Job Discussion Forums

Rocket00000 · Joined: 27 Mar 2014 Posts: 8

Hi everybody! I hope you like my friendly salutation enough to give me some good advice about whether or not teaching in Japan is worth the trouble! (Sorry if I'm rambling, I'm in the middle of grad school induced homework psychosis).

My relevant qualifications are as follows:

*MA: TESOL (graduating this July)
*MFA: Creative nonfiction (that's where the money's at!)
*3 years ESL teaching experience (China, Japan, Peru, Chile)
*2 years college teaching experience (comp classes)
*2 years substitute teaching experience (one job was a long-term position at a special ed school which lasted the entire school year)

With these qualifications what should I be shooting for? Ideally, I would like to work with adults, but I'll take what I can get as long as the pay is decent. By "decent" I mean over 3K a month. Is that unreasonable? Is it too high, or, like Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls, am I selling myself short?

Are untenured university positions attainable or even desirable? Are the jobs on JREC worth applying for? What's with this whole "job" thing about anyway? I thought we were supposed to be living in a Burning Man, post-apocalyptic, barter economy already.

My long-term plan is to spend a few years in Japan getting post-master's teaching experience before moving on to more lucrative gigs elsewhere. Are there lucrative gigs left in ESL? Was getting into this field a huge mistake? I mean, I like teaching English. Joseph Campbell told me to "follow my bliss" but what if he was just some crazy guy who didn't know what he was talking about?

At any rate, may the universe shower you with blessings for reading this far. Any advice or opinions or information would be greatly appreciated.

Please enjoy these fun emoticons at no extra charge: Very Happy

mitsui · Joined: 10 Jun 2007 Posts: 1562 Location: Kawasaki

For a limited contract, OK.
But you need a lot of money to start off.

If you want to head elsewhere later, like China, I think it is OK.
It just is getting harder to get work here.
Lots more teachers have come here since the Great Recession.
I hear of universities wanting to outsource their teachers to Berlitz or Westgate and they get just 3,000 per hour.

We are moving towards the gig economy here, where more teachers work part-time.

taikibansei · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Posts: 811 Location: Japan

It depends on your age. If you are under 40 with those credentials, I think you'd have a really good chance at getting hired in a full-time, nontenured position at a university. You will most likely be on a one-year contract, renewable up to four times. The pay would be between $50,000-$60,000 US yearly. (Once you are over 40, it becomes increasingly difficult to find full-time work without being in-country with refereed publications and at least intermediate Japanese language ability. And even then there can be challenges....)

I have been hired from overseas twice. Typically, Japanese universities interested in overseas applicants will advertise at The Chronicle of Higher Education:

https://chroniclevitae.com/job_search/new?cid=chenav

However, sometimes you'll find ads open to overseas applicants on the English-language side of JRECIN:

https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekTop?ln=1

As I've written before, the number and quality (salaries, workloads, employment status) of jobs offered on the English-language side tend to be far worse than the Japanese-language side here.

https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekTop

Still, without Japanese ability, publications, significant Japanese university experience and current residency, you won't be competitive for the better positions yet.

On the thread at this link, I describe the hiring criteria for the better (tenured, tenure-track) positions at Japanese universities:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=113291&start=30

Good luck!

baki · Joined: 29 Dec 2010 Posts: 72

I would advice not to, the glory days of Japan back in the 90s when they had money are long gone and they can't afford to relive those days anymore.

With your qualifications and enthusiasm I would recommend prospering countries like Dubai (where you can get paid a lot more if money is your short term goal) or go further in your studies (long term goal) and become a university lecturer in your home country. You will be far better off financially working for companies that offers better contracts and working conditions and/or a more established and stable position at a university where you can prove your mettle as a teacher and lead a sustainable career that opens up to more opportunities like research. Japan is simply not the place to do that.

taikibansei · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Posts: 811 Location: Japan

baki · Joined: 29 Dec 2010 Posts: 72

kzjohn · Joined: 30 Apr 2014 Posts: 277

Rocket00000 · Joined: 27 Mar 2014 Posts: 8

Thanks for the advice everyone!

Yeah, to be honest I'm getting tired of the jumping between one-year contracts, limited benefits, high stress, ESL lifestyle. I'll probably apply to a number of one-year untenured university positions in Japan, and if nothing acceptable pans out find work here in the States.

If I get the urge to head overseas again in a few years I'll be in a better position with a few more years of teaching experience.

Thanks also for pointing out the other thread to me. It's very helpful.