Thoughts On A Job Post #14

It’s been a while since the last thoughts on an EFL job post – about ten weeks, to be exact. The job ad that caught my eye this time is interesting more as insight into the recruiting industry than as a job itself. Identifying details have been changed. Have a look and find a few comments in the ad but most at the end!

Do you have teaching experience in Asia?

Part Time/Contract – Designated Interviewer Position

ABC Recruitment, based in City, Province, Canada, is looking to hire a contract based interviewer in the Specific US City area, who has experience teaching English in Asia. ABC Recruitment’s objective is to provide English schools and organizations around the world with qualified, motivated, and committed teachers directly from Canada and the USA on a timely and consistent basis.

We are looking for the following:

1.A minimum of one year experience teaching English in Asia, preferably in Japan or Korea. [presumably so you can either a) share your experience or b) tell them how great it is]
2.Preferably with teaching and management experience.
3.Excellent communication skills.
4.Someone who can be unbiased and objective. [These are fine qualities, but I wonder what specifically about this job requires a lack of bias and subjectivity…are you choosing candidates?]
5.Must have a telephone (mobile is fine), and a personal computer with internet/email capabilities and a printer. Fax/scan would be beneficial as well.

Wage: $17.50 USD per time dealing with one candidate. Includes (a) Interview is approximately 40 minutes to one hour (b) Relaying information to our Canadian City office. [This “per candidate” fee is interesting – see my comments later.]
Transportation Reimbursement: Will discuss
Paper/Print Cost Reimbursement: Will discuss
Benefits: Since this position is based on a contract, there are no standard benefits. [This is a nice spin on “none”. Do positions based on a contract necessarily have no benefits?]

Basic Job Description
1.Meet in person with the potential candidates.
2.Have the interview. Interviews are approximately 40 minutes to one hour long.
3.Relay the necessary information to our Vancouver office.

We will be holding interviews for this position in your area within the next couple of months.
All interested applicants please contact ABC Recruitment.
Website: https://www….com/

Looking at this from the perspective of the candidate interviewing (i.e. the potential teacher looking for an EFL job in Korea or Japan, NOT the person who might take this particular job advertised)…

The pros: the fact that the interviewer has EFL experience in Korea or Japan him or herself means that, especially if that person is deciding whether you will be a good candidate or not, their personal experience can play a role. The per candidate fee might be a good thing, as there is no apparent incentive for an interviewer to talk a perspective candidate into taking a position.

The cons: the interviewer probably knows nothing about the school you’d work for except what the home office in Canada tells him/her. The pros of the per candidate fee aside, it sounds like your contact with the interviewer ends after the interview. If the info about the school turns out to be untrue or misleading, the fact that a “contract interviewer” gave you that information offers a nice “out” for the company. There is no question that money is made in recruiting, and the more people involved, the more opportunities to use someone who genuinely doesn’t know they are misleading someone else.

What I’d want to know: what exactly this interviewer does – does s/he make a call about whether the candidate is a good one in general, or match candidates to jobs? Does every candidate get a job offer? How is the fee determined for the company – is it only based on placement, or is there a component for how long the teacher stays?

It’s possible, for example, that the interview really is just that, an interview of the candidate, and not an information session about the possible job. In that case, my comments about the number of people involved would be less relevant. It does actually depend on the situation. However, it is interesting to consider what insight this offers, perhaps unintentionally, into the world of recruiting.

Anything interesting I missed?