Job Discussion Forums

[victory7]

For those who want to live and work in Japan, esp Tokyo, and for those with some experience of living elsewhere in Japan - just check out craigslist in Tokyo, the English version.

It gives a very clear view into what's up re the decline and fall of the English language industry in Tokyo. Just now I read another exploitation bid pretending to be an English teaching job.

Woo hoo - you can teach a group of kids and adults in Shinagawa, one of Tokyo's cental wards, at a climbing facility. You must be proficient in Japanese speaking ability and you'll sometimes teach adults as well as kids. Great - sounds like the basis for success with mixed age disparities and mixed levels.

Oh yeah, and they will generously pay you 1,000 yen per hour for this mess and trying to make it work. Around 9 bucks US, less in some other currencies.

I guess the idea is to feel grateful for this particular bottom of the barrel when you look at ads like the Mom who wants you to teach her beginner kids at home somewhere in Itabashi on the Mita subway line for 1,200 yen or 1,000 yen - but she makes it clear she only wants to pay 1,000 per hour.

This lovely potential employer wants you to come separately 3 x a week for 1 hour on those 3 days. And to make it even more of a sweet deal, she starts her latest craigslist ad on September 1st by more or less attacking the foreigners she expects to apply for this 'job'. She writes something along the lines of 'None of this and none of that. Don't ask me for whatever.'

I guess she's being an honest exploiter but the arrogance is something dandy. And these people have plenty of company. Even if you're desperate, please don't go for these jobs on craigslist. Let the posters assume, demand and keep expecting to grab English lessons - just don't be the ones to oblige them.

[mitsui]

What you are starting to see are jobs which pay 3000 per hour to not be the norm.
Many now have pay at 2500 yen or even less than 2000.
You have to consider the commute. Less than 3000 is not worth it.

Things have just gotten worse over the last ten years.
I got turned down for a job teaching two boys (11 and 12 years old) who are going to the US in the fall. The job calls for teaching 5-8 hours per day, about twice a week or more.
I asked for 5,000 per hour. It was quite odd as the family went through an education company in the US and they refuse to pay for transportation.
They live out in Odawara.

Hmm. Two unmotivated boys. 5 hours of English, teach reading and writing, but make it fun. Talk about Halloween and Thanksgiving, blah, blah, blah.

[TrampledKlown]

I think you guys are trolling.

Non-native STUDENTS in Japan teach English for 20,000/hour.

If you're a native speaker with no teaching experience, you can teach online for $20-$30 USD/hour

[Vince]

There's no question that the TEFL market in Japan isn't as lucrative as it used to be. But the examples above strike me as particularly ugly, and not representative of the average TEFL opportunity.

[Maitoshi]

I really don't think they are trolling. These kind of job adverts are around and they remind me of some business owners that complain that they can't attract and keep qualified people, but fail to see a possible correlation between the overall compensation and the kinds of candidates they attract. I've seen one employer post a position with a three-stage employment process, including document review, interview and demonstration lesson for a one-off weekend seminar that paid less per hour than a typical table-talk conversation lesson. Granted, this was a community center, but it's not hard to see why so few people applied, let alone people with the desired qualifications. I doubt these organizations go through the trouble of even informal market research, so it's not hard to believe that individuals could hold perspectives that are so divorced from market conditions.

[victory7]

[Maitoshi]

Agreed that people ought not to take less than 2,000 yen per hour if they can help it. Just to make an obvious point, though, just because positions are posted at these rates doesn't mean the poster is receiving interest in the position. Some people offer their "treasures" on Craigslist, as well, and don't get responses from interested buyers until they drop the price. If these positions are being filled at these rates, I wonder what kind of applicants they are getting and how long they are being retained.

[mitsui]

2,000 for someone with a BA?
It used to be 3,000 (at least) for those with a MA,
and business English used to be 7,000 ten years ago.

[Maitoshi]

And I hear stories from 昭和外人 that salaries for university used to be close to double what they are now and often for less work...

[taikibansei]

[taikibansei]

[Maitoshi]

That's good to know, so thanks! I figured I'd just entered the scene a few decades too late. Regarding salary, though, topping out at just under 10 million sounds right at a national university. This can vary quite a bit at private unis, though. Private unis tend to pay quite a bit more, at least from very a very informal and quite limited survey conducted by yours truly (read: my being nosey after a few too many drinks).

[The Transformer]

Those kinds of rates of 2,000-2,500 yen per hour have been the norm for "bog standard" eikaiwa/English teaching for quite some time.

When you think about it, the work isn't worth any more than that, given that it's low-skilled, and the main aspect of the job is simply talking to people and entertaining them. Japanese teachers of English at eikaiwa earn less than that, and reception staff even less, perhaps around 1,000 yen an hour, similar to other low-skilled jobs like waitering, bartending, burger flipping etc.

I think it's a good thing that the days of the over-inflated eikaiwa bubble are well-and-truly over. It stops people from dawdling in it as a pseudo-"career" for years on end the way they used to do, and it makes people realize sooner rather than later what an exploitative, stinking criminal racket the majority of the eikaiwa "industry" really is.

[taikibansei]

[Maitoshi]

This!