Re: Re AppleTree Recruiting, Banana Trees, and Space Shuttles ...LOL - Korea

I have to agree with Sean in response to your post. I have been very pleased with Appletree Recruiting as well as Lanpus. I met my recruiter several times over dinners and lunches, and she was very helpful with everything I needed. There are two or three people that check the email account on a regular basis, so their responses were always very quick which was helpful when things were urgent. A friend had referred me to Appletree, and I have done the same several times to people back home who are interested in Korea. They still check up on me every once in a while, and still answer any questions or concerns I have.

As for Lanpus, I have been very happy working here in the 5 months that I have been in Korea. I remember meeting you the first week, and was under the impression that you were there that day for an informal interview to see if you would be the right candidate for the job. I'm sorry that it didn't work out in your favor, but not every person fits into every company dynamic. Every hagwon is under a lot of pressure to hire the right teachers because it is a very competitive business.

I also stayed in the small hotel with the other girls. And yes, it was a small room and a little uncomfortable, but I am actually very happy to have experienced it because those girls are now my closest friends here. When you spend a week with 2 strangers in a small hotel room you learn a lot about them very quickly and get past the formalities in the first few days. I'm very sorry you did not get to see the good side of Lanpus and hope that you are happy with your situation now.

Re AppleTree Recruiting, Banana Trees, and Space Shuttles ...LOL - Korea

Perhaps I'm on the other side of the fence here, but in my years of dealing with Appletree they have been extremely professional. They've been more upfront about jobs and work situations than other recruiters I tried to deal with before, and they were very prompt and helpful with all of my issues in coming to Korea time and time again. They offered me a similar job to Jillian's last winter at Lanpus Academy to start this spring, and after interviewing in person with the boss of the school, I was set up with a job that started this last February.

I'm very sorry to hear of your bad experience with the school and recruiter Jillian, but I've been happily at Lanpus since February and for years now Appletree has been treating me quite well. They didn't stop at helping me get here either - they've constantly checked up on me, had social gatherings across Korea for Appletree recruits, and asked for frank opinions about my workplace so they could decide whether or not to represent them again. I truly consider them to be a shining star among the many recruiting agencies in Korea. I personally recommend them highly. As for Lanpus, I believe you came at a poor time. I came at the same time as you, and I believe I met you on one of our first training days. We were all staying in temporary housing while in training because the old teachers were still occupying the apartments that we would take over. It was not a comfortable situation, but it was a very understandable one given the situation. Everyone in the hotel was moved into their own apartment by the end of the one week of training. While this information wasn't explicitly stated up-front when I interviewed back in December, I don't believe it was actually known then. Knowing that this was the school's first year of existence, it seems very reasonable that they were still trying to figure out exactly how to deal with the training, especially with their exponentially growing number of foreign teachers.

The job itself has been everything that was expressed up front, both by Appletree and by the Lanpus director. It has been hard work and good pay, supported by my director and my friends at Appletree. I truly am sorry that Jillian's experience wasn't as good as mine, but I can honestly recommend Appletree as a first class recruiter, and I have personally sent several of my friends to them when they were interested in coming to Korea. I would do the same for anyone else, Appletree Recruiting is truly top-notch in the world of ESL recruitment!