Job Discussion Forums

[razorhideki]

A long time Dave's poster recently claimed that it was "fairly standard" practice for Japanese employers to stipulate that after a time period "you're outta here!" Even by Japanese standards this seems like cruelty/ madness-any truth to this? If you're doing a good job, why do this? Or is it terror at the thought of actually paying someone 300,000 K/mo. and enrolling them in shakai hoken(gasp! horror!).

I'm NOT talking about JET-I'm well aware of its age/time limit restrictions. I'm wondering about non-JET gigs. Last time I was in Japan, I knew of eikaiwa types(poor souls!) who'd been w/the same outfit for a decade. Universities/colleges? Don't know.

[flyer]

well I am not JET and I have been at my place for 6 going on 7 years and they want me to stay longer!

I would say its case by case

[Glenski]

It's pretty standard for FT uni teachers to be on a 3-year contract. It might get renewed once. Can't say what the norm is for uni PTers.

Other jobs, though, I don't see that employers get rid of teachers in 1 or 2 years. I'm sure it happens, but I don't think it's the norm.

Westgate has 3-month contracts and until recently, I thought those were non-renewable, but I think they are changing a bit.

[Sweetsee]

Flyer got it right: case by case. If they want to they can keep you and if not they tell you it's two and out.

[fujisan]

I think that that policy is kind of stupid. After working there for two years you'd be pretty good at teaching according to whatever style they wanted. If they bring in teachers every year or two they'd take a few months to get up to speed, don't you think?

Just my opinion anyway.

[razorhideki]

fujisan: "that policy is kind of stupid."

You are a neophyte then, mate? No shame in that-we all were once.

Here's a little primer as to how the Japanese(non-JET) EFL employer mentality works:

School manager #1(Mr. Nakamura): Well, luckily their contracts are almost up. Sure, they were cheap-no airfare, high rents for our crap apartments, 200K/mo., no registration in NHI, etc., but...

School manager #2(Mr. Yamamoto): Quite right Nakamura-san. [But] those 20-something barbarians were useless...no teaching credentials, experience and they seemed to be more interested in travelling & partying than teaching our students.

#1: Hmmm...let's look at the new applicants' resumes. Hmmmm...he's 45, has a teaching certificate, a TEFL & 10 years EFL experience...hmmmm...he wants(gasp!)275/mo., paid airfare and enrollment in NHI!

#2: Gasp! We can't afford that! I know! Let's hire more frat boys/girls at the starvation levels! They must be handsumu/pletttyyy!

#1: Mr. Yamamoto, how could I run this outfit without you!?

[Glenski]

This article is less of a tongue-in-cheek answer, too.
http://www.eltnews.com/features/special/2004/01/the_power_of_perceptions_a_loo.html

In its beginning, pay attention to this section:

In the book, Teach English in Japan, (Wordell and Gorsuch, 1992), Des Aulier lists ten grievances he feels underscore problems teachers face within the private ELT industry in Japan (p.. The following is an abbreviated list illustrating some of these grievances:

1. Don't ask what the company can do for you, but what you can do for the company.
2. Don't exercise any creative teaching initiative without authorization from the business management.
3. Don't worry too much about teaching (no one is concerned that you were a physical education major); just be popular with the students.
4. Remember: Your Japanese bosses know best about English teaching-and almost everything else.

[saloc]

If you are doing an okay job, the vast majority of schools will want to hang on to you. One of the biggest complaints about eikaiwas is turnover of staff. It can be expensive to recruit teachers, it takes time for them to settle in and the last thing most school want is for them to up and leave just when they are getting good at their job. Many schools might not want to pay you as much as you would like, but I think there are very few that actually want their teachers to leave after a few years. Not sure about the reasoning behind the three-year university positions, but certainly in eikaiwa, most schools want to hang on to competent teachers.

[steki47]

[Okonomiyaki]

I'm surprised that everyone's overlooking the obvious.

YES, eikaiwas (small private English conversations schools) will likely want to hold onto you for years, if you're a decent teacher.

NO, that's not the only kind of job in Japan. A recent big trend in Japanese employment is that only the core 10% of a company's employees will actually be full time permanent staff of that company. The remainder are "paato taimu / arubaito".

The words "paato taimu" and "arubaito" are both misleading. It's not part time work-- it's classic "temp" work, but for years rather than quick fill-in work while some regular employee is off being sick or having a baby. "Arubaito" comes from the German word "Arbeit", meaning "work"-- and again, in its native language it's not an accurate description of this class of work.

In paato taimu / arubaito, you're not employed directly by the office in which you work. Let's say you work in Toyota's head office: you're a trusted accountant, and roughly 5% of the people who come to work in that office are Toyota company members. You, and most of the other workers, however, are employed by a TEMP AGENCY that sends you to Toyota's office every day for years. You're permanent staff, but you're not an employee of Toyota. Toyota has no pension or firing or HR burden to maintain for you-- all that responsibility, Toyota has offloaded to the "temp agency". And after that number of years have passed, even if you're a good worker you get dumped.

Naturally, the government says "Hey, if a guy is working for you for yeeears, stop calling him a 'temp' at some point. Start treating him like a regular, full-time, permanent employee." And...that's the cutoff date for every worker that goes to Toyota to work, but is getting paid by that temp agency.

Gone are the sweeeet days when Japanese companies asked for and delivered loyalty, to the point where the job was likely "yours for life".
In the New Japan, almost all the jobs are anxiety-riddled temp jobs, with low salary and zero to inspire long-term economic confidence.

So...yeah, English teacher jobs too are on the "arubaito / paato taimu" plan, and it sucks.

[starteacher]

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

Oh! And DON'T marry the women folk!!!

NCTBA

[rxk22]

[rxk22]

[Hoser]