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07-29-2009, 10:44 PM

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Originally Posted by GTJ View Post
Well I got started on a study abroad program. I was there for a year, and really fell in love with the place. I met my girlfriend there, moved in with her, and worked some part time jobs. Then I came back to America at the end of May and I'll be headed back on my own dime in a few weeks like I mentioned before.
So you were living there on a student visa I suppose?


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07-29-2009, 10:45 PM

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So you were living there on a student visa I suppose?
I was last year, yes.
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07-30-2009, 04:07 AM

English schools are still hiring in Japan. The numbers of positions are less than they were a couple of years ago, but there are still many available.

As MMM said, the turnover rate for teachers is rather high. Most English teachers are recent college grads who come to Japan to experience living overseas for a time. 90% will return home after one year, meaning that their position will have to be filled by a new person. Perhaps 20% do not make it through the full year. They either become homesick, or simply do not like living in Japan (the reality is often much different from the expectation).

The two best times to apply for teaching positions are in early summer, and winter. At these times schools interview/hire teachers for the spring and fall semesters. Eikaiawa schools also hire most new teachers at these times as this is when enrollments are the highest.

The big schools receive thousands of applications, and hundreds are invited to interviews. Of these hundreds, quite a few never show up. Of the ones who do show up and participate in the interview process, less than half are actually hired.

It's not exactly easy to a job with a place like AEON or GEOS. You must travel to the interview at your own expense, and you will have to pay for your own ticket to Japan should you be hired. Depending on where you live, traveling to the interview and then on to Japan can cost a couple thousand dollars.

But, AEON and GEOS provide housing, and cover move-in costs, which makes getting set up in Japan much easier and less expensive. Other companies/schools don't necessarily offer housing assistance, and it may take a month or two before you begin receiving your pay, so you'll have pay move-in costs (which are high in Japan) and support yourself during that time.
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07-30-2009, 05:13 PM

It's pretty discouraging to learn that I would have to wait up to 5 months to be placed in Japan...if hired, I estimated to leave by the end of the year or latest January. Is this being too hopeful?
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07-30-2009, 05:16 PM

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Originally Posted by mzamike View Post
It's pretty discouraging to learn that I would have to wait up to 5 months to be placed in Japan...if hired, I estimated to leave by the end of the year or latest January. Is this being too hopeful?
Kinda, yeah. Sorry
If you apply to the huge eikaiwas, you won't start until Spring. And by "Spring", they mean "April 2010". Crazy, right?
If you apply to small eikaiwas, privately owned ones, you'll have less of a chance for them to consider you or even respond since you aren't even in the country, but you might get lucky.
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07-30-2009, 05:29 PM

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It's pretty discouraging to learn that I would have to wait up to 5 months to be placed in Japan...if hired, I estimated to leave by the end of the year or latest January. Is this being too hopeful?
I got a job teaching (science, not English) and had to wait more than a year from the first interview until I arrived. Japanese don't make decisions fast. They meet many times before doing anything. I would start now and consider myself lucky if I got there by April.


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07-31-2009, 02:21 AM

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It's pretty discouraging to learn that I would have to wait up to 5 months to be placed in Japan...if hired, I estimated to leave by the end of the year or latest January. Is this being too hopeful?
It probably is a little too hopeful. Remember, you are being hired to fill a position, and you must wait for that position to open, they simply can't open positions for the convenience of applicants.

5 months is not an eternity. In that time you can get a lot of useful things done, like study up on your Japanese, save money, and take care of loose ends at home.

It takes up to 2 months to get through the application and interview process, and an additional month for them to process the visa. That's a minimum of 3 months. In my case it took 4 months from the time I submitted my application to the time my flight departed for Japan.

You are talking about a major change in career and lifestyle. Beginning a new profession in a foreign country is not something to be taken lightly, nor is it something which should be rushed. You would be surprised at how many people decide at the last moment that they can't do it, and drop out of the process before they leave for Japan, or at how many arrive in Japan, work for a month or two, and decide that they don't like it here.

At the beginning they are very "gung-ho", they can't wait to leave. They endure the interview process, pay for the airfare, say their goodbyes, and prepare for a new life. Then they arrive and find that they don't fit in. They don't know the language, they don't know the food, they don't know how to get around. Everyone around them is a stranger, including their students and new coworkers. A lot of them freak out, suffer culture shock or severe homesickness. Some people realize that Japan is not anything like they imagined it to be, and find they dislike it. Some people actually hate living and working here (though they tend to find this out after a few years rather than immediately).

Don't be in a hurry, take advantage of the time to fully prepare yourself.
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07-31-2009, 11:27 PM

you're right Sangetsu. I guess the waiting comes with the territory. We'll see how everything goes after the interview.
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08-01-2009, 02:42 AM

Even some companies in the western world work slow sir.

A friend of mine applied to work at a bank here in Canada, and it took them 4 months to respond to his application. It lucked out for him, since he had just been laid off from his previous employer.

But it goes to show you its not just a Japanese thing. Bigger corporations take a long time to shuffle paperwork through HR. It's that much more work when you are talking about visas.

I know some eikaiwas will even want you to get a medical checkup before they will start the visa process.
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