Job Discussion Forums

[CinD]

I was wondering if anyone had an email address for the MIL folk. They dont have one listed on their site tho they say they prefer to be contacted this way LOL/
Anyone had experince with them? What's the interview process like? And how about money and benefits..I see no salary listed. Thanks for any information Cindy in Canada

[CokoSensei]

[email protected]

I had 1 interview with J Couke but got offered something better elsewhere! Check my previous posting. Someone had a good reply.

[CinD]

So you're experience with the MILwan't a positive one? Or did another bigger and better carrot come along? Please offer up your honest opinions IF they are a brutal and dishonesty organization I would like to know now before my friends and I attempt to get employment through them Thanks again for the reply Cindy

[CokoSensei]

[CinD]

Thanks very much for sharing your experience with me Cindy

[Davefay]

My wife and I taught at MIL for quite some time. It's a great place to work, especially for couples. The contract is completely honored as written, the pay is on time, and the Japanese staff are competent and helpful. They do everything to get you set up living in Japan ASAP (apartment, gaijin card etc.), so you can get on with the job of teaching.

Unlike the big schools, you are not a commission salesman hustling students. They also treat their students well, allowing them to quit with a month's notice- not paying large amounts up front and losing money if they do quit. The manager and the owners are around and easy to talk to if you do have a problem.

Negatives? Really too minor to even write about. Twice a year there is quite a raft of paperwork; at some branches there is only a five minute break between classes, which can be demanding if you have several in a row.

After seven years in Japan, having met a lot of teachers and learned about a lot of other work situations, were I asked the best school to recomment, MIL would be it.

[CinD]

Thanks for the response Dave. A quailty school that treats it's wemployees and students well is exactly what I'm looking for Thanks very much for sharing your experience and opinion with me! Cindy

[PAULH]

(Quoted from original post)

Thought I would add my 2 cents here...(*hehe)

I worked for M.I.L for 2 years before moving to Tokyo in 2003. While I can't comment with any authority on the current working atmosphere, when I was there I didn't think that there was much to complain about.

I arrived in Japan on very short notice and found that the management was very supportive of new teachers both in the classroom and in our daily lives. They provided a furnished apartment and a land line, paid my key money, helped me set up a bank account, took me to the ward office to get my gaijin card sorted out, gave me an interest-free loan to tide me over until my first paycheck, explained all the bills that I couldn't read and explained the train system in detail. Even after having lived in Japan for two years, when I moved to Tokyo and had to do this all on my own, it was expensive and a colossal pain in the ass.

Like most recent graduates who come to Japan to teach English, I didn't know my ass from my elbow in the classroom. I honestly can't remember much about the training, I was in such a fog having just landed in Japan, but I do remember it taking some time before I was comfortable in the classroom. In regards to the workshops, I despise staff meetings and I eventually came to find these monthly workshops tedious, but at the beginning they were actually quite helpful. Furthermore, considering the weekly marathon sessions I have to endure at my current job, even at their worst, these monthly meetings really weren't that bad! (As an aside, I find it unbelievable that someone with such limited teaching experience would be so pompous as to criticize the director's teaching, considering that she has been in the classroom longer than the majority of her staff members have been alive!)

I had a good working relationship with both the director and with middle management, and found that they always did their best to accommodate my needs. When I was having personal issues with a particular teacher, they promptly moved me to different school on the day I was normally scheduled to work with him. They helped me deal with pushy parents in my returnee classes and usually gave me the overtime I wanted and tried to schedule my yukyu when I wanted to take it. Criticism, when it was given, was always constructive (teachers were video-taped in the classroom, and feedback given once or twice a year). While Diamond Joe has a point about the job being short on praise for excellence in teaching (I do remember teachers being referred to as "warm bodies at one point), unfortunately this seems to be the case not only in the eikaiwa world, but in the teaching profession as a whole. My mother, who has been a public school teacher in Canada for over 25 years often complains about this too.

As for socializing with students...(........) Perhaps policy has changed, but it was pretty common for teachers to socialize with their adult students on occasion, and for teachers to hang out with the Japanese support staff.

M.I.L. laid out their working regulations very clearly and followed their contracts to the letter. While I don't agree with M.I.L. 3 year limit on contract renewals, it is a policy that is clearly laid in the contract. Salaries were above average for entry-level English teaching, the working hours reasonable, and the holidays standard. If you don't like the contract, then don't sign the damn thing!

The drug incident happened after I left (although I do remember hearing about it through the grapevine), so I can't comment on that, except to say that of course the school would be petrified if that news got out to the community. Being a Canadian, I have relatively liberal views on the subject of pot, (my husband is from B.C.), but I believe that as a guest in a foreign country one is obliged to follow its laws.

In sum, I think that M.I.L. is an excellent place to get your feet wet in Japan, and I have many friends who have worked there and feel the same way.


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[QueenSerenity42]

Just as an FYI, several people I know (myself included) applied recently and were told that they currently have no places open and aren't taking new applications until the end of June. Are you responding to an ad somewhere?

[PAULH]

[QueenSerenity42]

I think I should have been more clear. I was just wondering if she was applying in response to an ad, not asking if she'd post the ad here. Sorry!

[AndyH]

I've worked at MIL for a little over a year, and it is a good place. I read the rant on "Gaijinpot" by the former teacher, and it is a crock of S**T. His allegations are full of half-truths, petty complaints, and downright lies.