Alistair Wery is an English native recruitment agent living in South Korea. He represents Korean Horizons, a company, which is ranked highly. His advice has assisted many in finding teaching positions and he has received glowing reviews from the ESL community (which can be viewed on various ESL forums, blogs, social media websites, and throughout the Internet).
What position do you hold at Korean Horizons? What has been your career path so far?
Alistair: I’m the consultant here at Korean Horizons and I’ve been working for the company for around 8 years now. I manage all of the incoming applications from new teachers, assist them during the application process, and provide support for all of those teachers currently living and teaching here in South Korea.
I love my job – speaking and meeting to people from all over the world – and it’s so fulfilling! Living here in South Korea, I feel set to remain here and I enjoy my career working for Korean Horizons, helping people achieve their professional teaching goals. Life is good.
Did YOU teach abroad?! If so, where and what inspired you to go?
Alistair: So, I had to get away from my boring job in England. I was in finance and I had enough of the regular boring, day-in-day-out life as an office worker. I needed excitement, so I started traveling and I made some Korean friends who suggested teaching in South Korea - that was it for me!
Before I worked for Korean Horizons, I worked for a private academy and a public school. My private academy was just awful – they didn’t honor the contract (i.e. didn’t pay me, no vacation, no medical) and made my life hell (I wanted honesty.) It seems that a lot of recruitment companies, who recruit for private academies, just care about making money. For my second job, I worked in a public school – it was bliss – and I got everything in my contract (so I was very happy). Though, with my background, teaching wasn’t for me and I began working for Korean Horizons!
What does the future hold for Korean Horizons - any exciting new programs to share?
Alistair: A lot! Have a search online and you will discover that Korean Horizons is probably the most recognizable recruitment company for public schools today, period. There is no other recruitment company that provides public schools to EPIK (nationwide public school program), SMOE (Seoul public school program), IMOE (Incheon public school program), GEPIK (Gyeongi public school program), and GOE (Gyeongsangnamdo public school program). We specialize in public schools and provide no other type of positions. As for the future, quite simply, we are just looking to remain where we are and continue to provide a professional and personalized recruitment service.
What about the future of the teach abroad industry? How do you think international education will change over the next 10 years?
Alistair: The industry is like a business cycle – jumping up and down all of the time. South Korea knows that English education is now a natural requirement for its educated labor force, thus, things will always be on the up!
