Job Discussion Forums

[maryknight]

the way my life works out, september is the best start time for me. i could come to japan a little earlier than that.
i'm thinking of job hunting in april (not golden week). what do you think? would may be better? or maybe late march?
part of my reason is just to come and see the country making my adjustment a little easier for me.

[Sweetsee]

How did things work out in Mexico?

[maryknight]

i learned so much about myself as a person and as a teacher in mexico. i just wrote an email about it. but it just wasn't worth losing money each month because i'd had a dishonest recruiter in order to be there and put off my next step, which is a job in japan. i really love teaching, all ages, all levels, and i'm good at it. but i realize i can't put one month of teaching on a resume, so i'll be in an entry level job unless my masters in an unrelated field helps out and my tefl, but that's pretty basic. social work is related, though, so much to teaching! as is being a mom, a volunteer at the schools, and just a person with a lot of creativity and curiousity and concern for others. i like teaching and i now have the courage to take off to japan! but i'm on my way home right now.

[azarashi sushi]

Hi Mary,

March is a good time to job hunt and while it might be a good way to make contacts, I think you'll find very few places willing to hold a job for you from March until September. The exception would be the large Eikaiwa schools which have openings all year round, but they hire from abroad so you wouldn't need to make a special trip to Japan. You could line up the job from your home and just come when you're ready to start.

Glenski can give you more information about the Hokkaido job scene but I think jobs are a lot harder to come by than in the Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka belt. It just might take you a bit longer than a week to find something and could end up costing you a lot more than you anticipated.