Job Discussion Forums

[Yuki]

I am leaving for Japan at the end of November to teach for Amity (the children-focused division of AEON).

I was wondering if anyone had any insight into whether the situation with NOVA was adversely affecting any of the other eikaiwa chains.

The only reason I ask is that I have been checking the recently posted Amity ads and they are now requesting $25 for background checks from new applicants. I did not have to pay this fee, but especially with NOVAs demise it does kind of make me paranoid that the company might be hard up for money. On the other hand, this may be a standard practice that I was simply unaware of.

Any comments or input would be appreciated!

[Mahik]

I was kinda wondering that myself since I'm going to be working for ECC. I think it may only be a case with NOVA because of their scandals and their business model. To my knowledge, most of the big Eikawas request money to pay to conduct your background check.

[southofreality]

There's still a demand for eikaiwa lessons. Due to NOVA's problems, there may be a slight decline in the number of new first-time students available for the other Big-4 companies to pick up, but there will also be some students left out in the cold by NOVA who want to continue their eikaiwa studies and will seek out lessons at one of the other Big-4 schools.

Companies that haven't overexpanded and opened up too many schools in the last few years should be fine.

[Zzonkmiles]

I'd worry that there'd be a glut of ex-NOVA teachers saturating the market.

I'd also worry that schools become more selective with the teachers they hire--all for the same salary.

All those NOVA teachers who just BSed and joked around and never bothered to learn Japanese or establish connections or learn some other useful skill are about to be in for a rude awakening.

[cornishmuppet]

[drifter13]

[TokyoLiz]

I've been checking the Japanesse and English media in Japan, but as yet, nobody's picked up the story.

I just had a peek at http://www.generalunion.org/ to see if there were any news updates, but the last report listed there is about the supreme court ruling that came down in August.

[stillnosheep]

Nova's demise shouldn't affect Aeon, who are financially sound. Novertheless like other Eikaiwa they have been feeling squeezed by the downturn in profitability associated with the saturated EFL market in Japan and have been looking for ways to claw back payments from teachers without cutting salaries, viz the increase in maximum rents from Yen 39000 to Yen 50000.

This 'pay for your background check' nonsense was started by Nova. Now it looks like Aeon have picked up on it. If a (prospective) employer wishes to run a background (or any other) check on a (prospective) employee then the employer should pay for it.

Tell them to stuff their fee.

[Yuki]

It looks like I got in under the wire, not having to pay for the background check and my rent is fixed at 42,000 yen for the duration of my contract at least.

I do feel very sorry for anyone working for NOVA and needing to find a job in this market. It's a situation I never want to be in myself if I can avoid it. Hopefully they can all move on to a position that is beneficial to whatever their goals happen to be.

[nanoripe]

Hello all.

LTRFTW, im keen to teach in Japan via the big schools, but with this situation with nova going on, should I delay my applications or press ahead with it? I was hoping to go away in March/April, and im from the UK.

[southofreality]

Nope. Whole industry's goin' to hell. Forget Japan. Try Korea.

Good luck

[flyer]

[Apsara]

Actually closer to 120,000,000 but I agree otherwise- plenty of ALT jobs still around. Friends of mine who are ALTs have really good deals as far as holidays etc go and aren't affected by Nova's imminent collapse in the least.

[gaijinalways]

SR posted

[fat_chris]