Job Discussion Forums

[Dude Love Japan]

I'm 31 years old, Canadian, years of tefl exp in Korea and got a BA in English and a CELTA. If I just show up in Tokyo in September how can I find work and have Wednesday and Saturday evenings free? If that's impossible what's the closest I'll get and how? Thanks for your kind help.

[Glenski]

Unless someone happens to know their employer is hiring for those specific blocks, you are just going to have to take your chances. Figure most places hire either for Mon to Fri, or that AFAIK the most common OTHER days off are Sunday and Tuesday.

You are going to need an employer to sponsor you for a work visa, so I wouldn't be too picky. Besides, with the flooded market as it is, it's a buyer's market, not a teacher's.

Why the restriction on Wed and Sat?

[Khyron]

As you might or might not know, Shane English School can probably accommodate you. They're usually short of teachers, and there's a reason for that, but I'm sure if you offer to work on Sundays for them, they'd be happy to get you Wednesdays off. Most of their schools finish at 6pm, so you'd have a chance to make it to aikido practice or whatever you need to do. You'll miss the odd class, because they require you to work on one or two of your days off every month, but you'd get the majority of Wednesday/Saturday evenings off.

[stevenbhow]

Well, if you don't mind being an ALT September is good time to come to Japan. On most days you will work from 8 am to 4 pm, and have Saturday and Sunday off, so it should fit your schedule. Dispatch companies aren't the best organizations to work for by a long shot and conditions at the JHS can be pretty horrible as well, but it if you can tough it out you can probably find something better work wise eventually.

[anne_o]

[Dude Love Japan]

thanks to everyone for their kind help. I'd be thrilled to be an ALT in Tokyo beginning in Sept. What's the best way to go about this? Incidentally, I can't really be in Tokyo before late August.

[ESLgeek]

There are many places you can work where you get to decide what days you'll work. I've accepted a job from Gaba and you get to work how ever many hours and days you want. You can get better pay elsewhere, but Gaba allows you to work part time in other jobs that would.

[Glenski]

[stevenbhow]

Start hitting the job listings now. Send out your resume and a CV telling the companies when you will be in Japan. See if you can set up an interview. With your degree, Celta, and experience I don't think you will have a problem landing a job. Most of the dispatch companies lose teachers after the summer holiday.

[anne_o]

[Glenski]

anne,
I think you have pretty much answered a lot of your own questions. You wrote things like:

re: greener pastures not being so green or evident
Not true, unless you're an idiot and don't know what you want and how the business works.

re: not knowing what it out there before one quits a contract early
One can do research and understand the situation before coming to a new place to teach.....COMMON SENSE....but, yes, many lack this.

I've been on this forum and others for over 10 years. There are a lot of people who don't have the common sense or basic research motivation that you mentioned. Those are the people I targeted in my response earlier.

As for the other remarks you made (airfare sometimes not being worth it, every case is different, being a corporate puppet), you and I are on the same page. Since we don't know what the OP's situation is, I chose to err on the side of caution and mention a few of the down sides of quitting a contract early. It is not meant to "discourage people from working somewhere", as you put it.

You may not care about the image of other foreigners here. I do. I live here. I have no problem with people quitting a contract early if the conditions there are bad, but I think it is only fair to point out that if a person just wants to quit because he thinks he can find something better elsewhere, there will be repercussions. Some are evident directly to that person (loss of bonus), and others are more underlying and pervasive on other foreigners as a whole. Like I mentioned, it's a chicken and egg thing, so I'm trying to show that unless one's conditions are bad, why perpetuate the cycle? In other words, give sufficient notice. That's after one has done the basic research into hunting for the next job (and apartment), of course. It's not "saving the world", just saving a little of our reputation here.

Yes, teaching (like many other things) is a job, but lots of newcomers don't see it that way. They see it only as a means to earn enough money to get drunk and laid and sightsee. This can give the rest of us a negative image (which affects job prospects long-term, and that is the crux of why I often write the way I do, not to discourage people from coming here).

[GambateBingBangBOOM]