Job Discussion Forums

Bubba · Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 34

which are the good places to work in Sapporo these days?

How to the following stack up in terms of pay and staff satisfaction:

NOVA
AEON
Berlitz
GEOS
IAY
IMA (still operating?)
NCB (?)
ELS
American Club (?)
Trendy House

any more?

AndyH · Joined: 30 Sep 2004 Posts: 417

I don't know about other peoples' experiences, but I interviewed with ECC in Sapporo a little over a year ago, and it was probably the worst job interview I'd ever had! The interviewer refused to introduce himself, and took most of the interview time insisting that I wasn't a native English speaker, even though I had my US passport (saying I was born in Oregon), honorable discharge papers from the US Marine Corps, and look about as "WASP" as one could be! I left the interview not wanting to have anything to do with them, and I think the feeling was mutual on their part! Also, they seemed to focus, at least with kids, a lot more on"entertaining" them at the expense of teaching them practical language skills.
Maybe the interviewer was just having a bad day, and perhaps there are others out there with positive ECC experiences.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Trendy House went bankrupt, so they are no longer in business.
NCB is reporting reduced clientele, so they are cutting hours on teachers.
IAY and the Big five are still here and doing business fairly steadily as far as I know. ELS has posted job ads recently so they must still be doing business, but on what scale, I don't know.

Don't know about the others, so I'll ask around.

Bubba · Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 34

Cheers Glenski. Is that Kiwi guy still head instructor at Nova? And is EC famous as the worst place to work in town?

ERINJK · Joined: 26 Feb 2005 Posts: 25 Location: In Gifu-ken, Japan

I haven't heard many good things about EC school in Hokkaido and when I applied at ECC they told me they don't hire native English speakers for full-time work... usually just Semi-full time or Part-time.

ERIN

GreenDestiny · Joined: 27 Nov 2004 Posts: 88 Location: International

Speaking of Hokkaido, there's a position on the job board by Japan Continental Corporation paying only 180-200 per month.
Question

What's strange is its *no degree required* statement? I've never seen that before in a Japan-related job ad.

All the best,
GreenDestiny

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Green Destiny,
Stay away from that place. It's bad news. They advertise every 3 months.

Let me know if you need a place to stay in Sapporo. I just got a line on unfurnished cheap apt with no key money.

ChotoHen · Joined: 17 Apr 2004 Posts: 41

Glenski,

Thanks for the info. I'm going to run it by my employers. Pretty close to Susukino!