Job Discussion Forums

Nando-X · Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Japan

Hello, I've been lurking on these boards for a few weeks now and have finally decided to get my feet wet and make a post to introduce myself. I'm currently living in Toronto, Canada but am looking for work teaching English in Japan. I am a 33 year old male with a B.A.A (Applied Arts - Film Studies) and a TESOL certification from Global TESOL College.

I have applied to both ECC and AEON in the past 2 weeks. My brother, who currently lives in Tokyo and is married to a Japanese woman works for ECC as well. I'm hoping I might be able to pull the horrible nepotism card with ECC but I'm applying to other places as well to give myself some choice. I have not yet heard back from ECC which isn't a good sign but I just sent my resume and essay to Aeon today and even called in advance to get the name of one of the recruiters thanks to one of the suggestions on here so I could address the person directly in the cover letter.

My reasons for looking for a job in EFL are mainly because after working 8 years for a financial Institution (after getting a degree in film - go figure) I have realised that the glamorous life of banking is not for me. I volunteered myself when I heard they were laying off people in my department and have since been offered a package. My job here will be over and done with February 27. It's not a bad job. I get paid well, I'm just not happy with it. I'm looking for a big change and from what my brother has told me it sounds pretty good.

I don't know if EFL is definitely the field I want to be in for the rest of my life but I'm a creative person and I really enjoyed the TESOL course. I like the way you can use your own creativity in lesson planning and such. Sorry this post isn't asking anything in particular really. I will have some questions later on down the line but I will make a point of researching first before I ask anything. I've done a lot of research on the board already and have found a lot of it really helpful.

Please be gentle with me! Wink

BenJ · Joined: 11 May 2003 Posts: 209 Location: Nagoya

good luck!

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Since you really don't have any questions, there isn't much to say except welcome to the fray, good luck, and give ECC at least another week to get back to you.

BuddhaRhubarb · Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 14

with your qualifications you might want to aim higher than a conversation school... you might be able to make more than the standard 250,000 if you applied to a smaller, or more business oriented school?

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Nando-X · Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Japan

Thanks for the suggestions! I thought I would try to get into a conversation school first, work there for a year and then try to get work in something different but still EFL related. I will try to check out smaller schools as well that take applicants from outside of Japan. Just out of curiousity, if they don't ask for a photo should I be including one in my resume anyways? I didn't include it with my AEON resume as they didn't ask for it, neither did ECC.

Thanks for letting me know I should wait a bit longer for ECC as well. I had almost given up on them.