was eventually one of the 100 people who nabbed a SMOE position (which was fine by me, since my first choice of location for EPIK was Incheon, which is right next to Seoul). Anyone with Level 3 or below would have a chance at EPIK openings only.

But the applicants kept coming in. That put EPIK in a very unfamiliar situation -- the ability to choose the best of the crop. In previous years, they needed you more than you needed them. The situation this year reversed that trend, so they could suddenly pick the most qualified and attractive candidates out of the bunch, instead of settling with someone who's simply better in relation to everyone else.

That led to something that some people have been complaining about. Since they decided on successful applicants only a day or two after the actual interview, that means they told some people that their interview was successful before they realized they could pick and choose this year. So what happened was that a bunch of people were told that they wouldn't be offered a contract after all -- after being told that their interview was successful. Ouch.

Add that to the high number of teachers renewing their contracts this year, and you've got a fine frenzy on your hands. Judging by the economic situation, I wouldn't be surprised if next year brings in a huge number of applicants as well.

Hopefully EPIK will learn from their mistakes and handle it better next year.

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As a side note, this bizarre set of circumstances have also impacted me personally. Normally, the new SMOE teachers go through the SMOE teacher orientation. Makes sense, right? Well, apparently I'm not going to go through that process despite being contracted to teach in SMOE. Instead, I'm supposed to be going to the EPIK orientation, despite not signing my contract with EPIK.

This means that I'll be arriving earlier than other SMOE teachers who didn't apply with EPIK. At first I was wondering if this was a mistake but then I found at least two other people on the same boat (and wondering the exact same thing). Those two are also part of the 100 people that applied to EPIK and got transferred to SMOE.

This situation is getting weirder every time I check, it seems. Maybe I should stop checking.