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mikokozak
Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Posts: 17
Location: Toronto
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 Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 7:38 pm Post subject: Finding work in September |
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I have a quick question about arriving in Japan in the beginning of September. If I do arrive around that time, what are my chances of finding work on the spot?
Thanks,
Nick Kozak
www.nickkozak.com |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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It would help if we knew a few things...
Where would you like to work?
What are your qualifications?
What type of teaching are you interested in?
What do you consider "on the spot"?
Help us help you. |
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Revenant
Mod Team
Joined: 28 Jul 2005
Posts: 1109
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| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 6:54 am Post subject: |
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| If you meet all other typical job requirements, then I would say that your chances of getting hired in Sept would be 40-50% less than if you were hired during the peak season. |
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canuck
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 1921
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:27 am Post subject: Re: Finding work in September |
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| mikokozak wrote: |
If I do arrive around that time, what are my chances of finding work on the spot?
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Finding work on the spot? Get off the plane and have a job in a matter of seconds? 
Without finding a company to hire you ahead of time, your chances will vary with your location, your education, your experience and luck. From reading your online resume, it's not clear if you finished your degree or not. It doesn't look like it. Since your Canadian, you could arrive on a working holiday visa and be eligible to work. Finding a job around September in a bigger city could take a few weeks, could take a few days, depending on the need. September isn't the worst time to find a job.
Your resume needs a lot of work. That should be the very first step. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:58 am Post subject: |
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Nik,
by the way what did you think of Birmingham? I was there for 3 weeks in March. Am in a distance program there in the Linguistics department. |
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mikokozak
Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Posts: 17
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 4:49 pm Post subject: Coming to Japan in September |
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Ok,
I graduated from the University of Toronto in May, I guess my resume needs to be updated. In terms of my resume needing a lot of work, I`m very curious what you mean by that.
In terms of my experience. I have a TESL certificate, I volunteered at an ESL school in Toront for several months and worked as a tutor. I also taught English in Peru for a week in May.
I can go almost anywhere in Japan.
How much money can I expect to spend in my first month if I`m quite thrifty?
Thanks for you help.
Nick
www.nickkozak.com |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:48 pm Post subject: |
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| How much money can I expect to spend in my first month if I`m quite thrifty? |
Rent at gaijin houses runs 50,000 to 80,000 yen/month (no utilities, but you might have to pay 25,000 as a deposit)
Cell phone service is about 5000-8000 yen/month, but setup costs will be 5000-10,000 yen (year-old phones themselves are free)
Food will run you 30,000-40,000 yen/month
Local transportation is about 20,000 yen/month, perhaps a bit more
So with shelter, communication, food, and the ability to move around, you are looking at 110,000 to 183,000 yen for your first month, and that does not include insurance or airfare, or any long distance transportation (in case you base yourself in Tokyo and have to go to an interview outside of your local train pass, that is). It also does not include any sightseeing, haircuts, or entertainment, but then again, you said you were trying to be thrifty. You might also want to throw in intangible costs for Internet access (not all gaijin houses provide it), reading the Japan Times for job ads (unless you can scrape up a free copy at a library), emergency medical care not covered on your insurance (or in the case of traveler's insurance that pays 100% of the bill, be aware that you still have to pay all of the costs up front and wait to get reimbursed), dry cleaning, photocopying/printing (of resumes and cover letters), postage, etc. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 11:16 pm Post subject: Re: Coming to Japan in September |
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| mikokozak wrote: |
Ok,
I graduated from the University of Toronto in May, I guess my resume needs to be updated. In terms of my resume needing a lot of work, I`m very curious what you mean by that.
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If you are planning to add to link to show employers you should not always expect them to wade through a website and links. They will want to see a hard copy of your resume.
A business like photograph is preferred rather than a cameo shot.
Do you have things like:
your birthdate:
age
marital status
current address and email
highest degree
resumes here are work and education records. Clutter is kept to a minimum such as job descriptions and hobbies. Things that are not relevant to the job you are seeking are minimised or excluded.
In Japan a Japanese boss reading may have a 6th grade reading level in English. If the language level on a resume is too high or colloquial they will disregard it as "a hassle". |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 1:16 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
I guess my resume needs to be updated. In terms of my resume needing a lot of work, I`m very curious what you mean by that.
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Paul and I both look at resumes for prospective teachers and give them advice. Here's mine.
1. Printed, your "full resume" from the web site is SEVEN PAGES long. That's 5 pages too many. There is a lot of unnecessary stuff in it.
2. A web site resume should be on one page. Yours is broken into links for each section, including a section for the full resume. Too tedious. Put it on one page only and leave it at that.
3. The first things people want/need to see are:
Your picture (a professional one, shot from the shoulders up).
Your nationality.
Your contact information (one phone number, one email address, one snail mail address.
Then your degree status.
All of the above except degree should be at the top, and should include even more info, like marital status, visa status, date and place of birth (in addition to nationality). Use NO abbreviations except for UK or USA or some major certifications (like CELTA).
4. Your work experience includes nothing about teaching, so aside from the fact that it is lengthy by sheer number of jobs you have held since 1997, it looks ok because you have kept the descriptions to a minimum.
5. Putting your education between header info and work experience gives the reviewer what he wants right up front. State what month/year you plan to graduate from Trinity. State any degree you may have earned from Birmingham. (Personally, I'd save the remark about studying abroad when at Birmingham for the cover letter.) You probably don't need to list any other schooling than this, so delete all other schools.
6. Skills. People make sections like this for western resumes. It is not needed for working as a teacher in Japan. None of those "skills" are required, nor will they make or break your chances of landing a job. Delete this whole section (with the possible exception of the mention of languages).
7. Achievements. Rename this section as "Other Training", and delete everything except the TESL/TEFL certification.
8. Psychology Experience. Delete. Totally unnecessary.
9. International Relations Experience. Delete the political campaign involvement. Nobody here will know who those people are, and as far as I know, it is not international. Besides, it won't help you in your job as a teacher. In fact, not much from this section is actually relevant at all, even to somewhat state your experience abroad or in international matters. I'd actually recommend deleting it altogether and mentioning only the first 2 points in a cover letter.
10. This chops it down to 2 pages and a wee bit more. With adjustments to font size, it should easily enough fit a 2-page format. Very acceptable then.
11. Work on cover letters, and as Paul wrote, don't use heady language. |
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canuck
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 1921
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 1:27 am Post subject: Re: Coming to Japan in September |
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| mikokozak wrote: |
I graduated from the University of Toronto in May, I guess my resume needs to be updated. In terms of my resume needing a lot of work, I`m very curious what you mean by that.
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Glenski gave some good advice. I have some things to add. Firstly, your resume needs to be streamlined. For applying for jobs in Canada, why the heck would you lead off with your sales and stock person job at the liquour board? Start with you educaiton. Kill the fluff.
For Japan, make sure you have stuff like you visa status and when it expires. I would come over on a working holiday visa but state that you are eligible for sponsorship since you have a degree. Stress your TEFL certificate. Indicate how many hours the course was...I assume it was the 120 hour course. You should have received a certificate and letter of recommendation/course comments from the instructor. I would link that on your webpage. I would specifically make a link for your Japanese resume on your site.
This goes for applying for jobs anywhere, you don't need to know the various elementary schools you went to. This should never go on a resume. Since you have a university degree, I wouldn't even bother putting down your high school stuff either. |
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stillnosheep
Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 2068
Location: eslcafe
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| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 8:00 am Post subject: |
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| PAULH wrote: |
Nik,
by the way what did you think of Birmingham? I was there for 3 weeks in March. Am in a distance program there in the Linguistics department. |
Paulh, are you interested in impressions of the city, or just the University? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 12:18 pm Post subject: |
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| stillnosheep wrote: |
| PAULH wrote: |
Nik,
by the way what did you think of Birmingham? I was there for 3 weeks in March. Am in a distance program there in the Linguistics department. |
Paulh, are you interested in impressions of the city, or just the University? |
In 3 weeks I only went into the city centre once (they have a large mall-type thing next to the station), and most of the time was in the hostel, university or the pubs in surrounding area (Edgbaston)
Will try and see more of the country side and city center next time. |
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