Job Discussion Forums

[Canuk girl]

I was wondering if anyone knows how to go about applying for jobs at local schools. There are several in my area, and I had a student mention that they have a foriegn girl working in their kindergarten class teaching English a couple hours a week. Does anyone know how I might apply for a position like this? Could I just walk into a school with my resume? It appears to me that there isn't a white person around, as I'm living in a rural area, so its not like there would be a load of competition.

Thanks

[PAULH]

canuk

Seeing as nearly all elementary schools and a large majority of the junior and senior high schools are publically run, its probably a good idea to approach the local board of education or the government and speak to someone in the education sector. If you dont speak Japanese well it would be a good idea to go with some one who speaks Japanese

I have no idea who would do the hiring but I dont think the headmasters in each school really 'hire and fire' their own teachers but will act on a recommendation and will ask the city government to find a teacher for them.

As far as I know many ALTS working in elemantary or high schools are working as JETS hired by the city, or they are sent as ' dispatch' teachers by privately run schools contracted out to the city. it might be a good idea to find out if such schools are operating in your area.

[ryuro]

Hey Canuk girl,

Thought I'd chime in here.

The situation you described sounds like one that my company currently manages. We place teachers in various schools (kindergarten-high school) in smaller communities. These aren't typical AET positions as often the teacher will go to a different school every day for a couple hours (sometimes two in one day- one place in the a.m. and another in the p.m.).

Could you walk in with your resume and land this type of deal- in my experience I'd think it highly unlikely for a couple big reasons:

1. The schools themselves usually have little to do with hiring the teacher- that's done through the local board of education. Most, schools- particualry in smaller communities- really only need someone part-time. A board of education generally has several schools (kindergarten-high school) under it's jurisdiction so it can hire a teacher and then spread them out among all the schools where they have a need. Theoretically the the board of education are the guy's you'd need to approach.

2. More and more boards of education have been loathe to contract directly with teachers- they much prefer contracting with a third party company (or the JET program) in order to supply their teachers. Why? Short answer- it's a lot less hassel for them. They don't have to deal with the teacher's contract issues, tax issues, insurance issues, housing issues, etc... They just pay a fee to the third party company and that company acts as the teacher's employer. Plus if the teacher turns out to be a 'dud' it's far easier for them to go back to their contracting company and say "hey, replace this ding-dong."

Of course, there are bound to be others out there with different experiences, so I can't say this is a univeral thing. However, based on my time in dealing with this same situation, I'd think it'd be very difficult to land that type of work unless you happen to personally know someone on the board of education or had another such in-road with someone.

I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear, but hey- you could always just give it a try (I'd try to find out who handles the hiring for the local board of education and work from there). Nothing ventured nothing gained!

Cheers,
ryuro

[shmooj]

My experience of friends who have done this and been successful reiterates what ruryo is saying. In each case, there has been some sort of chuukai (middleman) to negotiate between the foreigner and the school. This is not just because the foreigner has not had the language ability or cultural ability and contacts to do this but because this is how things are done in Japan. THis is because, if anything goes wrong in this situation, it is more difficult to apportion direct blame on any one party.

The chuukai can also help when you are in the position and having a tough time. They are important cultural elements.

[Glenski]

Not all schools (public or private) hire ALTs, and not all of them hire through recruiters or the BOE. In my case (and all of my foreign co-workers), the school posted an ad in the newspaper. There aren't a lot of these, but plenty enough to be seen, even on online ads like www.ohayosensei.com www.eltnews.com www.gaijinpot.com and occasionally on www.jobsinjapan.com .

[Celeste]

Another avenue that you can go is to befriend PTA mothers. The PTA mums at some of the Elementary schools in my city did the ALT hiring because they could speak English better than any of the staff at the school. It does take an "in". Get to know some public school teachers. Make friends with people who are associated with schools that you might like to work for. If those schools are looking for someone, the administrators will often ask around if anyone knows any nice Gaijin ALTs.

[shmooj]

[easyasabc]