Friday, May 25, 2012

where things are

As of over a week ago, I've sent in as much of my job application paperwork to Sungkyunkwan University as I could. Two hitches, though: (1) my passport needs renewing, and (2) I have to get the FBI background check. I've mailed that paperwork to the appropriate offices, but both of those processes take several weeks to complete, and the job interview day for SKKU candidates is June 2. My interview, if I'm a candidate, will occur via Skype, but it's an open question as to whether I can even be a candidate if my passport and my apostilled FBI check haven't come through. My buddy Tom, who teaches at SKKU, has been running interference for me, but the silence from SKKU's human resources department has been deafening.

I've done all I can for this hiring cycle. It's a waiting game until I hear something from somebody, and in the meantime, I need a Plan B. For me, that might mean biding my time until the fall/winter hiring starts, or it might mean throwing myself back into the effort to walk across the country before I leave for Korea, or it might mean simply finding other work while here. We'll see. I'm still mulling my options.


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1 comment:

John from Daejeon said...

I think the biggest knock against your application is the fact that you aren't "in country" as it is the preferred way most of these upper level schools like to do business, especially as appearances mean so much here and nothing beats actually eye-balling the merchandise in person.

And unless they already have their applicants actually pre-chosen, come June 1st/2nd, you will probably be getting that last minute phone call requesting that computer video interview as "waiting to the last minute when doing things" is pretty much the modus operandi here in South Korea.

Anyway, those two hitches aren't all that big as they are easily remedied within a three-month time frame and, more than likely, those contracts would probably not even begin until the Fall semester.