Job Discussion Forums

[ohahakehte]

after you finished your college/university degree did you go straight to asia to teach english? was it your "first job" as in, first salaried, legitimate job and not an unviable "student job" that we all did during college/university? in my case, i wasnt against teaching english in asia, but it was my last choice because all my other options didnt work out.

[Timuli]

After 6 and a half year in uni went to become an attorney. Worked as such for a while. Then became a state prosecutor. Then went back to uni for a masters, then finally came to Japan.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[wintersweet]

[denise]

Just out of curiosity--what are you going to do with the responses from all of your polls? You have quite a few going now.

Teaching was not my first job, and Japan is not the first place that I have taught in. I had an office job for two years after college, then spent two years teaching in the Czech Republic, then two years in grad school, and now here I am.

I knew in my final semester of college that I wanted to teach, or at least give it a try. The office job was a means to an end--it enabled me to save up money for my TEFL course. I didn't fall into this field because there was nothing else at home; I chose this field very intentionally.

d

[Gordon]

While I was in university I was a manager of a fitness club. After I graduated I worked f/t for another year, then my wife and I backpacked for 8 months around Europe and Turkey, mostly in the southern and eastern parts of Europe where it is cheapest. Then when I got back to Canada I left this time for Korea to teach after about 7 weeks. That was 10 years ago that I started teaching and have done this f/t ever since slowly moving on to better and better jobs while getting more training and education along the way.

[Albright]

My first "job" was a paper route, where I had to monthly go to most of my customers' houses and look them in the face while they decided how much of a tip I deserved. My second was working part-time (full-time during summers) at a grocery store at which my step-father was the manager; I ate dinner sitting across the table from the man who signed my paycheck. Between these two jobs, I learned a thing or two about being a serious, disciplined employee. I've been working more or less continuously since I was sixteen at a variety of jobs, both part- and full-time. So, no, my upcoming stint with ECC will not be my first job.

In college, I would often be shocked by the attitudes some of my co-workers would have towards their jobs... Truancy, defiance, and so on. I eventually came to realize that this often happened because this was the first job these kids had ever had, and they had no idea how to be a serious employee. I'm glad that I was never in such a situation. I pity those for whom an eikaiwa gig will be their first job, and who will have a similar ignorant attitude, half a world away from home... I guess those low-paid, probationary training sessions serve more than the stated purpose.

Heh, I remember my first year in college, I worked at the cafeteria. One of my shifts was scrubbing pots and pans, and one day during this shift, I was joined by a new co-worker... who would refuse to touch any cooking implement that had been used to cook meat. After that one day, I never saw her on the job again.

[AndyH]

I spent six years in the US Marine Corps, went to college, graduated, made the mistake of getting married, worked in law enforcement for five years, got divorced, went to Korea, realized it was another mistake, came to Japan, will get married again! (this time it isn't a mistake!!).