My girlfriend and I applied for a position at Hess way back at the end of March, in hopes that we would get a job for either June or August, and we haven’t heard anything back from the recruiter since we completed our application. We’ve called the recruiter about three times to ask where our applications were in the process and left three messages with no response from him…
So, I’d like to ask those of you who have applied to Hess before how long the application process typically takes, particularly between submitting the application, having a phone interview, and finally getting an offer. Is this kind of non-responsiveness from recruiters typical? And how much (or little) time did you get from the company before you actually were offered a job before the start date? We’re leaving for Taiwan on May 27th, and at this point, we’re almost about ready to call it quits with the company…
We’re also applying to other schools, so it would be great to know if the experiences with the other schools were any different or about the same. Thanks!
I would advise you not to work for Hess. They pay the lowest of any cram school in Taiwan, and they suck.
pinkflyd7
www.kenberglund.blogspot.com (My Taiwan blog)
I applied back in January/February for a job in August. It took a week, if that, for them to e-mail me back about it. I’m guessing you’re applying from the US? I am too, and sometimes their US Recruiting Manager does not get/return e-mails very quickly. I would contact the head office or the Canadian Recruiting manager. I actually did my interview with her and she was very nice and always very prompt returning e-mails. Hope to have been of some help.
Also, don’t worry about grizzled old veterans who are down on Hess. It’s not a good choice for someone who knows what they’re doing, but I chose it specifically because they’re the best set up for people fresh off the boat. Any horror stories are purely branch-specific just like anywhere, so hopefully you (and I!) get lucky. With Hess, there is a definite case of everyone who is saying something is saying it only because they have a reason to, but trust me, the majority of people working for Hess have no major problems to speak of.
How long it takes really depends on the rep. It took about a month between the time I applied and had my phone interview. After that was another month to get all the paperwork in order. Make sure to read up on people’s experiences at cram schools like Hess so that you know what you’re getting into. A lot of the grief people have with Hess is a result of mismatched expectations, so learn as much as you can about you’d be getting into. The “My Year at Kojen” thread (sorry, too lazy to link to it) is quite a good description of the kind of experience you can have. Teaching at Hess is definitely not the worst deal in Taiwan, but you WILL work like a dog… if you’re one of the lucky ones!