Job Discussion Forums

[aabukhalil]

Hello everyone. As a first-time poster, let me first say how grateful I am that a forum like this exists. The helpful advice left by many of the members here has been invaluable to me in recent weeks, and I thank everyone for their participation. That being said, I�m in a bit of a pickle right now and would appreciate the insight of those more knowledgeable than I on these matters.

Here is my situation. About a year or so ago, for various reasons I won�t go into at length here, I began to explore the possibility of working as an English teacher in Japan. Since that time, I have applied to both JET and AEON, and while the former has requested that I attend the interview portion of their application process, the latter has already offered me a position to start working for them in a matter of months. Of course I am very excited that things have turned out as they have thus far, but the situation has raised some hard choices and questions that I have often revisited these past weeks with friends, family members, and now you.

I should probably offer a few more quick notes about myself. I�m a recent college grad and already have some experience living abroad. My long-term goal is not to be a teacher, but rather to work in a field of international relations such as development aid or conflict resolution. If I had my druthers, I would work in Japan for a year then undertake a term with the Peace Corps (preferably in the Middle East or Northern Africa), before going on to grad school and a finally a position within the U.S. government or an international NGO. So it�s probably obvious that in regards to working with JET, AEON, and the like, I�m at somewhat of a disadvantage compared to those who intend on making teaching, particularly ESL-related work, a lifelong endeavor. Don�t get me wrong, while I am indeed excited about the prospect of working as an English teacher in Japan, it might be fair to say that my desire to be teacher per se is secondary to my desire to gain valuable experience living and working abroad.

My motivations for traveling to Japan obviously play a large role in how I view a term with JET as opposed to one with AEON. In many respects, JET seems like the better choice for me. Within JET there appears to be a comparatively greater emphasis on intercultural exchange and not simply language instruction, compared to AEON where the goal seems to be making money. I do not fault AEON for this, for they are a business and understandably concerned with generating profit. I mention this only because the environment and goals of the JET program seems more in tune with my own personal goals, and are thus an important factor in my preferring JET over AEON.

Furthermore, JET appears to pay its employees more, in some cases substantially more, than AEON. While money is far from my primary motivation for relocating to Japan, as a recent grad with student loans to repay the extra few thousand dollars that JET throws your way becomes all the more enticing.

But in regards to other financial matters I am less clear on which organization offers the more appealing package. On the one hand, JET does offer to pick up the cost of the airline ticket over; AEON does not. But AEON does appear to offer a better, or at least more reassuring, arrangement vis-�-vis housing. With AEON, your monthly rate is set a low, fixed rate of approximately 42,000 yen per month, and there are no large initial fees such as key money for newly-arrived employees to cover. Furthermore, those working with AEON pay a flat 11% rate on Japanese taxes and do not pay U.S. taxes. Each of these features are rather appealing to me.

But with JET I am a great deal more uncertain. I have not been able to locate a firm estimate of how much JETs pay each month for rent, or whether the JET program offers any assistance with key money and other initial fees. Nor have I been able to find out how much JETs pay in taxes (Japanese and/or American) each year. If anyone can help me by filling in the blanks on what JETs face regarding housing and taxes I would be deeply appreciative.

I do have other reasons for leaning more towards JET than AEON, more than a few of which are related to the workplace environments of each organization (the prevailing wisdom seems to be that JET can be boring and tedious, while AEON can be stressful and rigid-I�ll take the former), but for the moment I will simply state that although I still have uncertainties, I believe that JET would be the better fit for me.

This brings me to my current dilemma. As I mentioned earlier, JET approved my written application and has requested that I attend an interview with them in just a few days. Obviously I was and am very excited to hear this, although I am cautiously optimistic. I have heard bizarre stories of what JET interviews can be like, and I have no illusions that my chances of successfully passing the interview phase and winning final approval are guaranteed, or even particularly good (by the way, does anyone know what percentage of JET applicants who make it to the interview are ultimately accepted into the program? Even a ballpark estimate would be very helpful).

But during the period between which I submitted my written JET application and then heard back from them, I also interviewed with, and was offered a position by, AEON. Now initially my plan was to get the ball rolling with AEON but go ahead with the JET process as well, and if offered a position by the latter I would accept it while withdrawing from the former (while if JET turned me down I could always still work with AEON). While I dislike the idea of causing such an inconvenience to the AEON staff, which has been very helpful throughout recent weeks, I believe that a position with JET would be considerably more advantageous to me regarding the fulfillment of my personal, professional, and financial goals, and is thus worth pursuing.

I should also mention that AEON is aware that I have applied to JET, although not, as far as I know, that I have been called back for the interview. AEON knows this because I told them so myself during my personal interview with their recruiters, and at that time, as well as in a recent communiqu�, they informed me that if I should sign a contract with AEON, they would expect me to withdraw from the JET program. Now, although I understand why AEON would have an interest in not signing individuals who might go on to accept positions with competitors, I nevertheless think that the matter of what alternative organizations I might be applying to is frankly none of their business. So far this has been the only distasteful element of my dealings with AEON, and in fact, overall I have been very pleased by the courtesy of the staff.

However, this matter has left me somewhat, and probably unreasonably, paranoid. I now have a nagging fear that if I were to go ahead and interview with JET, officials at AEON might somehow find out about it and drop me in response. If this were to happen, and, on top of that, I was then to be rejected by JET, I would find myself back at the dreaded square one, a place that I dearly want to avoid at this point in my life. Now, I realize that this is probably only unfounded paranoia, but then again this does seem to be an industry where individuals shift between organizations repeatedly and thus form connections that might allow one group to be aware of just who is applying to/working with another group. Furthermore, there appears to be a good chance that AEON will be processing my visa application through the same Japanese consulate that is handling JET interviews in my region, a possibility which only serves to heighten my fears regardless of whether any real danger exists because of this.

This has left me unsure how to proceed. On the one hand, the phrase �a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush� seems to describe my situation aptly, leading me to believe that I should stick to the sure thing, being AEON. Truth be told, I do not believe that I would have any major problems working with AEON, and in fact would look forward to the experience. However, the advantages of working with JET as opposed to AEON would seem to be great enough so that any risk I faced by simultaneously proceeding with them both might be overweighed.

Okay, I realize that this message has already gone on long enough, so here is a simple breakdown I what I would really appreciate some advice on:

1. Based on my background and goals, as well as financial considerations (particularly housing and taxes), do you believe that JET or AEON would be the better option for me?

2. Do I pose a meaningful risk to my chances with AEON by going forward with my JET interview and seeing how things turn out with them while simultaneously proceeding with the necessary preparations to working with AEON (paperwork, visa application, etc.)? Is the AEON staff likely to have any knowledge of my status with JET independent of what I have told them myself?

3. If there is indeed a risk of AEON discovering that I went ahead and interviewed with JET and consequently dropping me, is that risk overweighed by the advantages of working with JET over AEON?

4. Finally, will JET have any problems with my having applied to/been accepted by AEON?

If you have managed to stick with me through this entire message then you have my thanks. If you can offer me some advice, then you�ll have my undying gratitude (well�maybe not that, but I would really appreciate your help).

And a final note: time is of the essence. My interview with JET is just a few days away, so the sooner anyone could offer their thoughts on my predicament the more likely I could put them to good use.

Many, many thanks,

[taikibansei]

JET pays more, offers more vacation/down time, allows you (sometimes--depends on the school) more opportunity for creativity in the classroom, and the tax liability in the US is the same (i.e., zero--as long as you are outside the US for the required number of days). While someone may always disagree, I personally can't see why one would hesitate on this choice--I'd try to go with JET.

[PAULH]

[taikibansei]

[Glenski]

You already have a job offer with AEON. I suggest taking it. You only have a gamble to get the job with JET, and you won't know about passing the interview for about a month. That is probably too long for AEON to wait.

(If you are really dead-set on JET, you might want to ask, though. Just tell them you are going for the interview in a couple of days, and don't tell them you expect to hear from JET in that length of time. Pray that JET calls you the next day, though!)

Here are some things to consider:

With AEON, your lessons are pretty much pre-planned, and you will be the one in charge. With JET, the JTE is in charge, and you may not really have a lot of actual teaching to do. Many have referred to JET ALTs as human tape recorders.

With AEON, your work hours are likely to be noon to 9pm, leaving little free time to network for other career opportunities. With JET, many ALTs complain of having so much free time during the day, and they still get to go home at 4pm.

With AEON, you pay only about 42,000 yen/month in rent. AEON pays the rest. However, AEON selects and furnishes the apartment. With JET, you might have to pay about this much or slightly more, or you could get very lucky and not have to pay anything for rent. It varies so much that you can't (as you have noticed) get any clear, definite figures. Bear in mind that most JET ALTs work in more rural environments, too. Are you willing to do that? It would often mean lesser quality housing, plus commuting to several schools. Not sure if AEON teachers would commute to more than one location, but at least it would likely be in the city where you can use public transportation.

Despite all of these things to chew on, I think the "bird in the hand" option is better.

[PAULH]

[aabukhalil]

[aabukhalil]

[aabukhalil]

[PAULH]

[Celeste]

[PAULH]

I suggest you have a look through this JET survey before deciding on JET and then tell me if you still want to apply for JET.

A bit negative and heavy handed (biased, maybe) , but responses come from 130 previous JET teachers

http://www.zen13795.zen.co.uk/jetsurvey/

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

I can understand why you wouldn't want to keep all of your eggs in one basket, and therefore applied to AEON as well as JET. I cannot understand the timing. If JET is the one you wanted most, then why didn't you just look into the time required for application, then look at the time of application for AEON, and not even apply to AEON until you got the results back in from your interview?

If you were accepted from your interveiw you would still be waiting until late July, early August to leave.

If you are turned down after an interview, then (assuming you had AEON's start-up fees ready) you could still be in Japan at the same time as if you were on JET.

The only time it would have been an issue would have been if you were on the waiting list for JET and couldn't find out one way or the other what your chances of getting accepted were. In which case, you've waited so long already anyway, you could just wait the extra couple of months until you were absolutely sure that JET was a no-go, and then apply to AEON.

It seems especially hard to understand when one of the questions AEON asks is when you would be available to go (they know a lot of people are not available to go immediately because they don't advertise that you need to pay a lot of start up costs first). You could have just told them you would be available at the point in time after you would have recieved the results of a JET interview based on the amount of money you could expect to save each month.

Something to keep in mind is that if AEON is willing to hire you, then chances are the other big Eikaiwas out there will, too, if you hang around waiting for JET and get turned down.

[aabukhalil]

I thank you all for your comments and advice. After reviewing what you have each said, I believe I will withdraw my application from the JET program immediately and pursue AEON wholeheartedly. Granted, had I known six months ago what I know now I might have done a few things differently (especially in regards to some of comments offered by GambateBingBangBOOM), but nevertheless I�m not discouraged because for me this was never a choice for the lesser of two evils but rather for the greater of two goods. I look forward to a productive year spent in Japan, one which I can now enter into with a clear conscience and no nagging concerns about what might have been. I am deeply appreciative of your assistance, and you have each been a tremendous help.

P.S. PAULH, I actually happened to use the �bird in hand� phrase in my initial post I�d like to thank you in particular for your explanation of the visa application process. Keep up the good work as moderator.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

If you feel that it is the right thing to do for you, then it most probably is. Also, remember, you can always apply to JET again after a year (or more, if you like it) with AEON.

Good luck!