Job Discussion Forums

[djdryon]

I am a recent college graduate who has wanted to teach abroad for several years. I have tutored English to my Japanese friends, as well as inadvertently taken over a Photoshop class during running start, but don't have any certifications other than scoring a 98 on my English COMPASS test. I have applied to 15-20 different schools across the country, but unfortunately have not had any successful responses yet. I HAVE had a successful interview with HandSKorea, but I would prefer to work/live in Japan, as I am more familiar with the language/culture. Do you think that any companies in Japan would hire me?

[Glenski]

If you are an American (I assume by your Seattle avatar) without a BA or BS degree minimum, then you cannot get a work visa in Japan unless you can prove at least 3 years of teaching experience.

Other ways to work here without a degree:
student visa (if you enroll in a school, of course; part-time work allowed)
cultural activities visa (if you train under a master in martial arts, flower arranging, pottery making, etc.: PT work allowed)

Not sure of your use of the word "inadvertently, but I don't think it means what you think.

[djdryon]

thank you for your prompt reply. ^_^

What I meant by inadvertently is that I was a student in the class, but became the teacher because I knew more than the professor. She and I switched places and I walked the students through the assignments, showing them various ways of completing the same task. To my knowledge, inadvertently can mean unintentionally depending on the context, or at least I have been led to believe so.

I will be receiving my BS in June from the University of Washington. I have looked into masters/certification programs in Tokyo, but most of them have tuition that is beyond my resources or require a higher Japanese proficiency than I am capable of.

[Rakis]

[quote="djdryon"]I am a recent college graduate who has wanted to teach abroad for several years. I have tutored English to my Japanese friends, as well as inadvertently taken over a Photoshop class during running start, but don't have any certifications other than scoring a 98 on my English COMPASS test. I have applied to 15-20 different schools across the country, but unfortunately have not had any successful responses yet. I HAVE had a successful interview with HandSKorea, but I would prefer to work/live in Japan, as I am more familiar with the language/culture. Do you think that any companies in Japan would hire me?[/quote]

I was in your position about a year ago. I tutored a few Japanese students, and a few other minor education roles. My advice would be to glorify those kinds of experiences in your interviews, if you have any invitations. Though they may seem minor, they could shed some light on the fact that you won't be nervous in front of a group of people.

It really depends on how committed and what your resources are like. If you have the money, time and energy to go over to Japan, you might be able to secure a position while there but as a tourist. There are topics on this and other forums that discuss how to switch over once you are successful. If you were like me (couldn't leave the US), I applied to any and everything that hire from abroad. The most useful responses I got were from bigger companies like Interac, Aeon, and ECC (these companies frequently hire from abroad and do interview sessions in US/Canada). Topics on this and other forums give you a very good idea of what to do in these interviews (ECC is actually doing live interviews, but only in Vancouver, closer for you than most other people applying for that interview across North America).

If those don't work, you might try your luck with the smaller companies that post on this forum and on ohayosensei. Ohayosensei updates on the 1st and 16th of each month, combing through those posts will give you some connections to make with schools. Also check this forum daily, new schools are always posting (though I had much more success with ohayosensei postings).

Best of luck, I hope you get something you want.

[djdryon]

[Rakis]

[quote="djdryon"]

I would love to have the resources to move back over to Japan and look while I'm there. My girlfriend would probably love that hahaha, but I don't really have the funds to do it at the moment.

yeah one of my friends told me about ohayo sensei as well. i'll check it out later today.

I checked ECC, but their website says they are not accepting any more applications until next month. I applied at AEON and Heart last week and am waiting to hear back from them, and I'm also finishing the essays for Interac today as well. I've also sent my applications to everything possible at gaijinpot. I'm really hoping something turns up... otherwise I'll have to go to Korea instead. -_-[/quote]

Seems like our situations are getting even more eerily similar (I too had a girlfriend to get back to in Japan). On the ECC website did you check Canada/USA or just the USA one? It's worth a shot, but I misinformed earlier, it's Toronto not Vancouver. Still, at the recruiting session I went to, people were telling me they came from all the 50 states just to participate (and fail unfortunately).

I tried applying to AEON before, make sure you know a good measure of grammar and make a half-way decent lesson for that one. I think my lesson was too complicated and I bs'd my grammar responses because I didn't study for them beforehand. There's a ton of responses on here and elsewhere that give you a good step-by-step of what to expect. You can pm for details if you want.

Good luck