Job Discussion Forums

[thinker]

I have an interview with this company coming up, anyone heard about them before that can ofer me some useful info. Also can anyone think of some good questions to ask and what to expect from a japanese interview, it's a position for only 4 months teaching university students.

Also the pay scale and pay dates are as follows:

[b] [i]Your salary will be 275,000 yen per month. If you are going to live in Westgate-provided apartment, the monthly rent is 81,000 yen including
utility and maintenance fee. We also have a subsidized health insurance
for 2,800 yen per month. Please note that this insurance does not
cover any pre-existing medical conditions, check-ups and dental cares.
Income tax, rent, and insurance will be deducted before we deposit your
salary. The pay cycle is from the 24th to the 23rd of the following
month. The payday is the 23rd of each month. The salary will be prorated for any partial period.Half of your airfare is reimbursed with your first full paycheck, which will be May 23rd for the instructors whose contract start on April 1st and paid on June 23rd for the instructors whose
contract start on April 29th. The remaining portion will be paid at the
completion of your contract. The date of converting dollars into yen will be the first date of the contract. [/i][/b]

Is it fairly standard to get paid so late after starting in japan? also does this sound like a fair deal~they say they'll pay up to $1000US on airfare but only on fixed round trip thru their agent> > >

any info would be appreciated

[Guest]

I had a phone interview with them!!....I think I am in they are still deciding!.....waiting to hear back from them!!

Do not worry about the interview!!.........I wanted to try to get a higher salary since I have experience!!......I have taught in Japan before. This may be a sensitive area since the Japanese are conservative......I am trying to figure this one out!

Just be yourself........You may want to ask them what teaching methods they use to teach their students?, how long the school has been in existence?. This shows your Interest of course!!. If the Interviewer is Japanese and is a member of the staff of the school(try to find this out): Try to appear energetic and a little excited(no need to exaggerate!) in the Interview.........you can ask them questions regarding your curiosity about the culture or if you are bold your views of the culture-you may want to throw a joke out to make them laugh!(nothing too insulting of course!).......this will make you look attractive since you are going to be an entertainer as well as a teacher!

Good luck!!

[Spiderman]

There was some big scandal at Westgate about 3 years ago. I remember hearing about people leaving the company in droves. Lately, some negative postings have been appearing about them on www.gaijinpot.com. My advice is just to thoroughly check them out and then proceed with caution.

[Guest]

[quote="Spiderman"]There was some big scandal at Westgate about 3 years ago. I remember hearing about people leaving the company in droves. Lately, some negative postings have been appearing about them on www.gaijinpot.com. My advice is just to thoroughly check them out and then proceed with caution.[/quote]


What is a great school to apply to in japan??(I would like to go to Sapporro or somewhere in the Hokkaido region!).......That has a good rep!!........do not say Nova!!...hahahaha!!..........What was the scandal??.....sounds bizzare!!.........wow!!

THANKS FOR THE TIP!!

[ZIA!]

I also applied for a position and was accepted. However, when I received their teacher handbook I noticed that I would not be able to have visitors in my residence after 10 pm at night. I feel that at this time I really do not need a curfew and do know how to be a good roommate. I respectfully declined the position. They state this is to prevent problems from occuring that have occurred in the past but for me at my age, 43, I was not able to accept this limitation. So, you should think about this before accepting a position.

Good Luck!

[Amy]

RE pay, I worked for GEOS and it is there standard pay cycle too...close onthe 23rd pay on the 30th/31st....I arrived last year for a few months of subbing on something like the 15th, so on the 1st they gave me a dinky pay for a week, then the next month i was on schedule. You need to bring money with you to get started. RE Westgate, in the town I was in I got to know a fellow english teacher and he had pretty bad things to say about Westgate, mostly the tremendous amount of teaching hours and STILL having to be available for Ss. He did not tell me about 10 pm guest policy..he had a late party one night so that may be why they implemented it.

[Glenski]

norbdemn,

I live in Sapporo. It's a bit difficult answering your question because you don't say much about your situation.

What is your education? experience? age? nationality? location?
What kind of teaching do you want to do (HS, univ., juku, private, corporate, kindergarten, eikaiwa)?

P.S. NOVA is here, too.