Pluses, minuses and unspoken rules of becoming an English teacher
 

I have been gathering info for the last year on what it actually takes to get a job teaching in Japan. I obviously have all the requirements down (degree, etc - although I have come across a few sources that say a degree is not *required*, but that's for another topic), but I am asking about any other tips that generally help or hurt when trying to land a job.

I am talking about mostly superficial characteristics, but not limited to things like nationality, tattoos, height, weight, hair color, etc.

I have even come across something that said that age counts as well. Is this true? Is there a cut-off? is it a general look of age?

Anything else you can add would be greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: I don't necessarily fall into the negative side of a lot of the traits I listed (although some would definitely apply). I am now just looking for broad info just to be completely prepared as well as maybe pass some useful tips to anyone else that might be in the same boat.

You know I really think it all depends on the school. I taught English part-time for half a year because I needed the money, I was already residing in Japan at the time..anyways I know that makes for very limited experience, but I'll post my views anyways.

IF you are teaching at an Eikaiwa, an English conversation school like I was, the most important thing is going to be how outgoing and sociable you are, unfortunately there are cases where this even trumps how qualified of a teacher you are, in my opinion. The students want to have fun, but not be treated like kids (most are adults by the way), and want to learn English, but don't want things like homework. There are serious students at Eikaiwa, but there's just as many students who view it as a social club. There will be great variation based on location, but a surprising amount of students are in their late 30s, 40s, etc. such as house wives, salarymen, so I don't think being too old is an issue, in my case (I'm a 24 year old guy) I would even say being too young seemed an issue, as almost all my students were older than me and professionals (conversely being young works in your favor if you are female).

Anyways I think regular Japanese schools and private Japanese schools are a whole different ballgame, but if you don't have experience or qualifications teaching English then you will most likely start with Eikaiwa anyways. Experience counts more it seems..I had a TEFL certification & Linguistics degree but no teaching experience beyond what was required for the TEFL and I could tell the recruiter was somewhat neutral to that idea..but this was right after the earthquake and Fukushima fiasco so there was a sudden severe shortage of eikaiwa teachers...to twist a term from its original historical context, there was a large 'white flight'.

Regular Japanese schools also care a lot more about tattoos and piercings, which isn't saying that eikaiwas don't care though..I would hide them just to be safe. In terms of weight and the rest, just remember being shy and introverted is more of a penalty than what you look like. If you come from an English speaking country it's a bonus, but there are actually a lot of English teachers in Japan from the Philippines now.

In conversation schools authenticity goes a long way,
students want to have lessons with foreigners, not with Japanified-filtered-tamed-foreigners.

The teachers who are opinionated, strong, tattooed, pierced, will attract a lot of students for the pure circus factor and it gives them a sense that they will be better prepared. This doesn't count for the businessmen so much though.

It depends greatly on who the owner is and how big the school is.

If you want to work at a bigger English school (Japanese owned) you'll have to be clean shaven, suited up with a tie and wearing glossy shoes with zero signs of unique personality or character.
At a private owned eikaiwa, you can let that character shine and get you your job with no experience.