Job Discussion Forums

[ghostrider]

Take a deep breath. You don't have to come over here immediately. I got quite eager as soon as I graduated college as well, but the reality was I didn't have the money to come here at the time. I tried JET since you need less start up money that way, but got wait listed. I then decided to work about 70 hours a week (M-F) for about 6 months or so while living with my parents. I had no life and was exhausted, but I knew exactly why I was doing it, which I think made me even more serious about coming here. It's unfortunate on your end that the pound is lower against the yen than it used to be.

[ghostrider]

[flyer]

[Amarok]

Why are you guys assuming that Interac is going to put people in really urban areas while JET isn't? The fact is Interac is just as likely to stick you in the boonies, but without the pay and support of JET. People keep saying, "If you want to go to a city, go with an ALT dispatch," but you could still end up getting put in a really rural area and having no choice. Also, Interac for certain--I don't know about the other major dispatches--lowers the pay even more for people in urban areas, so you get more and more penalized for wanting to live in or near a city.

From what I've heard, most of the big city positions go to people who are already employed by the company and have done their time somewhere crappy in the middle of nowhere. JET is way better. Period.

[flyer]

[lenoreelux]

I am also starting with Interac March/April of 2010. I already have well over 500,000 en saved up to make sure that when I get there I can make my new home as comfy as possible. I requested anywhere near Nagoya or Tokyo..I know Tokyo would be impossible which is why I am really hoping for near Nagoya since I have some friends that live in that area as well as in Tokyo. I am working on brushing up on my Japanese before leaving.


I am nervous moving to another country. But I am sure everything will work out fine. I just wish I could hear back fast on when I need to buy my plane ticket for because airfare is cheap right now...lol.. >.<

[Harajuku Girl]

[seklarwia]

I don't see them having all the BOE contracts sorted (received an email from our branch apologising for how slow everything is going due to being "at the mercy of the BOEs"), reshuffling any current ALTs who (for whatever reason) can nolonger stay in their current placement and moving any current ALTs who have requested to go elsewhere, etc, thus being able to give the all the new recruits placements in the next 2-3 weeks.

Last year it was about the end of the first week in Feb that the first couple of people were reporting that they had received placements. But it seemed that more got their placements in early March. I actually received an arrival date and location and had booked my ticket before I received my placement.

You do not travel directly to our placement from the UK, so you don't need to know your placement to book your flight; the ALTs all fly to the same airport and will have training at the same venue first.

A large number of people will be brought in as alternates, so many will not be receiving any placement before arriving training.
The training date and location are confirmed quite late too. I was lucky to get a cheap flight costing about �330.

[lenoreelux]

[Amarok]

[seklarwia]

Not many alternates get to stay in Tokyo. Most will be allocated placements at training. Some may wait a couple of weeks. But if you happen to be one of the rare few who are not going to be placed for a long time, they move you out of the hotel and organise some accomodation for you.

Yes, you mostly help around the office and take Japanese lessons, but occasionally some are called to do some very short cover teaching assignments. You won't get long cover assignments, as there are ALTs hired specifically for that reason (one from Saitama came to cover for an ALT out here for more than a month late last Autumn).

[ghostrider]

My understanding is that Interac and the other ALT companies have taken nearly all the ALT contracts in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Tokyo happens to be where a vast majority of jobs of any kind are, and why many Japanese themselves move here from their home city. Other cities are much smaller, aside from Osaka's metro (where I've also heard there are very few JET contracts left). Like, I'd love to live in Fukuoka, but supposedly there are hardly any job opportunities outside ALT and eikaiwa, aside from becoming near fluent in Japanese and getting a job in a Japanese company.

[seklarwia]

Even if Interac has many positions in Tokyo, they are still not going to go to many new recruits or alternates. As was probably explained at their interviews, Tokyo being Tokyo and in such high demand means that the BOEs there can make added demands about the ALTs they receive. The BOEs tend to ask for ALTs with fairly high Japanese ability (JLPT 2 and above) and often require that the ALTs have previous work experience in Japan.

[lenoreelux]

I know it is difficult if you are not fluent in Japanese to work in the Tokyo area. I have been studying for the past couple of months and even though I took 3 years of Japanese at my college, my conversation skills are seriously lacking which is one of the main reasons why I wanted to work for Interac. I think that I would be happiest if I could get as close to Nagoya as possible so I can keep working with my Japanese friend with his English. I was so happy when he just received his TOEIC score today and it was 962. Now he feels a bit more confident in finding a bi-lingual job in Japan. It made me happy to help.

Any ways, I am just worried about not having an actual place to move into before I leave because I was planning to ship the rest of my stuff cause I am planning to stay in Japan for several years and I wanted to start taking private Japanese lessons ASAP. I am not leaving until I pass JLPT lvl 1 and hopefully be able to get my masters degree while living there. I can't wait to start. >.<

Thanks for all your information!! It helps me to know what I can expect.