Job Discussion Forums

[Rooster.]

[GTZetton]

Sent in my interview task for round 2 moments ago.

First interview went well. Well enough to email me the task anyway. It was a bit rough to do something so intimidating at 8:00, but she was well aware of that. I think it also helped that I didn't spend an entire day worrying about it, so it might have even helped to have it so early.

I feel reasonably confident about the task itself. Some of it seemed kind of nonsensical ('how would you rank the following in order of importance to you in terms of your job'), but most of it was stuff where Celta definitely came in handy, and hopefully gives me an edge over all the native speakers who have even less experience teaching.

So far so good! (knock on wood)

[GTZetton]

Just had the second interview and I feel pretty good about it. It only took 40 minutes as opposed to the 60 it said it was going to (so actually 5 minutes less than the first interview), but we covered all the bases and the guy seemed pretty upbeat about the whole thing. I'll get the results by November 4th at the latest.

[GTZetton]

"after reviewing your completed application along with the interviews that were conducted, you were unsuccessful in the final stages and we have decided to pursue other applicants for this position."

Dammit. No idea what those final stages are even supposed to be considering my second interview went better than the first one.

[spiral78]

Not to rub salt in a wound, but am curious what items of importance you were asked to rank, and how you ranked them - if you happen to feel like sharing them. There aren't really any 'right/wrong' answers to such questions - it's usually just about demonstrating what you understand about the context they want you to work in. A mismatch between your ideas and theirs might be a logical reason for them to back off.

Sorry you didn't get the job!

[Vince]

I'm sorry to hear that your first application didn't work out. If it's any consolation, I wasn't offered a position by the first company at which I applied. I applied at another company, blew through the interview with flying colors, and got the job. Shortly after I got to Japan and learned more about the eikaiwa scene, I realized that the first company would have been a poor fit for me.

If your Japanese is at level 1-2, you might consider other fields. It might be worth it to look for a job with a company in your country that has offices in Japan, or with a Japanese company that has offices in your country. Either way, your Japanese ability would probably put you at the top of the list for a transfer to Japan.

[cat mother]

I think it was most likely the case of
"Dutch? where is that? Oh, not an English speaking country. Can we get him a visa? Ask the boss."
a minute later
"He's not sure... ok, next!".

[GTZetton]

[GTZetton]

I sent out half a dozen applications through Gajinpot the past couple days, but they're all long shots (I'm constantly between the 20th and 120th applicant for any given posting), and I've only heard back from one so far ("thanks but no thanks"). Considering the numbers, I'm not expecting to hear back from any of the others, at least nothing positive.

So yesterday I had a thought. Or rather, I became more open to a possibility that several people around me had already suggested a while ago, which is to go to Japan on a tourist visa, look for work while there, and then change my tourist visa to a work visa once I have a job/sponsor. If nothing else, looking for work while there takes care of the "must reside in Japan" requirement which prevents me from responding to about 75% of everything that comes my way in Gaijinpot's jobmail. Rather than staying at a ho(s)tel, I'd find an apartment that doesn't need a guarantor and just pay rent for a few months, and use that as a central base. I might not have been hired by Gaba, but can still use their list of accomodations as a starting point for that particular search. I know there's a one month time limit while looking for work because "the application process for attaining the work visa could take up to two months" ( http://traveltips.usatoday.com/change-tourist-visa-working-visa-japan-18992.html ), but that still seems preferable to applying to a handful of super long shots every few days.

Responses on this reddit thread ( https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/1dwhue/getting_a_job_in_japan_on_a_tourists_visa_xpost/ ) are somewhat heartening, and the topic creator seemed to be in largely the same situation as I am.

So am I completely out of my mind? Or does this seem feasible? Feel free to shoot holes in my (admittedly far from fleshed out) plan.

By the way, regarding JET, I sent an email to the Japanese embassy (who is in charge of JET here) asking if a JET programme for 2016 is confirmed, and received this response:

[spiral78]

That 'integrity' thing at the top of your ranking might have made them afraid you'll be a tough grader in a situation where a student should not lose face regardless of actual performance
But otherwise your reasoning seems quite sound. These things are always a no-win anyway (what a silly task).

[Nemu_Yoake]

And if you have some savings, after the tourist visa period, if you need you can try to enroll in a language school and study some Jp while looking for a job. Better to find a job before, though.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

If you didn't do ten years of education in the language you intend to teach (so English immersion for almost ALL of your education), then you won't be able to get a visa to teach English.

If they asked and you said you had a BA and an MA all in English (and Japanese), then they counted and got to somewhere between 4 and 6 years of education in an English-medium environment. That's not ten years, and they won't be able to get a visa from it.

This kind of thing can even affect English native speakers from Canada if their parents sent them through the French immersion system (if anyone bothers to check and doesn't just see 'Canada' and approve it, or 'Netherlands' and deny it).

[GTZetton]

Well that's discouraging. But it also contradicts a lot of other accounts I've read. Maybe those rules have changed in the past few years, but for example: http://shichijyuuni.com/tag/non-native-english-speaker-teaching-english-in-japan/ is an account of a Polish woman who studied at an English university for all of one year, went to a seminar in London, then did an interview in London, another one in Japan (on a 'temporary visitor visa'), got the job and then had her visa changed to a Humanities one.

I have definitely seen the 10 years education requirement, but it's often listed as being the alternative to "having a degree that was taught in English" (which I do).

So what I'm guessing is that you're specifically talking about an instructor visa, but that that doesn't necessarily apply to a humanities visa. One post on japan-guide says "The closest thing there is [to a native or native equivalent English level requirement] is the requirement of having received 12 years of education in English, but this applies only to "Instructor" status, which is not what OP is asking about."

I suppose the takeaway from that is that it sounds like I'm limited to eikaiwa/ALT work, at when it comes to obtaining a visa. That's not too bad though; I wasn't expecting to land a job at a normal middle/high school or university right from the beginning anyway (the work experience requirements take care of that before the visa does).

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

ALTs have instructor visas.

[GTZetton]

Hmm. I've just read that ALTs and eikaiwa employees indeed have to go for different visas (another lesson learned, one I should have learned sooner, I will admit), as you say. But that makes me wonder about the JET programme in the Netherlands. As I recall, 'we' send 2 ALTs and 1 CIR (what visa would a CIR go for, by the way?) every year. I find it hard to imagine the ALTs always meet the English education standard for an instructor visa. In fact, it would make JET programmes in non-English speaking countries seem inherently illegal/useless.