EPIK Interview

I'm currently teaching in South Korea, and although I didn't end up teaching through the English Program In Korea, I did apply and go through the interview process.  Unlike JET, I really liked the EPIK program and its coordinators.  They were kind, helpful, quick to respond to emails, and didn't make me feel like a slab of meat.  EPIK hires teachers on a rolling basis, too, so there's no solid deadlines.  All in all, I would definitely recommend EPIK--they're much nicer than the JET people.  (To read about my JET interview experience, click here.)

But chances are that if you're reading this, you've already applied or are thinking about applying to the program.  In addition to the EPIK program, which places teachers in public schools, many hagwons (private after-school academies) also recruit native English speakers.  I went the hagwon route and I couldn't be happier with my decision.  Unfortunately, not all hagwons are as great as mine--I've heard stories from fellow teachers about late payments, stingy and unhelpful bosses, and hagwons abruptly going out of business.  I definitely got lucky!

My EPIK interview was with a lovely man named Eamon, who was one of the program coordinators.  Before he emailed me about the interview, we had already exchanged several emails, and he always answered my questions fully and promptly.  The interview was on skype, which was a wonderful surprise--I had imagined that, like the JET program, they'd make me trek out to the embassy.  

The interview lasted about 40 minutes.  Here is a list of the questions he asked, in chronological order:
1) What is your name, date and place of birth, and mailing address?
2) Tell me about yourself.
3) How do you deal with stress?  Give an example.  
4) Why do you want to teach?
5) What is/was your GPA?
6) What challenges do you expect?
7) Do you have or plan to get a teaching certification?

Here he paused for a minute to talk about teaching certifications.  According to the EPIK website, no teaching certifications are required, although a teacher with a TEFL or TESOL certification earns more money.  My interviewer made it very clear that a teaching certification WAS necessary.  He said that I should sign up for a class and email a copy of my enrollment confirmation as soon as possible.  Then it was back to questions.

8) Are you comfortable with co-teaching?  He said that there is a lot of variation, but that I could reasonably expect to be the sole teacher (while co-teacher sits in the back and evaluates and supervises) or to co-teach.  In both cases, I need to have lessons planned ahead of time and check them with my co-teacher.

9) How do you improve yourself? This was an odd, vague, awkward question. I gave an example about a time I improved my performance at work because there was a competition. It seemed to go okay.

10) You may have 30-40 students in a class, how will you handle different levels of proficiency in English? I said that if, for example, I was having the students perform a conversation, I would provide a conversation that even the worst students could perform (if they tried) and add more complicated bits to the end for students who needed the extra challenge. [Now that I'm actually teaching, this is more or less what I do. I do a lot of question-and-answer exchanges, and I tailor the question to the level of the student I'm asking. This might not be possible in really big classes, but my class of 20 students is considered quite large, I've never heard of 30 students in one class.]

11) How will you handle students who are misbehaving? I said that it depended on the age of the students.  Seven-year-olds may be scared of a time-out, but high schoolers might require detention or time in the hall.  I said that I believed that as long as I was patient, cheerful, enthusiastic, and let the students know how much I expected of them, I didn’t think I’d have many problems.  I mentioned something about being patient and not strangling kids, he took that pretty well! [Since I am working in a hagwon I can't really discipline students. That's definitely a benefit of working in the public schools!]

The questions bit was essentially over, and we moved on to confirming information from my application. He explained that placement preferences couldn't be guaranteed, and that a special form needed to be submitted if I wanted a placement in Seoul.

Next he confirmed my answers to the mental health questions: do you have any illnesses, have you seen a shrink, etc.  On my form's medication list, each medication requires a reason. I had listed ‘birth control’ but no explanation because I considered it self-explanatory.  The interviewer was very polite and said he assumed that my reason had been lost due to formatting issues but that it needed to be clear on the official mailed form.  I'd recommend leaving it off the form or writing in 'acne control' or something.

He asked if I was okay with teaching at multiple schools; I said yes, I was flexible.  He also noted that many Americans found the constant last-minute changes hard and off-putting, but I said that I am very flexible and easy-going so it wouldn’t be a problem. He seemed like this answer.

Next he confirmed that I knew what documents needed to be included with my application.  He asked when I had requested my FBI background check, and told me that the apostillization process varies by state.  Some states Secretary of State offices will apostille federal documents, but others won’t, so applications need to call and find out.  As for my diploma, I needed to copy it and notarize it nearby, then take it to the SOS.

For more information about what documents are required for the Korean E-2 teaching visa, and how to get them, I've written up a helpful guide here.

The interview was officially over and I got to ask some questions. I learned the following things:
- there are approximately 600 positions in Seoul, and they fill up fast
- flights are arranged and paid for by the individual
- the flight reimbursement is a flat rate of 1.3 million KRW (about ~$1100 USD)
- the flight reimbursement is paid by the contracting school, not by the EPIK program
- orientation lasts 8-9 days in the middle of August


**About notarizing the diploma: just copying it and get it stamped isn't enough, and technically isn't even notarizing. Pro tip, don't just go to a copy shop. I wasted ten bucks on a worthless notary stamp. A notarization is the verification of a signature. What you ACTUALLY need is a certified true copy that is signed and then notarized. The certified copy must have something along the lines of "I certify that this is a true, complete, and unaltered copy of the document" with a signature and a date; everything but the signature needs to be typed. Then you sign it, and THEN the notary can stamp it. I got mine done by a contact at a legal firm, and it only took about ten minutes.

**Heads up, the FBI sometimes loses things. They 'misplaced' my application and told me for three weeks that they'd mailed it... then on the fourth week realized they hadn't. The check is good for 6 months, so get this done early!

I hope this helps, and good luck to all EPIK applicants!

-Ashton