Job Discussion Forums

Lady0424 · Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Posts: 39

Hey all...I'm having a really hard time finding a school that I really like and trust and it's also hard to tell if the school is a scam or not so I'm just wondering...has anybody ever decided to just hop on a plane (without a job but with the intention of getting one) to Japan and secured a job there? If so, how long did it take you to find a job? Please post your experiences here, if possible or PM me! I appreciate it

Best
Somebody who's really down in the dumps right now over this whole job thing.

PS- I was in Japan before working for AEON but quite in 4 months so is it also possible that because I'm putting that on my resume, more employers are hesitant to contact me?

furiousmilksheikali · Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 4:10 pm Post subject:

I think Jim did this and posted his experiences in a previous thread. I'm sorry I can't remember where. I will do a search.

....okay, I don't think it is the thread I remember but there is some good advice here:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=46420&highlight=

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

Yeah, thanks, furious... I've actually posted my story in a number of places... That was the most recent one. It's the "Cliff's Notes" version -- highly condensed.

The thread you were PROBABLY wanting to refer to is this one.

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=2892

It was a lot easier for me to do the search, since I know what I wrote Laughing

but this is ALSO a fairly common topic/theme that comes up on Dave's and there have been numerous threads addressing it to some degree.

User N. Ame · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 222 Location: Kanto

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

User N. Ame · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 222 Location: Kanto

ruggedtoast · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 81 Location: tokyo

I did. Got an offer from NOVA, eventually. It can take weeks so you need to have enough dough to tide you over. Whatever they may say, small Ekaiwas cannot sponsor visas as they dont have a big enough turnover to be eligible, though they may well offer you poorly paid cash in hand work while youre still on a tourist visa.

If you do what I did and money is an issue you dont really get much choice about where to work initially as you have to apply for wherever is hiring; and you should make sure that the big companies will be hiring when you get there; for instance NOVA traditionally dont recruit between November and January. After you pass the interview and the HR procedures your company will apply to immigration for you and youll eventually get a certificate you can take to Korea to get your visa converted. Once you come back youre good to go, though depending on the companies pay intervals you could still be 6 weeks away from getting 2 weeks pay! I was literally down to my last few thousand Yen by the time I got my first pay cheque.

My fiance joined me when I was set up, it was a bit easier for her as she had a WHV. She applied for ECC on Sunday, had an interview on Tuesday, a contract on Thursday and a start date on Saturday. So it all depends!

Good luck

sethness · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 209 Location: Hiroshima, Japan

I came here on a tourist visa, interviewed, laid my resume in as many schools as I could, and heard "not now, maybe later" or "not on a tourist visa" quite a bit. After 3 months, my tourist visa ran out and I went abroad... and got call-backs from two small schools 5 months and 8 months later. Both did a short phone interview, then offered me a job if I'd come to Japan ASAP.

Dunno if that's typical.

You can expect that the smaller schools will respectfully interview you, whether there's a vacancy now or not-- but when they DO need a new teacher, it's usually very rush-rush, because foreign teachers will often quit at the drop of a hat, leaving schools with paying customers & not enough teachers.

Ruggedtoast suggests that small schools can't sponsor your visa. That's true, but only if the school is truly TINY, like less-than-ten employees-- or if the work isn't full-time.

Ruggedtoast also says you'll have to go outside the country to convert your tourist visa to a work visa. That used to be true, but I think nowadays they allow one to simply change a visa via paperwork without requiring a trip abroad.