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agraham
Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 6
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 Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 9:08 am Post subject: Looking for a job during my vacation. |
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Hi folks,
I'm just wrapping up a year in Korea, and I'm thinking about coming to Japan for a year. I will be there for the first two weeks of June on vacation, and I'm thinking about looking around for a job while I'm there.
I see the faqs about job hunting and resume writing. My question is this: how reasonable is it to wander into an eikiwei(or whatever) and ask for a job?
I wouldn't feel too uncomfortable doing it in Korea.
Can the bosses typically speak English in Japan? They often cannot here.
I'll be returning to Canada and then reentering in August on a Work Exchange Visa. How amenable will be schools be to this arrangement?
Is it true that I should not mention to the Japanese embassy the fact that I've already found a job?
What do the signs on these schools usually look like? Can someone paste the characters that will appear on the signs into this thread? Plus break down the syllables for me? I'll be working right up until the day I leave Korea at the end of this month, so I have no time to learn hirigana/katakana.
Many thanks in advance. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 10:09 am Post subject: Re: Looking for a job during my vacation. |
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| agraham wrote: |
IWhat do the signs on these schools usually look like? Can someone paste the characters that will appear on the signs into this thread? Plus break down the syllables for me? I'll be working right up until the day I leave Korea at the end of this month, so I have no time to learn hirigana/katakana.
Many thanks in advance. |
Rather than walk in cold you would be better to contact some schools that are advertising as those who are not are probably not hiring. They will not hire you until you have a valid work visa anyway. Some employers do speak English, most don't and they have underlings to do all that for them.
Best idea is not to tell the embassy you have a job as it a working holiday visa, not a work visa for which you should apply if you are looking for full time work. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 10:33 am Post subject: |
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To say you are interested in a job in Japan is like saying you would like a job in a place the size of California and Oregon put together. Have you settled on a city or region? Do you have a preference for or against a certain climate? (Japan has many degrees of climate from north to south.)
I don't know about the Canadian Work Exchange visa. Does it require a bachelor's degree? Are you referring to a working holiday visa?
Coming in June will be pretty much the start of the dead season, although you will be able to find something, depending on your qualifications. Don't expect a whole lot of ads from then to September.
Some bosses speak English. Some don't.
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| Is it true that I should not mention to the Japanese embassy the fact that I've already found a job? |
I don't follow you. When would you go there? Why?
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| What do the signs on these schools usually look like? |
Some are completely English.
NOVA
ECC
GEOS
AEON
Just to name a few of the biggies.
As for the other thousands of schools, it's impossible to tell you what they look like. There is no standard. Even a place like Mike's English School could be written totally in English or in katakana plus kanji. You have almost 2 weeks to learn hiragana and katakana. Not hard. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 10:42 am Post subject: Chicken or the egg? |
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Just to add to Glenski's post.
Employers here wont guarantee you a job on a working holiday visa until you come here with the stamp in your passport, and they wont offer you one when passing on the way through to Canada. You wont be able to tell immigration you have a job lined up as you wont have got a visa yet to offer employers here.
Get the work visa sorted out and then get the job and approach employers, or all you will get is "don't call us, we'll call you". |
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agraham
Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 1:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| To say you are interested in a job in Japan is like saying you would like a job in a place the size of California and Oregon put together. Have you settled on a city or region? Do you have a preference for or against a certain climate? (Japan has many degrees of climate from north to south.) |
Well I'm visiting central-to-western Honshu. I like warm weather. I'm pretty much open to anything. My only real requirement is that I'd like to work with post high-school age people. I've had enough of teaching kids for a lifetime.
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I don't know about the Canadian Work Exchange visa. Does it require a bachelor's degree? Are you referring to a working holiday visa? |
That's the one. And no, from what I understand it doesn't need a four degree. Which is good cause I only have a three year one in computer programming plus a TEFL cert.
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Coming in June will be pretty much the start of the dead season, although you will be able to find something, depending on your qualifications. Don't expect a whole lot of ads from then to September.
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Doh!
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| Is it true that I should not mention to the Japanese embassy the fact that I've already found a job? |
I don't follow you. When would you go there? Why?
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You need to apply for the working holiday visa from your home country.
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| What do the signs on these schools usually look like? |
Some are completely English.
NOVA
ECC
GEOS
AEON
Just to name a few of the biggies.
As for the other thousands of schools, it's impossible to tell you what they look like. There is no standard. Even a place like Mike's English School could be written totally in English or in katakana plus kanji. You have almost 2 weeks to learn hiragana and katakana. Not hard.[/quote]
Hmm.. English is good. I was hoping that where not English the word "eikiwei" would appear in Katakana/Kanji on the sign. Here the signs for the private English academies typically have the words '영어학원' (English Academy) or something similar. I'd wanted to know what the equivalent in Japanese was, but perhaps there is no equivalent. 學院 is what it is in Korean Hanja - perhaps it's the same in Kanji? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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| agraham wrote: |
[Well I'm visiting central-to-western Honshu. I like warm weather. I'm pretty much open to anything. My only real requirement is that I'd like to work with post high-school age people. I've had enough of teaching kids for a lifetime.
? |
Central to Western Japan is anything west from Nagoya to Kyushu. A distance of maybe a 1000 kilometers. Major cities in between are Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima and Fukuoka which is closest to South Korea. I hear its slim pickings for jobs in Fukuoka right now.
Most big private schools have kids classes though I dont know about mom and pop schools.
| agraham wrote: |
That's the one. And no, from what I understand it doesn't need a four degree. Which is good cause I only have a three year one in computer programming plus a TEFL cert.
? |
Any undergraduate bachelors degree is good for a full time working visa. The working holiday lets you stay here for up to a year with no degree and no sponsor needed. After one year you have to get a sponsored working visa which needs a degree. I understand you have colleges and universities in Canada. Is you computer course a bachelor's or a diploma?
| agraham wrote: |
| [Hmm.. English is good. I was hoping that where not English the word "eikiwei" would appear in Katakana/Kanji on the sign. Here the signs for the private English academies typically have the words '????' (English Academy) or something similar. I'd wanted to know what the equivalent in Japanese was, but perhaps there is no equivalent. ?? is what it is in Korean Hanja - perhaps it's the same in Kanji? |
Usually romanji and Kanji are not used together but some schools do. NOVA is usually written in Romanji with Kanji underneath it. Kanji for English conversation is "Eikaiwa" but the word for school is "gakko" or gakuin which is more like "institute". So you might have Eigo Gakuin or Eikaiwa Gakuin on the sign. The Kanji you posted is similar (the first one is rather old fashioned and rarely used here in everuday life) but I cant get Kanji to appear on this website. |
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taikibansei
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 811
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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| The Kanji you posted is similar (the first one is rather old fashioned and rarely used here in everuday life) but I cant get Kanji to appear on this website. |
Here are the characters for "eikaiwa": 英会話
Here are the characters for "eigo gakuin": 英語学院
Here are the characters for "eigo gakko": 英語学校
英会話 [Eikaiwa] literally means "English conversation." 英語 [Eigo] stands for the English language. 学院 [gakuin] and 学校 [gakko] mean "academy" or "school."
You'll almost always see some combination of the above characters on signs.
Regarding your job search, Glenski periodically posts links to a large number of EFL job-related web sites, and his list (I believe) is also included in one of the stickies above. I'd try to make contact with a number of schools in your target area now...i.e., let people know you are qualified, coming, and interested. While nobody will hold a job for you, you might be able to set up an interview or two beforehand. |
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