By Jhoo Dong-chan
Being a flight attendant is one of most coveted jobs among young women here. But there is no standard way to become one, and some private institutes, or hagwon, take advantage of this and promote themselves as having connections with airline companies in exaggerated ads.
Korean Air, the nation's largest carrier, said Wednesday that it has filed complaints with police against several private flight attendant training institutes for exaggerated or false ads involving the company. It did not disclose how many institutes it has taken actions against.
According to the carrier, one hagwon was advertising that a former human resource manager at Korean Air established the institute and could do so-called "parachute recommendations," meaning the institute could recommend its trainees to incumbent officials of the airline company.
Another hagwon claimed that it knew inside information about the recruiting of major airlines, including Korean Air.
Promoting such false information, those institutes charge trainees between 500,000 and 3 million won for monthly tuition.
"Most of their advertisements are not true," a Korean Air official said.
"As far as I know, there is no director-level human resources manager who established a private flight attendant training institute after quitting their jobs here. And none of our company's flight attendants are hired via ‘parachute recommendations.'"
Counting on their deceptive advertisements, however, a great number of prospective flight attendants still choose to sign up for such hagwon, ending up paying expensive tuition every month.
A flight attendant, surnamed Jeon, who now works at a foreign airline firm, was shocked when she signed up for one institute three years ago.
"I had to pay 2 million won in advance," said Jeon. "I majored in aircraft cabin service management at college, but I still had to attend the private institute because I heard many students had become flight attendants through hagwon officials' recommendations."
Korean Air said that each airline company has different standards in recruitment, and thus following the same curriculum at those institutes will rather hinder their chances.
"In job interviews, flight attendant applicants tend to respond to interviewers' questions with the same boring answers," said another official. "Those institutes that use deceptive advertisements to make money now should be gone."
A source said the competition rate for flight attendants exceeded one to 1,100 on average last year.
Being a flight attendant is one of most coveted jobs among young women here. But there is no standard way to become one, and some private institutes, or hagwon, take advantage of this and promote themselves as having connections with airline companies in exaggerated ads.
Korean Air, the nation's largest carrier, said Wednesday that it has filed complaints with police against several private flight attendant training institutes for exaggerated or false ads involving the company. It did not disclose how many institutes it has taken actions against.
According to the carrier, one hagwon was advertising that a former human resource manager at Korean Air established the institute and could do so-called "parachute recommendations," meaning the institute could recommend its trainees to incumbent officials of the airline company.
Another hagwon claimed that it knew inside information about the recruiting of major airlines, including Korean Air.
Promoting such false information, those institutes charge trainees between 500,000 and 3 million won for monthly tuition.
"Most of their advertisements are not true," a Korean Air official said.
"As far as I know, there is no director-level human resources manager who established a private flight attendant training institute after quitting their jobs here. And none of our company's flight attendants are hired via ‘parachute recommendations.'"
Counting on their deceptive advertisements, however, a great number of prospective flight attendants still choose to sign up for such hagwon, ending up paying expensive tuition every month.
A flight attendant, surnamed Jeon, who now works at a foreign airline firm, was shocked when she signed up for one institute three years ago.
"I had to pay 2 million won in advance," said Jeon. "I majored in aircraft cabin service management at college, but I still had to attend the private institute because I heard many students had become flight attendants through hagwon officials' recommendations."
Korean Air said that each airline company has different standards in recruitment, and thus following the same curriculum at those institutes will rather hinder their chances.
"In job interviews, flight attendant applicants tend to respond to interviewers' questions with the same boring answers," said another official. "Those institutes that use deceptive advertisements to make money now should be gone."
A source said the competition rate for flight attendants exceeded one to 1,100 on average last year.
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