Job Discussion Forums

flyingkiwi

Hi all, I am new to this forum. I have been working on the JET Programme for 1 and a half years and will leave in August this year. I want to get other employment in Japan after that, so I am looking at AEON/ECC.

I was wondering when is the best time to apply for these organisations if I will be on JET until August. Is now too soon?

Also, ECC for one ask for a resume. I assume this is a short, one page description of work experience and education. What resumes did some current ECC workers send that were okayed?

Cheers.

callmesim · Joined: 27 Oct 2005 Posts: 279 Location: London, UK

I'm a current ECC teacher. My resume was a 2 page resume listing past employment and education details. As well as all the other normal resumey things.

For ECC, I believe the best time to apply is around Sep - Nov as there's always a big influx of new teachers starting around Feb - April as that's when lots of teachers leave. That said, new teachers appear all year round.

flyingkiwi · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:04 am Post subject:

This may be a stupid question, but do you think ECC were very fussy with resumes? Or do most people with experience get an interview?

How are you finding your job at the moment?

callmesim · Joined: 27 Oct 2005 Posts: 279 Location: London, UK

Provided your resume is mistake free and you're not a complete drop-kick, I would think you'll get an interview. It seems what they are mainly after is enthusiasm and a happy smiley face.

As for the job, I think it's fairly good. The job is easy, the lessons are what you make them (so to save you going mental, you try and work within the lessons to add your own bit of fun) and the holiday package is nice. Like all companies there are faults but I'd recommend it to anyone interested in an eikawa job. Search here and you'll find many posts with people complaining and many with people who are happy.

rampo · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 97

Don't mean to hijack this thread but beyond the grammatically correct resume... if you're asked to provide a photo do they want it embedded in the resume doc or as a separate image file?

flyingkiwi · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:55 am Post subject:

Okay, thanks for the info.

Yeah, I have scanned this forum for ages before finally registering. What I have heard about the eikaiwas has been 50-50 good and bad. But most people have told me to stay away from NOVA.

Lady0424 · Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Posts: 39

flyingkiwi · Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 12:14 am Post subject:

So, how many hours of classes do you teach a week at the eikaiwas? I heard there hours are 29.5 a week. Is that 29.5 hours of classes??

Also, I leave the JET Programme on July 31 and would like to jump almost straight into a job at an eikaiwa. So, when do you think I should start the process and apply?

movinaround · Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Posts: 202

AEON is the better of the 4 in my opinion. The holdiay situation is the major drawback, not being able to choose it and them being right on the major (ie expensive to travel) vacations. But for job satisfaction, AEON tends to be the best of the 4 biggies. They also seem to treat people a bit better. There used to be another area on this board, and almost everyone who talked about AEON did so in a positive way, unlike the other 3. There will be bad AEON branches, but better chances of a good one from my experience in Japan.

flyingkiwi, you should apply as soon as possible, and just tell them when you are available. You should know we had two people come into our AEON branch looking for a job and were told flat out they don't hire people in country, only from abroad, so...

It's usually 25 hours of classes, but at 50 minutes a class, that can work out to, what, about 32, 33 classes a week, if you are given the maximum.

I had a mon to fri schedule, but I would have preferred the tues to sat, for many reasons. One major one is time to do banking or other things like that. Second was for snowboarding, I hated going on Saturdays or Sundays, being jam packed with people.

Almost everyone I met did not prefer Nova to anything and were very outspoken about it. I used to hang out with a lot of Nova teachers.

Your resume should be professional, and you can find many examples on the web. Try to keep a resume to 1 page, 2 pages MAXIMUM. 3 pages is only for special people, none of whom include us Smile

Many places don't ask for a cover letter, but a short one is always a good idea too.

stillnosheep · Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 2068 Location: eslcafe

scorchio · Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Posts: 36 Location: Sydney

ECC don't usually hire from within Japan, however occasionally they put out the call for teachers already in Japan. Last time they did this they also advertised in the Kansai Flea Market (www.kfm.to), so keep an eye out.

Regarding photos: I always just sent hardcopy passport photos.