Job Discussion Forums

[seklarwia]

I believe those figures are from adds for in country recruitment for specific jobs.

People applying from abroad for full time positions should be totalling 250,000/month (A bit more for a few who meet certain criteria). That's what we get.

[Inflames]

Interac's full-timers generally get 230,000 plus a 20,000 yen attendance bonus. If you're one minute late for work, the attendance bonus is gone. Not all contracts are like that, and mine was for 260,000 and shakai hoken. If you're a domestic hire it's around 250,000, give or take.

With Interac, I think it all depends on the branch and how much you have to interact with the branch staff. I worked for the Osaka branch and the staff there were awful. The MC (foreign branch manager) is a particularly nasty woman. She's not too bright in that she e-mailed my friend telling him that he would be blacklisted from getting a job in Osaka and Interac was the biggest ALT company and were getting bigger and he would be blacklisted from them too, so he would be in a lot of trouble. This was because he elected not to accept Interac's terms of employment (he backed out after seeing the contract). I and a lot of my friends have had pretty awful experiences with Interac.

However, it appears that others haven't had bad experiences there. I originally worked for Nova and I got hired when I was in uni (to start after graduation). I talked with one of my professors and she told me that I could stay and always wonder about what things would be like if I had gone, or go and, if things didn't work out, I could always quit and come back home and know what happened. I went and, despite what others said, had a good time (up until not getting paid). Basically, what I'm saying is that it's only a job - not a life. If it doesn't work out, you can quit and move back home or find a new job (which is exactly what I did with Interac after enough of their "professionalism").

[seklarwia]

[ILoveCov]

@Seklarwia

I'm not entirely 100% that there are no Leopalaces where I'm going... I'm not too shabby (she says) at Japanese and attempted searching on their site for apartments in my area. I'll be going out in the sticks in Niigata prefecture. Under Niigata many cities were listed but not mine Although thinking about it, that could just be that there were no vacancies when I searched.

I know Leopalace is terribly small and many people say I will be lucking out if I don't get one - but I'd quite like to have somewhere semi-furnished when considering the current exchange rate with the pound!

[seklarwia]

You not finding anything could mean anything. It could mean no vacancies, no Leopalace or perhaps that if you are really going to a tiny city/town that it comes under a larger area or nearby city name or that you have to actually contact them for info on these areas.

You don't really get a choice initially. Interac doesn't make money by subletting or sticking you in company apartments, so they don't really care where you live. They will simply want to get you a place convieniently located for getting to at least your main school (if you have more than one) that is foreigner friendly and easy to find/organise. Private rentals involve shopping around at all the local estate agents in your area and lots of negotiation... they don't have the patience, time frame or man power to do that when they are trying to accommodation for 1000+ new recuits.

Leopalace is convenient and it often has far lower start up costs. If you really are in the sticks (often new recruits' perception of what is sticks out here are not exactly correct), and you are careful in your first couple of months, you could find yourself needing considerably less than 500,000 to cover start up and to live off of until your first paycheque.

When you are here, feel free to shop around for a new place. If you find a place that you like, you can try haggling with the landlord via the agent to either drop or lower certain moving in cost such as key money.

If you start off in a regular rental, you could see yourself forking out 300,000+ simply to get the keys and cover a month or 2 of rent for an apartment that will be an empty shell with a front door. You will need to buy everything from appliances (including a stove) to light fixtures.

Leopalace is small, but it does have advantage of coming in a state that is livable from moment you get the keys (complete with mini fridge, stove, TV, heating/AC unit, washing machine, microwave etc) and you will have internet avaliable at no extra cost 48hrs after moving in.

[gallerygirl]

Hey guys,
Since this post has taken a detour regarding housing, now might be the opportune time for me to ask this question. Are apartments really the only option? Is it possible to rent a room from a local family? For example, the area of the US I live in is notoriously expensive - you need to pull down at least $50 K or more to even qualify for a one bedroom apartment (and I am quite shy of that mark unfortunately). Therefore it's really common for people like me to rent rooms in houses. Now the difference is, American homes tend to be large and therefore people tend to have space they don't need. As Japanese homes are small, I can see where maybe this isn't a practice simply based on the fact they don't have space to rent out. But I figured it was worth a shot to ask if this is an avenue anyone has pursued and had luck with in Japan.

Thanks.

[Inflames]

Every place I've worked for in Japan has made mistakes. The difference between every other place and Interac was that, when it was their mistake, they didn't blame me for it. Interac's "professionalism" was demonstrated quite well.

With Interac, the MC contacted me. In her first e-mail (since hiring me), she started saying I was unprofessional and a bad teacher. Of course, all I did was show up for BoE training (we were given an afternoon off and had to show up for training with the BoE) at the time the head trainer in the office wrote in his e-mail I should, which I then forwarded to the MC and the head trainer when it turned out they were wrong. She also demanded that, instead of going to school tomorrow, I come in for a meeting with the branch manager. I agreed to do so. Later on, I thought about things - how Interac had already messed up several times (various other things, but they weren't big). Instead of a meeting, I handed them my resignation letter saying that I was quitting effective immediately (it was within my 14 day no-notice period), that if my pay wasn't deposited, I didn't have a paystub or letter of release by the appropriate payday I would go to the labor standards office (I also printed out a map and address to show I wasn't messing around). I got my money and forms and I haven't heard a peep from them again.

I've worked for several other dispatch companies and have yet to experience anything like Interac's "professionalism."

[ssjup81]

Inflames: What other dispatch companies have you worked for?

[Inflames]

[fluffyhamster]

[Apsara]

[gwynnie86]

[flyer]

don't forget, its human nature for only the people who are not happy to wine / whinge.
In other words, if say 10 people work at Interac and 7 are reasonably happy (??) they weill go home and get on with their life, while the few that are not happy will talk about it etc. Nothing really wrong with it, it is probably human nature. Interac is the biggest ALT dispatcher so there are more chances (just by pure numbers).
Their basic policy is pretty clear on their website and it does appear some branches are better than others (??)
If it was me, I would come, learn as much as you can and if you don't like it where you are going somewhere else the next year. Once you have some experience (and possibly contacts?) you can go to a better place.

anyway, my 2c worh