Job Discussion Forums

[ac949]

I decided to make the jump and look for eikaiwa teaching jobs in the Tokyo area. It sounds like I can get a good deal with the start up costs if I get recruited in the US first and make the move afterwards. Or I can just move to the area and spend several months looking for a job.


I haven't started making any contacts with teaching companies or started the job search process but I would like to get started working right away and would like to find out from other's experience, which is the quicker route? Right now, I'm just burning money living here in the US and it probably makes more sense to use it for airfare and start up costs in Japan. However, if it would only take me a month to get recruited here in the US then it may be worth it? But it seems that the application process for JET, NOVA and the other big companies are fairly lengthy and can take awhile.


The ideal job would be in a main city like Tokyo or Yokohama, teaching small groups, and decent hours (is 40-50 hours a week standard?). Not really picky on salary as long as it allows me to live in a decent apartment and cover basic expenses.

[luckyloser700]

If you come without a job, you can do private lessons (getting them will require you to be very proactive) and support yourself that way while living in a gaijin house or some other cheap lodging you can find in Tokyo. From there you can start your job search.

But, why are you burning money back home? Are you sitting around without a job? Is it that the only jobs available will leave you feeling overworked and underpaid? Let's face it; you should be working now (assuming you're not - if you have a job, I apologize for not fully understanding your situation). Lot's of little unemployment gaps on your resume are just as bad as a couple of big ones. If you're really picky about the jobs you take, you might be disappointed with eikaiwa work. I'm not saying eikaiwa teachers have crap lives because a lot of them enjoy being here. But, when it comes to work, there's a lot of grinning and bearing to be done.

If you're young, don't get impatient. Work at home now and apply to the big eikaiwa companies from home. If you get hired the first time, great! If you don't, keep at it. But I think it's safe to say that, if a company doesn't hire you from your home country, it probably won't hire you in Japan. Just being in Japan (on a tourist visa) doesn't really give you any kind of advantage in being hired with the big companies. As for the smaller eikaiwa schools, maybe someone else has a success story for you.