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Gaba Corporation and I
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It's Scary!



Joined: 17 Apr 2011
Posts: 823

PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 1:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
...Japanese people...


Japanese are people? I must inform my Japanese person wife of this! I'll do it immediately after I start her up!

You see, I usually address her as "Domo Arigato, Missus Robato!" Rolling Eyes

It's all about word choice!
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Glenski



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

PostPosted: Sat Dec 24, 2011 6:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just an update on the poor working conditions at GABA.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20111220a1.html
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Plume D'ella Plumeria



Joined: 10 Jan 2005
Posts: 28
Location: The Lost Horizon

PostPosted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unbelievable, as regards GABA. I worked in Japan from 1989 until 2001. GABA was always advertising for teachers; practically begging for them. They had a poor reputation back then and it sounds like they still do. Back then, I didn't give them a second glance and I wouldn't do that today if I were still in Japan.

Nervy of them, I think, to make applicants jump through so many hoops to be employed by them. But times have changed it seems, and it's an employer's market. And desperately needing to be employed souls, desperately needing to pay off student loans are still flocking to Japan, Korea, etc in order to pay down those loans.

Such troubled times and it seems that companies like GABA and many others are taking advantage of that ...
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budgie



Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 40

PostPosted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 11:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Big list of requirements for a job that only pays 1500 yen a lesson.
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MichaelH



Joined: 26 Sep 2012
Posts: 7
Location: UK

PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 10:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sounds awful! I'm glad I read this. I just filled in their online form but I'll be asking some careful questions if I get an interview.
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HLJHLJ



Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador

PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I work part time for Gaba. I find it to be ridiculously easy money, I barely class it as 'work'. However, I have another weekday/term time job which pays a proper wage, so I just work for Gaba when it suits me.

I wouldn't want to be tied to a Gaba visa. I don't think they should be allowed to sponsor visas on itaku contracts. It would solve a lot of the problems.
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Solar Strength



Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 557
Location: Bangkok, Thailand

PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 4:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Gaba contacted me on Skype and the interview lasted 32 minutes. The interviewer didn't have a camera but I switched my camera on anyway. I was dressed in a suit and put on makeup.

Questions asked were the norm. Why Gaba? Why Japan?
He also referred to my CV and asked a few questions regarding my experience. He then went on to ensure that I have understood the terms by which Gaba would be employing me and went into a little detail on how the booking system works.

Instructors are expected to have an average of 160 lessons per month over 4 months. A certain number of top instructors are advanced to the next "belt level" (meaning a pay increase) at the end of an evaluation.

Questions are then put forth to the interviewer near the end of the session.

I must have passed the first interview as the interviewer said that he'll me e-mailing me a task.


About half an hour later, I received an e-mail with the task attached.
Task submission deadline: 15th Oct 12 noon. (Japan Time)

Failure to submit the task on time would result in a cancellation of the application.

Quote from e-mail:

"After receipt of your completed task, we will review your application documents. Successful applicants will be offered a 2nd Interview to be conducted via telephone/Skype call. "

The tasks consists of eight parts.
1) Write a creative story
2) Grammar - conjugate, and write a description of how you will teach the difference between Look, See and Watch.
3) Create a lesson plan
4) Vocabulary - explain how you will teach and elicit a word from a student.
5) Idioms
6) Case study
7) General Q&A
A detailed timeline of what you will do before coming to Japan.

EDIT:

I completed everything and submitted them on the 13th of October.

One reference letter still pending...

EDIT:

I got invited to an Information Seminar on 20th October in their main office in Shibuya. My 2nd (and final, I hope) interview will be conducted after the seminar.

One letter still pending...


EDIT:

Letter received and sent!

20TH OCTOBER.
I SCREWED UP! I got a bit lost and was late for the information seminar. I was told to wait outside for thirty minutes. After waiting for about forty minutes, a recruiter came out and introduced herself. It was a middle-aged Japanese lady who spoke quite fluently.

She started the interview with questions regarding my resume, and again highlighting the itaku contract differences. She also asked me whether I would be prepared to stick it out for the first few months to build up my student base. All throughout the interview she used lines like 'if we do hire you' and 'in the event that you'll be employed by us' and 'hypothetically', etc etc.

Then she asked for my passport and original degree, asked me to fill up a form... and then it was time for the demo-lesson.

I had 7 minutes to teach 'look', 'see' and 'hear'. The lady posed as a student and pretended to be a low-level student.

She said she liked how I elicited conversation from the student, but my demo was missing some key words. ( I was actually trying to make her say them, but... oh well) And she liked how expressive I was with all the gestures and actions I made. Though... she pointed out that the students will most likely all be adults and my approach would be excellent for kids... OUCH.

She then asked how I would handle a student who'd rather do something else than the lesson for the day. I can't remember what the hell I said.

Then she went on to ask me to pretend that she was a businessman who goes to America a lot and finds it tough to say no to aggressive Americans. I had to tell her/him? how to disagree.

I think she was quite satisfied with my performance and when she asked if I had any questions my mind was a blank. After thinking for a bit I asked what should I do if I wanted to keep working for Gaba after my contract ends. (Hoping to show her that I am willing to work, and work long-term.)



Holy crap!

GABA sounds like a bloody circus and the applicants the clowns. I know people hired for tenured EFL positions at Japanese universities who did not have to jump the kind of hoops GABA requires. 2 interviews? A written task? A teaching demo?

All for a job that DOES NOT provide any guaranteed income?

Have people lost their minds? Shocked
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Solar Strength



Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 557
Location: Bangkok, Thailand

PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

micchan wrote:
they responded =) Updating main post now...


micchan,

Well, did you get the job? An update would be nice, letting readers know if you got the job and how the experience was and also if you're still there.
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HLJHLJ



Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador

PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Solar Strength wrote:

Holy crap!

GABA sounds like a bloody circus and the applicants the clowns. I know people hired for tenured EFL positions at Japanese universities who did not have to jump the kind of hoops GABA requires. 2 interviews? A written task? A teaching demo?

All for a job that DOES NOT provide any guaranteed income?

Have people lost their minds? Shocked


Either the process from outside Japan is *way* more in depth, or there is a element of exaggeration in some of the posts.

In Japan I went to the 'info session' or whatever they call it. Sat through a presentation on itaku, the booking system, training etc. There was a short 'interview', maybe 10 mins max. They checked you weren't an obvious nutter, did a preliminary paperwork check, and made sure you could string a sentence together.

While we waited for people to have these interviews we did the written task. It couldn't have been more basic, explain a couple of grammar and vocab points, explain a couple of idioms, give another idiom. A needs analysis from a case study they gave us, with space for maybe 2 sentences for your answer. A 'lesson plan' with space for maybe 5 sentences. It took about 20 minutes.

The standards did not seem to be high, some of the other applicants didn't know the most basic terms (infinitive, idiom) or what a lesson plan was. A couple of them had forgotten their documents. They were all given second interviews.

Second interview lasted about 15 minutes plus a 5 min demo of one of the old standards ('look and see' for me). Talked about experience, why I wanted to work for Gaba, did I understand the contract, what hours did I want to work, proper check of my docs, some negotiations on where I was willing to work and a job offer. I guess if you have no previous teaching experience they would want more demos, etc off you to see if you've got any idea what you are doing, but they didn't overdo it with me.

The only thing that bugged me was having to trek back into the centre for the second interview, but I suspect that is done in order to make it easier to weed the oddballs out after the first interview. It's harder to send people home if they are expecting the second interview the same day.

Other than that the whole process took considerably less time than filling in the application for my Uni job.

I am NOT justifying the more suspect aspects of their contracts, but the application process really wasn't a big deal.
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fat_chris



Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing

PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 3:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whenever I see or hear "GABA", I always think of the Ramones:

Gabba, Gabba...Hey!

Cool

Warm regards,
fat_chris
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Cool Teacher



Joined: 18 May 2009
Posts: 930
Location: Here, There and Everywhere! :D

PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 10:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I worked for GABA a short time only part time. It wasnt so diffcitul to do the interview from my memories but maybe they are not so choosy inside Japan. Cool

I think the follow-up training things are a bit boring though. Confused
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