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brainmonster
Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Posts: 11
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 Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:57 pm Post subject: Teaching job timeline. Help! |
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I want to leave for Japan as soon as possible. I am scheduled to leave my job at any point here in the US but I don't really want to stick around, and have no reason to (the longer I stay the more I feel inclined to stay, I feel)
So I contacted Nova, Geos, etc. and they all told me that after an interview, it would take 2-4 months for me to be able to depart. This means that from now it would be about 3 months untill I would be able to depart for a job, having recieved a work VISA (part of the time period involves getting the work visa approved).
My other options are as follows:
Leave for Japan and try to find a job there during July. Being there, I would have to leave after 3 months, and then return to get my work visa. Any advice here? I can't buy a one-way plane ticket to japan, so I'm thinking of just making it for 3 months after I leave, to korea and staying with friends there. Do you think I'd be able to start immediately on a tourist visa once I got to Japan? My concern is wanting to start right away but then not wanting to have nothing to do if I have to wait for several months.
Taking a TEFL course (for 2 weeks, I think that's how long they run) in a different city like Hong Kong and then flying to Japan and finding a job, or going there for a planned Big 4 job.
Any tips or advice would be highly helpful as I'm a little nervous about these big changes in my life, so it would be great if I could minimize mistakes even since I'm bound to make some. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:50 pm Post subject: |
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| I want to leave for Japan as soon as possible. |
Never, EVER rush into things.
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| So I contacted Nova, Geos, etc. and they all told me that after an interview, it would take 2-4 months for me to be able to depart. This means that from now it would be about 3 months untill I would be able to depart for a job, |
That assumes you interview yesterday and are accepted in 24 hours. The whole interview process is scheduled for 1-3 days, and it takes place only a couple of times a year.
The 2-4 months starts after you get the acceptance letter. Don't you need time (aside from processing the visa) for things like storing your belongings, changing insurance on the car, giving notice on your current abode, etc.? (That's a rhetorical question meant for people in general who are hired from outside Japan. Seems quite reasonable, compared to the 1 or 2 weeks notice that some of the more unscrupulous employers ask.)
| Quote: |
My other options are as follows:
Leave for Japan and try to find a job there during July. Being there, I would have to leave after 3 months, and then return to get my work visa. |
Come as a tourist, and you can stay 90 days. If you find work willing to sponsor a visa within that time, apply for the visa, and stay. You don't have to leave the country anymore to process your visa.
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| Do you think I'd be able to start immediately on a tourist visa once I got to Japan? |
Frankly, no. Figure on it taking 1-2 months before you land that first paycheck. July is a beginning period for dead hiring.
You don't need a TEFL certificate to land a job here. Many eikaiwas won't like it anyway because they figure you might try to change their school's teaching format with new-fangled ideas. If you feel you need it, though, and are going to make this a long-term thing, go for it, but make sure that 2-week period has plenty of theory and practical training in it.
Start studying Japanese now. You won't be allowed to use it in the classroom most of the time, and you may not need it to survive in bigger cities, but who's to say that's where you will be, and why "just survive"?
Learn the market. Know where to apply and how. I spent 6 months sifting through forums and web sites and landed a very nice deal on the very first try. I'm big on preparation. For those that aren't, everyone is different, but I've been online for almost 10 years now dispensing advice that I would have loved to have gotten before I ventured out. |
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Nismo
Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 520
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| Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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| What's the rush? |
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brainmonster
Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:42 am Post subject: |
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Thanks so much, everyone, for your input. I think I'm going to shoot for early july sometime as my leave date. I have someone to stay with while I'm there so it won't be too bad. I also have some acquaintances in Tokyo. I think it will work out.
As for my reason for wanting to leave soon, I feel like I'll get sucked into my job even more. They convinced me to stay 3 months longer after I said I was quitting 2 months ago, for various reasons and compensations that they gave me. It's a philosophical thing to some degree - if I don't do it now I may never get a chance to. Girls, jobs, cars, etc. all conspire to suck you into staying in certain places, and I just want to maintain true to what I really want to do. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 1:32 pm Post subject: |
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I can only repeat what I wrote above.
DON'T rush into things.
Learn the market. For one thing, July is when summer vacation starts. That will rule out some of the dispatch ALT agencies. All that remains is eikaiwas, and July is a pretty quiet time for hiring. |
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