Job Discussion Forums

[burngirl]

I've read about the debates regarding whether the "big four" companies are really "evil", and many people seem to think it's best to find a reputable school on your own.

But as a completely inexperienced teacher, I would be keen to find a place where there is a system in place - lesson plans, materials, tons of company experience recruiting overseas employees (and thus, hopefully, a reliable and decent contract). I'm thinking if they've been around for decades and have thousands of teachers, there will be a system in place that I can just slot into. For the first year, at least, my thinking is that this would be best to gain experience and learn about myself in the new role of teacher.

What are your opinions? Agree with the above, or do some of you still suggest jumping on a plane and doing a job search in Japan? What would be some of the benefits for a new teacher in working for a smaller school, rather than being recruited by NOVA, GEOS, AEON...

[sallycat]

honestly, i think you are right. working at one of the big four would be a good place to start.

[Mark]

You are correct. If you're applying from abroad and you've never taught before, then you're best off going with one of the chains. It's also easier to work at the chains if you're not very well-versed in EFL methodology.

You'll find that most of the discussion about jobs in Japan revolves around things like working hours and salary. There's rarely any discussion about which schools are actually better in terms of the quality of the curriculum or quality of teachers.

Things are pretty standardized in Japan. In the K-12 system they study grammar. In eikaiwa schools they repeat after the teacher or practice set dialogues and that sort of thing.

It's not effective, but that's how it is. The reason people dislike the big 4 is not because they're lower-quality for the students, it's generally because they offer lower pay and/or fewer vacation days and/or less freedom than can be found at smaller schools.

Plus, some people just find it embarrassing to tell people that they work at NOVA.

[Glenski]

What's your time frame for getting hired? You've missed the JET deadline for 2007-2008 jobs. April is just around the corner, which means not much will be advertised from now till mid-February. Visas take 4-8 weeks to get.

If you can afford it, scour the ads, plan a flight, contact potential employers who are advertising and tell them when you will be here and available to interview, then fill your pockets with US$4000 and set yourself up for a month or two. Get hired, and wait another month for the first paycheck to arrive.

If you can't afford that, you are limited to the few (dozen or so) places that recruit from abroad and sponsor visas. You may have to travel fairly far to attend the 1-3 day interviews, and pay for them out of your own pocket, but at least you can return to the safety of your own home before knowing.

[burngirl]

Glenski,

Although I didn't mention it in my post, you're right, I actually had been thinking of applying to JET. My time frame for being hired: expected graduation date is Sept 2007, and then I would take some form of ESL training so that I have a bit of background. So applying for 2008 would be the only option, for JET. But officially I'll be prepared around Sept 2007.

In short, I'm extremely flexible.

[tokyo376]

I did a year with Nova, and they made it very easy to get to Japan. They took care of the visa, an apartment, and arranged for me to fly over with some other new hires. The job is easy and pays OK, but gets a bit monotonous. You can always look around once you're here if Nova's not to your liking. I enjoyed my year with them. Good luck.

[sethness]

It's perfectly legal to switch employers while working in Japan, as long as there's no gap in your employement. (I.E., there's zero risk of you becoming a financial burden on the state, or homeless in Japan)

Small schools-- and good empoyers-- generally don't hire people who aren't already here and already sporting a work-visa; conversely, Nova thrives on hiring saps from overseas, who don't know that Nova's standard deal is waaay more hours than an average entry-level English-teaching job in Japan.
Nova treats you like an infinitely renewable, unremarkable, uniform resource... like kleenex tissure that gets used once, then thrown away. Hence they don't assume you can teach English, and their teacher-turnover-rate is about 6 months.

Those quitters are either running home, or finding jobs at other schools.

So, if I were in a newbie's shoes, I'd use Nova or one of the other Biggies to get a work-visa, come over to Japan, and promptly start looking for work in one of the smaller, more lucrative schools.

-----
Advantages of working for one of the small schools:

1) they may allow you to fraternize with students. I'm not talking about bonking-- I'm talking about using that social network to build new friendships so you're not the World's Loneliest Man while you're here.

2) You may be permitted to find other work outside the main employment-- which is GREAT, because as long as you don't poach students from the school, teaching small classes on your own is EXTREMELY lucrative.

3) Better for your resume. If you say you're a Nova teacher, it works against you at a job interview-- it's like saying that you're a burger-flipper at McDonald's, or that your current job is delivering newspapers on a bike. Really. Heck, I knew a NOVA teacher who didn't know the difference between a verba and a noun, and I knew a guy with a Master's degree in childhood education who was TURNED DOWN by Nova.

4) More opportunities to make lesson plans and lesson materials of your own, and experiment with teaching methods.

On the down-side, teaching at a small school usually means that there's zero chance of you enjoying your vacation except during the three major holiday periods (Golden Week, O-Bon, and Christmas/NewYear's). That sucks because during those times, EVERYone's on vacation-- so hotels and transportation are doubly or triply expensive and availablility is limited. It's "lemming-rush" vacationing. Nova, on the other hand, has enough teachers that you can take a vacation any old time unless they station you at a very very small branch.

[Glenski]

sethness wrote:

[sallycat]

[Alberta605]

What is NOVA?

[Alberta605]

sethness, this was beautiful in a tragic sort of way. I know that when talking about NOVA one has to be poetic or risk sounding mundane and repetitive and you achieved that VERY well. A Pulitzer to you.

'Nova treats you like an infinitely renewable, unremarkable, uniform resource... like kleenex tissure that gets used once, then thrown away'

[Glenski]

[Alberta605]

Ah sorry to waste your time Glenski, but as NOVA is the largest conversation school in Japan you could assume I knew that haha!
Now why does that never come across in print? Perhaps I need to take some lessons in written expression from sethness...