Job Discussion Forums

[anh]

In case anyone's interested, here's a write up of my experiences at the interview. It's pretty much the same as what else has been said here and there, though...

9:00AM. Okay, so maybe 9:10AM. I got lost getting off the metro station. We gathered at the location.. a few people hadn't shown yet, and 3 didn't show up at all. About seven people were there total, and I think the company likes to cap their interview sessions at 10 people. There were 7 at my session, including me.

The recruiter was really friendly/nice, and we first did an informal introduction to the group. She started with the Interac presentation, which was pretty general at first... Why Japan? Why Teach? Why Interac? etc etc. We watched a short video with interviews about what ALT-ing is like. She talked about what we'd expect to do in Japan, stuff like housing and its issues, salary & how much to bring with you to Japan, health insurance.

I find it interesting to note that if your Japanese ability is above 3 you can get subsidized for air transportation (100,000 JPY). In return you might be placed somewhere where they want you to know Japanese. Otherwise, monthly salary is 250,000 JPY or 240,000 JPY if you took out the loan for airfare (they take out 10,000 yen/month). Or if you're in an area no one wants (probably something super rural), you can get 260,000 a month.

11:30PM. We took a grammar test, which was pretty easy. It was divided into these sections: 1) Circle the phrase/word that doesn't sound right in English (~10 questions)
2) Active or Passive? (5 questions)
3) Multiple Choice - pick the right verb tense for the sentence (~10 questions)
4) Spelling. I always find it funny when people try to trick you with "a lot" and "tomorrow" (20 questions)
5) Punctuate/capitalize a paragraph.

We also took the personality test.. the one that scores EDTP, INFP, etc. About 75 questions.

We took a break after that and came back for our individual interviews. I got a chicken cheesesteak in the meantime and went over my stuff.

2:15PM. The interview was really relaxed. She asked basic questions like where I wanted to be placed (rank 1-3), why I was interested in Japan, why I thought I'd like to teach/teach in Japan, my teaching and work experience, what is "professionalism" (I was sort of caught off guard with that one), what are some qualities of a good ALT, what would be my strengths/weaknesses in relation to teaching in Japan, etc. She asked if I had any questions too.

After that was the dreaded video portion of the interview.. she gave me some more time to look over my notes since I was sort of nervous. I've never taught before so I was just kind of doing whatever. The first part of the video interview was to greet the class... I started with "good after noon" and asked what was the day's date, what day of the week it was, what time (30 seconds).

The next part was a self introduction, which I did partially in Japanese and partially in English. The recruiter mentioned that to have the salary option of paid airfare, your Japanese had to be level 3+, which could either be proven by proof of your score or from what you said in the self intro. So if you're looking to do that, make sure to speak some Japanese in that part of the interview.

Last part was the drill.. you can either pick #1-5, colors, or days of the week. I picked #1-5, and did this really dorky thing with fruit. I also sang a lame song I made up to count 1-5. She seemed to really like that I sang, since most people don't. The entire interview lasted about 35 minutes, though they initially say it takes an hour. Maybe it varies, though.

I guess as far as tips go, make sure you smile, and in the group portion try and add something to the conversation. She seemed really laid back but you could tell she was listening to everything everyone was saying. I basically tried to be really genki and cartoony in my drill, which wasn't hard because I have a silly personality.

It definitely wasn't a hard interview; she mentioned that one shy girl completely froze when the camera was turned on and she still got a position in the end because Interac could see she was still a good person. Take that as you will, I guess. She mentioned hearing the results in about 2-3 weeks if you have all your paperwork turned in. I don't yet so I'm not sure when I'll hear back.

Hope that helps someone in the future~

[wintersweet]

Myers-Briggs, eh? I wonder if you can get hired if you score as I(ntroverted). :p

Anyway, although I'm not planning to apply to Interac, it was very good of you to write up your experience so people have more of an idea what to expect. Nice work!

[angiestar]

wow, they pay airfare if you speak japanese now? wish they'd done that when i applied!

thanks for writing this up.

sounds pretty similar to my interview with interac -- relaxed personal interview, easy grammar test, personality test.

regarding the video part of the interview -- for people who get nervous on camera (like me), i suggest practicing what you're going to say over and over a few times to get used to the sound of the words coming out of your mouth. it feels really silly but it helped me a lot. i had a three hour drive from portland, oregon to seattle, washington for the interview, and i went over my lesson plan in my head and aloud for a good hour of that.

[anh]

This may be unnecessary, but I did get an offer with Interac. So hopefully if people kinda follow what I wrote they'll be fine too~

[G Cthulhu]

I wonder if they add points on the grammar and spelling test for ex-JETs?

[degolasse]

Thanks alot for the tips on the interview. I read this post a couple days before I had my interview. Mine was pretty much exactly the same as yours and it really helped me to know what to expect when I went into it.
I was offered the job yesterday.

[anh]

Glad it helped...

[Glenski]

[chirp]

[littleturtle]