Job Discussion Forums

[Billy Chaka]

I'll be coming to Tokyo in early May to work for an English conversation school (one of the big 4). I'm absolutely certain that I want to stay a maximum of 1 year. I'll try to do my best for my employer, finish my one-year contract (hopefully) and return to the U.S.A. When I return to the U.S.A. I want to look for some sort of training position (I've had computer-related jobs in the past, so probably a software training position. I'm hoping that the job market will have picked up here a year from now.) My question is this:

Has anyone ever used one of the big 4 (or any other teaching post in Japan) as a reference for a job back in the U.S.A.? I mean have you ever given a potential employer in the U.S.A. the name and address of a co-worker or a supervisor from a job you held in Japan, and did it work out OK? I'm just concerned that my disappearing from the country for a year could hurt me. I want to use the year as an advantage if possible, by providing a potential employer in the U.S.A. evidence of a positive work history.

Please let me know what you think.

[tokyorabbit]

Good thread.

[soylentgreen23]

If you want a good reference, make sure that you do a really good job of getting students to renew their contracts. I wasn't so hot on the salesmanship when I worked there (I was naive and felt that a teacher's job was merely to teach), and although I worked the entire notice period (four months - I didn't like the company and officially resigned after two months, staying for six in total), my reference wasn't one I felt I could ever use.

Although it didn't overtly say I was a bad employee, it was an object lesson in the use of modifiers - I was listed as being "quite" good at my job, with "reasonable" renewal figures, and so on and so forth.

Perhaps it has more to do with my leaving before the year was up, but I felt the reference was an unnecessary slight.

(For what it's worth, all of this happened more than a year ago, and now that I'm stuck in England working for Currys, I've decided TEFL might be worth another shot, and I've applied for a CELTA course).

[GambateBingBangBOOM]