Job Discussion Forums

[timothypfox]

Do an MA or MS in TESOL through a Teaching Fellow Program or Teach for America. This will give you classroom certification in TESOL and a heavily subsidized master's degree in exchange for 2-3 years in a a high needs school.

While you are working, tutor Japanese college kids on the side so you can claim you have direct working experience and an interest in working with Japanese kids. I might even suggest (depending on where you are) to try an do some side work at GEOS North America - a Japanese language school chain that operates schools in Canada and the US (the Japan side of the company went bankrupt - but it is still a very famous company).

After all this, you could try for work at Japanese private high school. This route would give you a reasonable salary and a greater possibility of a permanent position. In comparison with university life, you will probably have fewer days off.

It is a job where you will be very valued as a member of the school and community. After 3 1/2 in my small town, I am getting known so I get far fewer questions about when you are going back. After a while, these types of questions won't bother you at all any more. It's typical to overthink a lot of these issues initially - but after a while i would go so far to say you won't even notice them anymore.

Good luck!

[Maitoshi]

Scratch my last post! I just reread OP's first post. He says he wants to return to Japan to live for a long time. Did you work here before? Or just study abroad/visit?

I'm sure if you worked here before you know these are entirely two different beasts, that's why I ask. If you have only visited or studied here before, I still suggest giving work here a shot before fully committing to Japan. If you have worked here before, then you are in the best position to make the decision for yourself.

I just hate to see when people give themselves two choices and then seem to think there really are no other viable options. Usually there are a number of other good options to consider.

[Pitarou]

[teacherfromca]

[fat_chris]

^^^Actually that's Maitoshi's quote and not mine, but nonetheless, I agree with everyone's previous comments on these sentiments regarding living in Japan and marriage.

For me Japan is like anywhere else, great at first, then day-to-day mundane afterwards. In my case the shine wore off after three years. It was a nice place to live, but ended up being no better or worse than other places for me really.

[Maitoshi]

[fat_chris]

[Maitoshi]

Don't get married and trapped lol. I've already lived in Japan a few years doing, you guessed it, teaching English. Also did one year in China.[/quote]

Don't be too quick to laugh, there! It's happened to more than a few guys I know! 😉

[mitsui]

You will not get trapped if your wife can live in your country and if there are opportunities there.
I am looking at work in the US now, and my wife can live there, just not the East Coast and Chicago. Too many neurotic people there, she thinks.
I guess she prefers the neurotic types in Tokyo or Osaka.

This doesn't always apply to people from the UK, Ireland and Canada.
They seem to get trapped more.

[Pitarou]

[Maitoshi]

[Maitoshi]

Sorry for that little rant, but a couple of years worth of fighting and crying and losing sleep tends to wear one down really fast, then you find yourself moving to Japan and working quite hard for about half of your previous take home pay. Oh well ...

So long as it's not in vain, I suppose. I also hear that a number of guys in my situation wind up getting divorced after all of this anyway. I can just hope this doesn't wind up being the case for me, as I don't know if I could handle not being around my kids.

[Vince]

Unless you're happy to spend the rest of your life saddled with debt, I wouldn't take on a $50K (plus interest) student loan bill for a job that pays so little and offers relatively low security.

If you go with EFL, I second the idea of getting certification and job experience through Teach for America - if you're okay with starting at an at-risk school in a bad neighborhood. The time commitment would be about the same, but your schooling would be paid for and you'd get real experience.

Instead of going for the EFL default, you could become certified through Teach for America in the subject of your undergrad degree and aim for teaching that at an international school.

As for getting into a non-EFL field, most of us have investigated that steep slope and either continued with EFL or gone home. You'll need to gain several years of proficiency in your field, and you'll also need to get to N1 Japanese. Depending on your field, you'll want as much exposure to global business as you can get. You can't always start that today though. First you need to get into the right company, then work your way up to a position that will give you the skills you need to be a candidate for a position in Japan. You might be able to use the company's tuition assistance program for your grad studies.

Getting a job with a company that has offices in Japan might be easiest. Just be clear at the outset the Japanese office actually has the kind of work you'd want to do.

[nightsintodreams]

That's perhaps good advice for the most part but some of the things you said are simply hot true 100% of the time.

The majority of people I've met who work in a Japanese company DON'T have N1. They all had N2 though.

Secondly, one of my close friends went straight into a position he wanted at a company.

Thirdly, many of the people I've met who work for Japanese companies have no global business experience and very little knowledge in that field as far as I'm aware.

[PO1]