So in my last post, I left off at the part where I find out that I had wasted my money, time and energy on the criminal record check that was no longer needed for EPIK’s initial application. It was no longer required as of September 6th. I had applied early on August 27th.
I was upset to say the least, but I maintained my optimism. EPIK had stated that the apostilled national level criminal record check would need to be submitted eventually, after the applicant was admitted. Trying to stay positive, I thought to myself, “I guess I won’t have much work to do after I get accepted.”
The EPIK Interview Email
I had braced myself to wait for about two months to hear back from EPIK, as previous applicants shared that two months was the average wait time. (I had done some research on the EPIK process through Google, Reddit, YouTube, and more). But to my surprisingly pleasant surprise, I received an email from EPIK on September 6th, which had arrived nearly at midnight. I was able to read the wonderful message next morning:
Hello,
Thank you for your application to the English Program In Korea!
You have passed the first selection phase and we would like to invite you to participate in a webcam interview via Skype.
– The EPIK Team –
Please click on the following link and follow the instructions in order to book your interview date and time…
I moved one step closer to my dream of teaching, traveling, and living abroad! With my own apartment paid for by the program! I booked my Zoom interview for the following week on September 16 so that I would have enough time to prepare.
Preparing for the Interview
To prepare for the interview, I compiled a list of questions asked in the previous terms. To do this, I watched multiple YouTubers talk about their EPIK experiences.
*TIP#1: When preparing for the interview, be sure to check out YouTube videos of previous EPIK applicants. They share many of the questions they themselves had to answer.
There are many, many useful videos out there. To name a few, here are some of the YouTubers I personally found most helpful:
- Red Dragon Diaries
2. TastyTea (her video is no longer available to the public) :'(
3. Katherine Walsh
And while researching the EPIK interview process, I saw this crazy story from the above YouTuber named Katherine Walsh, who had her documents sent to North Korea because the person helping her at the post office thought “the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” was South Korea!! It’s a funny yet horrific story.
Imagine getting your papers sent to North Korea! 🙁
*TIP #2: The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is NORTH Korea. Republic of Korea is SOUTH Korea. The one that is NOT democratic calls itself democratic.
Even if you already know this, like the YouTuber in the video, beware that the person helping you at the post office might (sadly) not know!!!
*TIP #3: Also, be sure to join the official Kakaotalk chatroom for EPIK applicants. Kakaotalk is Korea’s most popular mobile messaging app. It’s a must-have when living in Korea.
You should be able to find the link to join on EPIK’s official Facebook Page. Follow that too! Both platforms are where fellow applicants can ask questions, receive feedback, and share experiences with one another.
The Interview…Delayed.
My interview was scheduled for September 16th PST. That Thursday, I spent all morning and afternoon preparing for the interview, going over the questions and answers multiple times. I practiced to the point where I could say the answers right away when asked, as thoroughly as possible. I was ready!
But about an hour before the interview, I received the following email from my interviewer:
Unfortunately, we seem to be having some technical issues and internet issues on our end today and are not able to establish a good connection for the interview. I apologize for the inconvenience, but would you be available to reschedule? If able, I will open some time for early next week or the weekend that was previously unavailable.
– Jeffrey Conde
EPIK Coordinator –
I was bummed out yet again. But luckily, I was able to reset my interview date and time with my EPIK coordinator for the following day.
Stay tuned..
Check out the next post HERE.
