Job Discussion Forums

[southofreality]

[bluetortilla]

fat chris,

when you get to be my age, you start to really not give 2 s's about what others may think of you. besides, isn't the personal aspects of living here every bit as important as the financial ones? obviously, in my case, i can't talk about one without the other.

no one can hurt you really, it's all about your attitude.

good luck with your plans, but be forewarned- not many gaijin praise this place up and down, no matter what their skills. hopefully you'll have better luck. personally, japan is a mixed bag for me. in some ways it's stifling but in other ways it grants me an anonymity that i enjoy. just don't ever expect to be treated equally in terms of benefits, etc., with your japanese colleagues. the higher you go, the more that applies.

[bluetortilla]

oh, and welcome! hope you have a great time.

[bluetortilla]

Glenski (I usually spell it right),

I just knew you were a scientist! And working at a university, you have a Major too, no? And also, you must realize that your scientific background puts you at a great advantage for proofreading. Personally, I've done quite a bit of medical proofreading for prestigious journals believe it or not, but only because I was able to work directly with the doctors.

Thanks. Now I understand you and where you're coming from a lot better as well.

Hope your exam turned out well.

[billysmolesworthy]

Bluetortilla wrote

[bluetortilla]

Well, I didn't check but I'm sure from the context I was referring to Fukuoka, where there is a general agreement that as far as teaching English is concerned, it is in the midst of a bad recession. I wasn't referring to just anywhere in Japan, like Hamamatsu. But I'll concede I should say 'everybody I know.' I'm sure there are people doing great in Fukuoka. Not so long I was one of them. For the past three years I've been focusing on increasing students. Since that hasn't been working very well I'm now looking for more day work. I have a pretty impressive resume, which employers readily comment on, but then offer me 2500 an hour, which I would never accept. I've applied to a over a dozen universities and colleges, but without a Master's and this not being the time to apply, I don't think I'll have much of a chance. Next would be business English. My friend makes 4500 at Panasonic and when it rains it pours, but droughts between. Incidentally, he has a Master's in Education but doesn't want a college job. "Can't stand the environment," he says. All he has besides that is a few classes at his, though that is his choice of course. I think he averaged about 250,000 a month last year. I have another friend who is making 500,000 a month but 300,000 of that is coming from designing web pages, the other 200,000 from his own little school. He also works about 20 hours a day (exaggerating of course but not too much).

So those are just a couple of profiles from us poor folk in Fukuoka. You'll find success stories, but most gaijin here are having a hard time getting a good schedule together (except the youngsters who somehow manage to survive on a diet of beer and revolving Japanese girlfriends).

Good to hear you're doing so well. Hats off to you. Sound busy as Hades though. lol

[Glenski]

[markle]

I would like to continue in the same vien as Glenski. I'm not interested in your past experiences but more what opportunities lay ahead of you. You have already got a business up and running, well what next. In a saturated market like Japan you need to work on developing niches that differentiate you nfrom the pack. Farm yourself out to companies in your schools slowtime. Develop courses for Business, TOEIC, Centre Test (for graduating high school students), kinder age kids, first year high school, etc.
Get the wife involved, impress on her that her working in the school is the only way for the school to get ahead. Get her networking when she takes the kid to school, licking stamps, taking calls. If you've tried all this before, try it AGAIN. You'll be better at it next time.

[KCorv100]

Hi all, first post on here and I can see that I will have to improve my skill at looking for the main point in some of the posts - although this one (the first Ive read) is really interesting!

It seems that...
In this econ. climate there are just too many schools competing for an increasingly reluctant number of potential students. Once supply exceeds demand as it surely must do in these circumstances then schools are forced to drop their prices, so schools will go broke and new schools will not enter the market. All this means that schools make less, incur debts, go broke and pay less.
As the OP suggests the employees can fight back by taking an MA (etc), learning Japanese or being geographically mobile.

I'm reading The Shining at the moment, and I can most definitely say that the solution to a tricky job situation and a difficult future ISN'T killing your wife and kids (scary book!).

[bluetortilla]

QUOTE:
Again, I don't understand you. I have a bachelor's and a master's degree.

All I was saying is that you generally need a Master's degree here in Japan to teach at a college or university. It's OK to make assumptions sometimes Glenski.

Markle, appreciate your intentions but I've already done everything two or three times here with varying degrees of success. As for getting my wife to lick stamps, that's a real knee slapper. Although I do have to say she's a good teacher and a pretty good closer to boot.

KC, I don't think schools are necessarily lowering prices. They're just having a hard time getting new students. Hence lower wages and a glut of teachers which reduces competition. The ones who are ruining the market here are the people just off the boat willing to work for anything.

[KCorv100]

Hi BlueTortilla

If schools are having a hard time getting students then the economic reality of it should force schools to drop their prices to those students in the hope of undercutting their competitors and stealing bums on seats. If you're not doing this then I would refer you to your footnote quote by Albert Einstein. That anenome haired genius knew a thing or two about reality, even though he concocted his Relativity theory by imagining he was zooming around the universe on a moonbeam.

I think it was Markle who suggested you should try to out-gimic your rivals (differentiate?) - please be careful with this one as I've seen some pretty weak gimics around. A hollow gimic attracts hollow students (don't quote me on that).

[bluetortilla]

KCorv,

Yeah, I know about Einstein's floating in space experiments. LOL Thing is, they've yet to find any holes in the theory- just some discrepancies with quantum physics.

While I agree that it would seem like the market would force the Big Boys like AEON et al to compete and lower prices (they haven't as far as I know but I don't really know), we small fry have to be careful about how we market ourselves. Having a slightly higher tuition than the little school down the street just might make the quality here seem higher in the eyes of the prospective student or mother. Too high and people will balk unless you have really nice facilities and a professional staff (middle level school I guess). People choose the big schools, even with their exorbitant prices, because there is a perception (back to Einstein again) that they are professional and can be trusted to teach English with top notch methodology. That if you pay all that money you're sure to learn how to speak English. And that just might work because if you believe something to be true then it sure seems true for you.

Anyway, I'm starting my first class at Temple U. this September, will try to piece together a whole new job scheme, and will float my school. Slowly getting out of the owner business in other words (while trying not to throw the baby out with the bathwater). Too much of a headache, too many long hours that often don't pay off, and too much competition where I'm at. And although I can appreciate the concept in a marketing world (I just ate some terrible granola from Costco the other day whose packaging was loaded with gimmicks- veritable poetry as a matter of fact- but it still tasted like it was made in 1898). Sorry, don't want to offend anyone, but I'm not into the marketing thing or into the 'just make a buck' thing. If I can't find some quality in my work, why bother? That's why the wedding thing bothers me (I don't judge anyone for doing it though). Another guy I knew made a million yen off selling Hard Rock Cafe buttons (got them off ebay) to his students! Now that sure is gimmicky, novel and meaningful. Cultural exchange even. We all have to make a living I know. Sigh.

[Glenski]

[KCorv100]

Hey a reply from the mud covered turtle that is The Glenski - well OK. I have no doubt that the market wants something, but whether that is what the market needs is another aspect of professional behaviour.. I have a feeling that the Japanese ESL market is in dire need of decent ideas and that surely isn't what the market wants.

Good to hear from you Glenski and I hope all is well with you out there.

[Sherri]

As someone who has to lead the marketing effort for an ESL program, I know how hard it is. I also imagine that most of the suggestions that people have put out there for bluetortilla, he has already tried, or has thought of but for one reason or another has not tried. You have to be careful not to diversify too much, you can confuse your market and you can end up with lots of classes with just one student in it, or 2 students, one beginner and one advanced--for example. It is expensive to market and mistakes can be even more expensive.

BT, I think you are doing the right thing getting your masters. I got my MA in TESOL while in Japan. It made my transition to the US much easier. I would not have the job I have now at a local community college if I had not done the MA, despite almost 20 years of EFL experience, a masters in another field and the RSA cert. I needed that MA TESOL. Good luck with your class at Temple.
Sherri