I'm looking to teach come January
 

I'm finishing up my honours BA at a Canadian University and am really excited to teach in Japan. I am wondering if anybody has tips regarding application. I've applied at a couple different company's websites and have yet to hear back from them.

What are some tips you have for my application. Anything I should avoid? Anything I need to know?

I'm really really excited to go to Japan and teach and I know I'd rock at it. I've been a swim instructor for a couple years and have volunteered at a few elementary schools.

Anybody? Hello?

Sorry, I avoided replying because I wasn't sure if you were genuine :/ I saw another person registered at the same time as you, similar username, same post count, plus I assumed someone else would reply to this too.

Anyways, this site has resume/CV tips and tips for passing the interview stage: How to Make a Resume. A Step by Step Sentence Improvement Guide It's a very good site and may help, I assume something like this is what you meant by 'tips at passing the application'?

Hmm
 

I'm talking more about content. I had to write a short 500 word essay for AEON about why I wanted to live and work in Japan and I thought it was very well written and thought out... but I've yet to hear from them. They are hiring all year in my area (Toronto, Canada). I'm quite disappointed.

By the way I won't actually have my BA until December. I'm finishing up my final two credits at University... I don't plan on teaching until January though. Maybe I haven't been called for an interview because I won't have my BA until December? What are your thoughts?

English teaching is not a growth industry in Japan. It is a shrinking one. The school year starts in April, so there just may not be openings for this school year right now (I know AEON doesn't follow the school year, per se, but you understand what I mean).

Do your homework. It's good interview practise if you know about the company and it's goals, it's style or approach to teaching etc, and besides. Not all eikaiwa are equal. Some have honestly appalling company policies/set up/attitudes to staff and you might want to have a good think about whether it's worth the risk in some places. Bearing in mind you will read bad reviews of almost all major Eikaiwa schools in Japan, some of them seem to have generated a lot more, so read around.

and always try and scrutinize the small print. Not knowing or understanding your contract can come back and bite you hard if you DO run into trouble later on in the jab.

Just thought I'd add, some places won't hire you until you actually have the degree and the certificate to prove it, from what I was told it's because you need the certificate to get the working visa, so without it they can't hire you. I could be wrong, but I imagine that's the norm for a few places, so it might be easier to get a job in December when you get your BA :)

Also - adding to what MMM said - a lot of major schools have a lot of applicants, insane ammounts really, especially for JET and things, and I think Aeon is one of the top schools, isn't it? It might be easier to look at smaller schools or apply in several places, but some of the older and more experienced members will probably have more to say on the matter and better advice :)

You may also want to check out Teaching English In Asia

AEON is pretty huge,
you'll have to be everything a student stereotypically expects a teacher to be, and also not be expecting to advance in your career, you hit max pay the day you start there, and you get no bonuses.

Like MMM also said, English schools are not doing well, the strong yen is slaughtering export companies which are/were a huge revenue to the industry.
I lost a dozen students myself who were in trading businesses.
A major competitor to AEON went bankrupt a few months back, that might have given them a tiny boost of fickle housewives for which they needed to get more teachers quickly, but whatever ad you responded to probably got a ridiculous amount of applicants who have tesol or other certs etc and probably even previous experience teaching English to Japanese people.

In other words, it's a very hard market to break into now as vets of it want to get back in for the same pay. It's a career with very little growth.

If you want in, after reading all that, take a job teaching kids. There are a plethora of them and not a single sane teacher wants them, they are a nightmare, but they get you nice pay and a foot in the door.