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zues
Joined: 24 Mar 2013
Posts: 32
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 Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 1:56 pm Post subject: Obscenely high paying ESL work starting for 2020 Olympics |
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Who got dem jobby jobs lads.... come on now, hand over the goods. I know there are some crazy high paying gigs out there to prepare an impossible Japanese populace for the impossible.... to speak with actual humans... in a disjointed, uncomfortable, automaton manner (per usual).
Be talking bout 7000 - 10,000 yen per hour according to one friend. Alright, an acquaintance and a drunk at that.
I will report if I learn more. Let's stick it to the man with his own chopsticks! |
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taikibansei
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 811
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 5:14 pm Post subject: Re: Obscenely high paying ESL work starting for 2020 Olympic |
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| zues wrote: |
Who got dem jobby jobs lads.... come on now, hand over the goods. I know there are some crazy high paying gigs out there to prepare an impossible Japanese populace for the impossible.... to speak with actual humans... in a disjointed, uncomfortable, automaton manner (per usual).
Be talking bout 7000 - 10,000 yen per hour according to one friend. Alright, an acquaintance and a drunk at that.
I will report if I learn more. Let's stick it to the man with his own chopsticks! |
Can I have some of what your friend is having? 
I seriously doubt there will be any huge surge in the number of available jobs, let alone a huge spike in salaries. They have been improving the English-speaking infrastructure in Tokyo for at least the last year. Mainly, this has just meant prioritizing the hiring of English-capable Japanese staff, many of whom were either unemployed or under-employed.
See, it's a bit of a myth that people in this country cannot speak English. Many can; they just haven't been able to get good/relevant jobs. I started researching this after I noticed a multi-year pattern where many of the best students (800+ TOEIC) from my university's highly rated English program consistently failed to get jobs relevant to using...English. On the other hand, our less...um...language-inclined students would somehow get these great jobs requiring English.
Why did this happen? The reasons are complicated, but one of them involves Japanese beliefs about university education. While student entrance to and successful graduation from university are considered important in that they demonstrate an ability to learn, the substance of what students learn while attending university has not traditionally been valued; after all, they will learn the important stuff after hire. To cite just one example, a 2011 Asashi Shinbun survey to over a thousand companies found that over 65% preferred hiring hiring college graduates with an extensive record of participation in extracurricular club activities--particularly physical-education majors (taiiku kaikai) and/or those who played sports while in school--over English majors for jobs requiring English language ability. The company respondents cited the greater "teachability," "endurance," and superior "teamwork skills" of these students—not to mention their supposedly deeply ingrained “respect for superiors”—as their main reasons.
Now, with the Olympics coming, we're seeing a different pattern. Suddenly, high levels of English proficiency are valued--all our best students who applied to the Tokyo area the last two years have gotten their first choice of jobs, and all these jobs involved English. Suddenly, Tokyo cops seem to have started walking in groups of two, one of whom is invariably English-capable. Suddenly, in local airports and stations and at various landmarks, we're seeing a huge increase in English capabilities, including what appear to be middle-aged former housewives (many with amazing English skills) now working as (most likely volunteer/temporary) staff. Heck, last week at Narita, I watched a janitor helping out two tourists in (pretty darn fluent) English. (When I first started coming to Japan, getting understandable assistance in English from even the "Information Desk" was a challenge....)
If there were going to be a huge spike in job availability and salaries, I think it would have already begun. Instead, we've seen recent articles about relying on "unpaid volunteers"...which I think would be awful. The bottom line, though, is that many (most?) Japanese believe they already have the human resources sufficient to handle things without hiring a huge amount of additional "English teachers." And you know, I think they are probably right.... |
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murray1978
Joined: 02 Dec 2008
Posts: 84
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| Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 4:27 am Post subject: |
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I can't take this thread seriously when the OP writes it as a joke. However, I do think being in Japan for the Olympics would be really fun.
I know ESL jobs exploded in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics so hopefully some more high paying jobs open up. |
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mitsui
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 1562
Location: Kawasaki
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| Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 5:30 am Post subject: |
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So far, no. The Tokyo government is using some chain (maybe ECC) and I don't think the pay is good. It is for some public servants, and was more for helping tourists.
There was a critical article about it in the Japan Times.
At ministries there is part-time work but the pay is about 2,500 per hour.
I guess they think the prestige factor means they can do it on the cheap.
And considering the new governor wants to cut costs on construction I don't see lots of English teachers getting rich. |
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TokyoLiz
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 7:58 am Post subject: |
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| The volunteer jobs are ideal for university students - they're likely to be available during the games, and participated in club activities, so they know about sports. If anything, the Olympic Games could be a great boost for students from Kanda Gaigo, Waseda, Temple and other universities that have strong language departments. |
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taikibansei
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 811
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 8:10 am Post subject: |
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| TokyoLiz wrote: |
| The volunteer jobs are ideal for university students - they're likely to be available during the games, and participated in club activities, so they know about sports. If anything, the Olympic Games could be a great boost for students from Kanda Gaigo, Waseda, Temple and other universities that have strong language departments. |
I think the volunteers will be made up of students, senior citizens and housewives. I do hope they get paid something though.... |
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Rooster.
Joined: 13 Mar 2012
Posts: 247
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| Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 1:28 am Post subject: |
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| I bet the pay is good for the schools, though. |
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