Job Discussion Forums

[rascalking]

Hello everyone. I'm sure this has been asked a million times but I was wondering if some of you current or semi-recent ECC employees could give your overall opinions about working for the company. Most of the ECC opinion based threads here are over a year old, so I thought I would try to get a fresh take on the company in terms of now. Thanks

[chongalice49]

Bump for this therad... I got a job with ECC too and I'm curious about people's opinions. I asked in the other thread about if someone could tell me how long they waited to get their placement after the hiring offer (got no replies lol) so that would be good too!

[Rakis]

Started with ECC not too long ago. Apartments are decent, some people get lucky and have decent (shoebox size) apartments/locations along with ok rent (about 50k+, some as high as 65k). Commute is just as they say, on your lucky days shorter, but if they want you further out it can be as much as 1-1.5hours (or longer in some cases). School staff are very kind and will help you with whatever issue, many speak English decently, though they welcome anyone who can speak Japanese.

Generally workload isn't too bad, 6 hours or so each day for 5 days, with 2 days off.

For the most part, be smart and don't cause too many obvious problems, if you are kind to your co-workers/management then they will reciprocate, easy as that. I have a pretty nice schedule but people I know (perhaps due to their own misfortune/slight of tongue) were given less desirable duties/locations. Nevertheless, it is what you make of it. There is no bad classes, everyone will have to do all positions (kids, adults, and any variation of teaching style) eventually.

Overall the job is really good, so far. The company wants to take care of you and make sure you stay happy and productive. If you keep up your end of the bargain, they will keep up theirs. It's not uncommon to meet people who have stayed in this company for 3-6 years, though there are also some reaching their 20th year or so. There is a reason some don't leave to join AEON, Kids Club or other alphabet soup variety names.

[Rakuten]

Sorry to hijack thread with some more questions, but for those hired or who attended an interview with ECC, I had a few questions about the ECC grammar test. (I didn't wanna make a new thread, as there are already a number of old threads on the topic)

Is it mostly multiple choice/fill in the blank/matching or is it a lot of short-answer where you will be asked to define terms yourself?

Also, do they go over some of the ESL/EFL teaching terminology in the informational meeting, or do they expect you to study up on those before you come for the interview?

I'm a bit nervous about the spelling/grammar test as I hear its a bit more tricky/difficult than most grammar tests and any additional info would be greatly appreciated

[rascalking]

To be honest, the grammar test is definitely pretty tough. Even though it's all multiple choice, some if the questions are really tricky and can be tough to solve. There's a spelling section, a "pick out the problem with this sentence" section, a very detailed parts of speech section, and a teaching vocab section. There were 5 people in my interview and only 2 of us passed. Oh, and if you fail, you're told to leave right then and there.

[chongalice49]

^I don't know when you interviewed, but at my session, which was just a few weeks ago, they didn't tell you if you passed or not, and it was the very last part of the entire process. You were told you could go home right after you finished the test, so we were never told how we did.

To Rakuten: I wouldn't worry about the test, to be honest. I finished within 20 minutes and was out the door very quickly. You should be able to figure out 90% of it just using logic. There were only 3 or 4 that I wasn't sure about, and they were all vocabulary words that I had no way of studying for. I looked over things like verb tenses and parts of speech for 20 minutes total, and I'm sure I passed with flying colors. Not as hard as most people make it out to be, IMO.