Job Discussion Forums

[ShioriEigoKyoushi]

Text deleted

[Apsara]

Ok, I should have been more specific. What I meant by "the big recruiters" was "the big gaishikei recruiters", i.e. those that recruit foreigners and Japanese for mostly IT and finance jobs in foreign companies with offices in Japan. I know nothing about the big Japanese recruiters that you mentioned.

One HR company that I can think of at the moment is Robert Half. Yes, they are approachable by independent English speakers, here is their (English) website: http://rhmr.jp/index-en.php

Names for the others escape me right now- one was James Harvard, but I think they might have changed their name. I'll have to check with my husband when he gets home, but there are several others that my husband and our non-Japanese friends in IT have gone through before.

[Apsara]

[steki47]

[Amarok]

[Rooster_2006]

Amarok,

That really sucks that they're no longer going to release the vocabulary lists like they did with the previous tests. I wonder why they'd stop doing that?

Where did you hear that?

And increasing the percentage of the test that's on listening, that's a new one, too...

I guess I should have studied harder when they were still using the old format.

In any event, I managed to pass Korean Language Proficiency Test Level 5 (somewhere between N2 and N1 if equated to the New JLPT), so if I can do it for one closely related language, I'm sure I can do it for Japanese, with time and effort. Still, those changes do seem alarming -- it has gone from a very, very transparent test to a "mystery test" in which you have to guess which vocabulary is important (like the good ol' KLPT).

On the other hand, I guess this frees me from having to tediously memorize JLPT vocabulary lists. Maybe I can learn from something fun like Famitsu Wave, the Japanese newspaper, or something like that instead. Since we don't know what words we're being tested on, it doesn't really matter which source we use to learn Japanese anymore, so why not pick something fun for a change?

So perhaps the move towards less transparency can be thought of as a good thing, in some ways.

[idiggs]

Good thread. Interesting replies.

This article may prove to be helpful too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/world/asia/09iht-englede.1.5198685.html

[Yawarakaijin]

Here is the situation I am going through now. We recently put a job advert up and to date have recieved approx 180 applications.

Here is a little breakdown for you.

Applicants who have actually taught ESL or other subjects back in their home countries, certified teachers. 4

Applicants with related degrees and teaching experience in Japan/other foreign countries. About 45.

The rest have primarily been mid 30's-40's individuals who have left their "real jobs" back in the US and Canada to come do "something new" in Japan.

Two out of those four individuals will be given a nice brand new job at the start of April simply because they have been the only qualified people to apply.

This being about the 3rd round of hirings I have been involved in I could suggest that things in Japan are not as bad as they may seem. Have some real, solid experience and something to back it up and you are going to jump to the top of this list.

To be honest the experience of recruiting new teachers has been a real eye opener for me. I truly never realized the amont of riff raff out there. If you have the credentials, don't sell yourself short. You will find something.

[ShioriEigoKyoushi]

Text deleted

[Yawarakaijin]

First of all I hope I didn't come across as being rude. I used riff raff simply to indicate that they were not the kind of individual we were looking for.

Personally I am sure all of those mid 30's-40's guys and gal are great people, looking for a way to get a little enjoyment out of their lives by coming to experience a new culture, great for them I think.

To be honest, a 100 hrs TEFL certification means very little to me as just about anyone can complete one.

Basically one of two things catches my eye and jumps someone to the top of my list. The first is obviously being a certified teacher. Now I know we all remember some of those horrible teachers we had in highschool but I still think it says a lot about a person.

Secondly and perhaps more key for me is someone who has taught and thrived in the ESL environment back home in either the US, Canada, Britian ect..

ESL teachers are a dime a dozen in most of the major metropolitan areas of the above mentioned countries. If someone can survive and thrive in that environment, if they can manage a good solid few years at an esl school back home, they are good in my book.

[ShioriEigoKyoushi]

Text deleted

[Yawarakaijin]

Sorry for overlooking to answer one of your questions. Given that only about four out of 180 met my "expectations" you can obviously understand what our job advert might have looked at.

With those kind of numbers one could imagine that there are not a lot of certified teachers or those with extensive ESL credential coming to Japan these days. I would also imagine that those kind of teachers are possibly more likely to be happy here/wherever they are and thus not looking for a new job as often as others might be.

So to answer your question, all our placement states is that we would hope the applicant to have a 4 year degree with serious ESL professionals given special consideration. Pretty much the standard requests.

You have to understand though that taking someone just based on a TEFL is bascially leaving it down to random chance. Could be the greatest teacher in the world, could be a freak.

Interviewing every single person with the standard credentials to weed out the good from the bad is a time consuming process and one that isn't particularly enjoyable.

In Vancouver, where I am from, you can't throw a stone without it hitting an esl teacher, then have it bounce of him and hit another one. If you were a bad teacher, you were fired and replaced within the week. Show me an applicant with over a year experience in ESL back home and he/she has probably got the job.

Now in regards of not being willing/able to put in the effort to take on new, young, motivated teachers.

Obviously from a business stand point it would be foolish not to invest a little in your teachers training and skills but that is only needed here due to what employers are left to work with. It is just the reality.

Try convincing an ESL school in Vancouver, Melbourne or London that they need to invest in you. I don't think you would get very far in the interview process. They would surely have in house training/seminar but those are held to make good teachers better. They are not done to make Joe Smoe into a passable English teacher.

I didn't mean for the thread to take this direction. I was just trying to point out that, if you have solid qualifications plus a little experience back home, Japan might not be the bleak market that some believe it to be.

[Rooster_2006]

@Yawarakaijin

That was an interesting breakdown you made. 180 people, 45 people with experience in Asia, four certified ESL teachers who had taught in their home countries, and approximately 131 "I took a year off from being a real estate agent to have an adventure, and I also don't own a television because there's so much to do in life" people. And two job openings.

Would you mind telling us what kind of school it is? Is this just a regular eikaiwa, or is it a public school?

Well, since I'm one of those 45 that are somewhat qualified but didn't get the job, that means that I'd be out of luck if I applied to your school.

I can see what you're saying -- anyone who is a home country-certified ESL teacher should still have very few problems in Japan.

Still, for those of us who are teaching as a means to an end or just plan to be in it for the short run, the path to become the kind of teacher you're talking about is extremely long and arduous. I'd estimate that the process of becoming a certified ESL teacher in one's home country would take maybe three years, minimum (a two-year master's degree and an initial year of experience). That's a lot of blood, sweat, and tears just to make 250,000 yen at an eikaiwa...

Obviously I need to find a new line of work if I plan to live in Japan. Teaching English is no longer a shortcut path to living in Japan. EFL teachers need to work just as hard on their credentials to land a job in Japan as people in the business or IT sector, it seems.

[Glenski]

[prlester]

When did the fad happen and why did it go? with rap popularity you would think English would still be popular to read lyrics.