Job Discussion Forums

[lost_voyageur]

I didn't make the cut -boo-hoo. Although I didn't get on the JET Short-list, I did recieve confirmation that I'm on the ALTERNATE list. I was curious if anyone knows what are the chances of getting called up from the side lines??? Should I stop holding my breath?

[ndorfn]

Sorry I can't help you with your question, but just wanted to reassure you that, in case you didn't know, getting into jet is a complete lottery, so don't take it personally. You'd be amazed at some of the people that get in, and some of those that don't.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

Whether or not you are upgraded depends on where on the Alternate List for your area you have been placed and how many people drop out from your area.

Many, many alternate short list people go on the JET programme every year. In some areas ALL of the Alternates are very frequently upgraded, so don't give up.

Being an Alternate means the interviewers thought you are qualified and able to do the job, but your score on the interview was lower than other people who interviewed. The interviewers look for specific criteria that they do not tell applicants about in order to try to get a realistic opinion of the person in front of them. There is apparently quite a lot of leeway in the decisions, and this leads to different areas seeming to hire one or two kinds of people exclusively. Some of the people who are immediately short listed are just shocking. Some of them are really great and should have been shortlisted. The exact same thing can be said about the alternates. In my experience, the people who were upgraded from the alternate list often stay for the full three year term (maybe because they put so much into getting here and had to think so carefully about whether or not it was worth the wait) and most of the people who leave after only one year (something contracting organizations- your employers- aren't thrilled with) were immediate short listers.

There is a deadline to get your papers in if you decide you want to hold out (and you should DEFINATELY hold out- it's worth it) - get it in as early as possible (I don't think that it has much to do with getting upgraded, but if your interview score would rank you as the number 3 guy on the waiting list and seven people drop out before you get your "Yes, I'll hold my breath" letter in, and then nobody else drops out from your area, then you don't go. They use the numbers from the active Alternate list that they have and that means that you aren't inserted into your interview score's slot until that page is in).

Also, probably the biggest number of Alternates gets upgraded just before and after the deadline to turn the papers in because people who applied to grad/prof school and JET and got grad/prof school and JET often choose the grad/prof school because you can always apply to JET again unless you've already received a placement (and then it's a ten year wait), but they also tend to wait and mull the decision over, and then there are those who just don't bother sending in the rejection letter at all and so the embassy/consolate has to just wait until the deadline to call someone up.

Also, every year Alternates are called up because current JETs wait until after the deadline to recontract to say that they are going home (we fill out papers that have to be in the first week of February or thereabouts saying we will stay or we will leave. IF you say you will leave, then that's that, you're leaving and you normally cannot change your mind. If you say you are staying, then you can pull out at any time up to the time you actually sign your new contract on the first day of that contract- this is another thing that some ALTs do that contracting organizations hate, but it's better to have an Alternate who really wants to be on JET than someone who feels like it's a prison and really wanted to go home (well, you can actually quit your job at any time- the contract says two months notice, I think-, but that's not the same thing). I know of at least one current JET who is doing this exact thing (not me).

Oh, and then there is the final last gasp time when someone just freaked out and just didn't go to the airport or has actually gotten on the plane, arrived in Japan and then left sometime before the end of September. That has actually happened in the past (more than once), and an Alternate who had basically given up all hope, but hadn't actually called the consolate to tell them to take them off the list, went.

So you're no where near the no hope period, and in fact, by the time that period comes around, you can get the application for the 2006 intake, and knowing what you do now about the interview, (having done it), and hopefully improving on areas that may have been lacking (you can call up your consulate/embassy and ask about the paper application), you can apply again and the chance of getting in will be much, much higher (there are rumours that pretty much anybody who was on the ALternate list and ended up applying again will end up on the short list or, at the worst, the very VERY top of the Alternate list for the following year- and a surprising number of people have done exactly that- applied twice).

[lost_voyageur]

Thanks G-BOOM! Your note put things into perspective. One thing I might have done incorrectly during the interivew -right off -was that I mentioned I was not planning on staying in the JET programme for longer than the first year. Oh well. Anyway, I'll take your advice and hand in the application in pronto. -exhale.

Cheers.
Dave.

[Gordon]

[dtomchek]

Hey:

I cannot say how it works exactly but I got in on the normal schedule but the guy I roomed with in San Francisco was an alternate...they did not say anything to him but about 3 weeks after getting the letter, they invited him to join and he is still here with us...do not give up hope!!!

Dave