Job Discussion Forums

DNK · Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 236 Location: the South

I'll start by saying I'm bad at finding information on forums. I've searched, and haven't found concrete answers.

I'm in the US now and am wondering who I could get a job from in Japan with some sort of visa/setup help. I'd also prefer to choose where I worked, at least so that I am not in the middle of a metropolitan area. I'm aware of the big companies, but from what I've heard I have no say as to where I would work.

Am I going to be able to find much in the online employment ads, or are those mostly for people already in Japan?

Also, how long does it usually take to actually get to Japan once a job has been found - a couple weeks or many months?

fluffyhamster · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 2:10 am Post subject:

Seeing as you're choosy about where you want to work (that would also rule out the JET and TEIJ/Earlham College programs, although chances are that any placement through them would be more rural than urban), you're simply going to have to scour the job ads until you find an employer who's willing to interview and sponsor overseas applicants* (I've never counted, but I'd be pretty surprised if the number of such jobs ever exceeded 5% - if that - of the total listed at any one time on e.g. Gaijinpot, or Jobsinjapan, or on/in the Ohayo sensei newsletter. BTW, what job sites are you aware of and using? I'm assuming that you're checking at least those three).

Assuming that you get lucky, the processing of your COE - 'Certificate of Entitlement' (to a work visa) shouldn't take more than a month or so, after which you'd go to your nearest Japanese embassy or consulate to get the visa entered into your passport. You'd then be ready to fly to Japan and get a 'Period of Stay' (enabling you to reside in Japan for a year) stamped in your passport as you pass through immigration. DO NOT FLY TO JAPAN WITHOUT GOING THROUGH THESE STEPS. (Some employers will assure you that the paperwork can be completed after you arrive, but will then be free to exploit the situation if you are (begin) working illegally, and may even decide to fire you without notice if they don't like the look of you - you could then consider that your "interview"/probationary period LOL).

I was on JET for 3 years and chose to take the return flight home rather than stay on in Japan. It took me about a year (not that I was searching every day!) to find an employer willing to sponsor a new visa, and then I probably only got that job because a colleague that I'd worked with in China happened to have previously been employed at the school in Japan and perhaps vouched for me.

Anyway, I'd say that you'll be needing to apply for as many jobs as possible (basically anything that's advertised), and it could take many months (years even?)...to be honest, you'd probably be better signing your life away for anything up to a year with the bigger chain schools, just to get that initial visa. Once you've got it, you can give your notice at some point (try to be responsible about this, though!) and find a new sponsor.

*Usually such employers need to cast a wider net due being located in smaller or more isolated places (with correspondingly smaller numbers of foreign residents), but their ads - especially when frequent - could be an indication of high staff turnover (=potentially bad conditions).

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

Fluffy wrote:

DNK · Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 236 Location: the South

Thanks for the very informative replies Cool

I've done some preliminary research into the companies you suggested, and found the following:

INTERAC
Language House Based out of its Head Office in Tokyo, and its eight branch offices located throughout Japan, Interacs rapidly expanding population of approximately 1400 or so ALTs are now working in the following locations throughout Japan: Hokkaido, Akita, Niigata, Nagano, Iwate, Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Ibaraki, Chiba, Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Toyama, Aichi, Mie, Gifu, Shiga, Osaka, Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Nagasaki and Fukuoka.
^^^ I don't know if these are major cities or what...

JAMES ENGLISH SCHOOL
Business English. Explicitly want people good with small talk, which I am not at all good at. Don't think I'll consider this one.

DAVID ENGLISH HOUSE
??????????? - that's what the website said.

PEPPY KDIS CLUB
"Currently, we do not have classrooms in Tokyo city or in Okinawa." That's a good start...
single occupancy, key money secured
Kids, need high energy - but I'm a more relaxed sort. Not sure if kids are my thing, to be honest.

ALTIA
40hr/wk, but 40days paid vacation
Key money paid
All US recruiting is completed...? So not happening any time soon?

JET
Too late... Sad

NOVA
housing
28hr/wk
240
chicago office

ECC
25hr/wk teaching
252000
7wk vacation
no airfare
Toronoto office for hiring (far)

AEON
Year-round recruiting
no airfare
270000
36hr/wk
3wk vacation
key money paid

GEOS
30hr/wk
250000
housing paid
no airfare

Not sure if all the hr/wk are teaching or overall and how much teaching is necessitated. It appears no one pays for airfare (not Korea, apparently). It looks like they all help with housing, though. Payment is all roughly similar. Some have recruiting locations near me (Chicago), some don't.

I'm not sure if any of these companies actually gives a choice as to where you work, or if any are less major city focused than the others.

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

DNK · Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 236 Location: the South

So there's not a Hokkaido city in Hokkaido then, I'm guessing.

Details were just for general information, as much for my own sake as anyone else's. And key money and airfare are rather significant concerns of mine, considering my financial situation. Same goes for having recruiting offices nearby or having to spend lots of money traveling to Seattle to do an interview, if they're even going to have one anytime soon. Same goes for how much I make and how much I have to work to make that.

Maybe vacation time wasn't that important, but I'm not sure exactly what was minuscule about the other facts I posted, since the rest of the facts were about where I would be working or what I would be doing, which I consider somewhat important...

Anyway, thanks for the link. I'm getting the vibe that I should just try the big companies and see where it takes me, but I dislike forming opinions like that after only talking with a couple people.

G Cthulhu · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:50 pm Post subject: