ABOUT OP SEOUL
We're the recruiter we wish we'd had.
A small team in Seoul, placing native English teachers at schools we actually know, with honest timelines and nobody's signature on a contract they didn't read.
OUR STORY
Why we started this.
OP Seoul Recruiting started in 2023, after Daniel spent seven years on both sides of the Korean teaching market — first as a teacher at a Seoul hagwon, then working in operations for one of Korea's largest English kindergarten chains.
The pattern was the same on both sides. Teachers showed up with wrong expectations. Schools got matched with candidates who weren't really prepared. Recruiters disappeared once their placement fee cleared. The documents nobody warned about arrived three weeks late. And everyone lost time, money, and a little bit of faith in the process.
We built OP Seoul to fix the specific things we saw go wrong, repeatedly, at other agencies. Not to be the biggest recruiter in Korea. To be the one that tells people the truth, moves fast when it matters, and stays reachable after the paperwork's done.
Daniel Tae Kim
Founder · Seoul
BASED IN SEOUL
We live here. That matters.
When a teacher arrives at Incheon at 10pm on a Tuesday and their airport pickup isn't there, we're the people they call. When a school director has a visa question at 8am on a Monday, we're already at our desks in Gangnam, not sleeping in Toronto.
Most agencies recruiting for Korea are run from outside Korea. We're a Seoul-based team with real relationships with the schools we place at — not just a contract with an HR inbox. We've visited them. We've eaten lunch with their directors. We know which ones pay on time and which ones don't.
This is also why we only work with schools we've visited. It's slower than putting up a website and collecting applications from anywhere. It's the reason our placements stay placed.
HOW WE WORK
We tell the truth,
even when it costs us.
If a school's offer is below market, we tell the teacher before they accept.
Example: last year we advised a candidate to turn down a hagwon offer where the housing allowance wouldn't cover a studio in that neighborhood. We lost the fee on that placement. The teacher went with a better school, completed her contract, referred two friends.
We stay reachable,
after the placement.
Values are just adjectives. Here's what we actually do.
Every recruiting agency claims to be "transparent, honest, and supportive." Those words mean nothing on their own. Here's what those words translate to in the work we actually do.
We check in at week 2, week 6, and month 3 — both sides.
Most agencies go silent once the placement fee clears. Small problems become big ones when nobody's watching. We built aftercare into the process because the ones who felt supported on week 6 are the ones who completed their contracts on month 12.
We say no
when we should.
We don't place candidates who aren't ready, and we don't send candidates to schools we don't trust.
We've turned down partnerships with schools whose last three teachers quit.
We've told candidates they weren't ready for a kindergarten classroom and
should start with elementary. Short-term it costs placements. Long-term it's the
only way this works.
We move fast,
on what actually matters.
Reply within one business day. Candidate shortlists within one week.
Speed isn't marketing — it's operational. Teachers have multiple offers. Schools have start dates. Dragging out a process by a week can cost both sides their best option. We don't drag it out.