Job Discussion Forums

[Alberta605]

Well K I was just trying to develop your English abilities

And if you read back you'll find that you've been in wholehearted agreement with me throughout. Unless re-writing my information in your own words counts as something else.

[rai]

[kdynamic]

Having the cake and eating it too would mean both correct and nice. Sometimes it's one or the other because people can get annoyed seeing the same misinformation constantly thrown around and end up snapping. That's what I meant.

I don't see why people are all hung up about being nice on the internet. I can be nice. I can be a bitch. Does it really matter? people come here for information. If they leave with correct information, I think that should be considered the best outcome.

[G Cthulhu]

[jennjenn]

Thanks everyone. Despite all of the arguments on this thread I do feel better about being brutally rejected. Thanks for your advice and input.

[kdynamic]

[Brooks]

I know four of four people who have been in JET.
Two studied Japanese in college and two didn`t.
It is hard to generalize about why some people get hired and some don`t but they want people who can adapt and won`t bail if they get placed in rural Japan.

JET applications are down and I think 50% of applicants get placed.

[ironopolis]

Unfortunately, one of the aspects of the JET programme that sticks out most in my mind, when I think back to it, is how many people on it had such a high opinion of themselves, and were so keen to put down others - like the Japanese school teachers they worked with, and, particularly, any English speaking teachers they met, who hadn't come to Japan on the JET scheme.

Of course, many people weren't like this at all, these types were no more than a minority and you obviously find objectionable people in any big group anywhere. But it's funny how JET related threads on these boards seem to fairly often show people exhibiting these same unfortunate characteristics. I don't think that proves anything at all, but it might give another crumb of comfort to the OP at not getting on the JET scheme.

[Chris21]

Kdynamic, have you ever seen the movie Anchorman? In it, there's a scene where the star, Ron Burgundy, uses the expression "When in Rome" in a completely innapplicable situation. It was a lot like that when you used "to have one's cake and eat it, too". It should be used when talking about two incompatible things. However, being correct and being nice are not incompatible.

I think " to have one's cake and eat it, too" would be a good way to describe the turn that this discussion has taken. G Cthulhu, either inexperience is occasionally used as a selection criteria, in which case Zzonkmiles (who I've been referring to as the OP) and I are correct. Or, it isn't a factor, in which case we're wrong. It seems that you've gone back and forth, saying that it's possible and we're wrong. That would be "having one's cake and eating it, too". Your last post seemed to be firmly on the "you're wrong" side. Personally, I don't see how we could be wrong when the selection process is so decentralized, with so many people involved. I'm sure Zzonkmiles and I are not the only ones that share this opinion, and while an opinion alone is not to enough to verify something (as you keep trying to illustrate with your fluoride example), there are enough cases of Japan-experienced applicants being turned down, and Japan-inexperienced applicants being accepted, to allow for the possibility that it occasionally plays a factor. To suggest that the selection process is fixed around a central set of principles is, at least in my view, naive. Candidates are selected based on any number of contradictory criteria, and I think it's a big help for applicants to know that. Too experienced... too inexperienced... fits the Western stereotype... doesn't fit the Western stereotype... Energetic... too energetic - letting applicants know that there isn't a sure-fire way to succeed in the interview surely must be useful information. I suppose you're going to offer the counter-argument that inexperience, while not an absolute, is rare enough that it need not be considered (since you've already analogized it to reading chicken bones and rolling dice). I think this is the fundamental divide... you think that it's no more common than reading chicken bones (i.e. basically never), and I think it can be a factor (occasionally). From that, hopefully any applicants reading this thread can read our back-posts and make a decision for themselves on which course they want to follow.

[Chris21]

[kdynamic]

[zorro (3)]

Condescending tones don't win any friends. From reading certain posts on this thread, regardless of the validity of the information, I have lost respect for the person who wrote them.

Rai's third option is most definitely the best option.

[Alberta605]

Upon reflection Chris is most certainly smarter than Kdynamic.

And i most certainly hope Chris has a big piece of delicious cake to both eat and have.

[G Cthulhu]

[G Cthulhu]