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nightsintodreams
Joined: 18 May 2010
Posts: 558
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 Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:31 am Post subject: |
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my personal experience with Interac (Hamamatsu branch) has been really positive. The pay is pretty good (250,000 plus all transport paid), I've never had any real problems with them. They wont pay your shokai houken, but they make that clear at the interview in the UK, so if you don't like it don't you can apply with someone else. I don't know how may of the people commenting here have actually ever worked for Interac, but I'd guess not many.
Everyone i know has only positive things to say about them. |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 5:38 am Post subject: |
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| nightsintodreams wrote: |
my personal experience with Interac (Hamamatsu branch) has been really positive. The pay is pretty good (250,000 plus all transport paid), I've never had any real problems with them. They wont pay your shokai houken, but they make that clear at the interview in the UK, so if you don't like it don't you can apply with someone else. I don't know how may of the people commenting here have actually ever worked for Interac, but I'd guess not many.
Everyone i know has only positive things to say about them. |
I worked for them before. Thing is the branches are like seperate kingdoms. Some are ok, and some are down right awful. The branch I worked for was pretty bad. Unpaid training, HURRAY! Paycuts and extension of contract gaps! Pester you on your own time. They always seemed to call me about things around 5:30 to about 6pm. Screw that, it's my time, I am not going to talk about work on my time thank you. Not for that pay.
Most people in my area dislike Interac immensely, and the only pos is that 'hey it's not RCS/Heart'. |
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nightsintodreams
Joined: 18 May 2010
Posts: 558
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| Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 6:06 am Post subject: |
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It's interesting to hear your experience with Interac. I've never had any of those problems and neither has anybody i know.
I'd say one of the positives of working for them is they hardly ever bother me, they just let me get on with my job.
Last edited by nightsintodreams on Tue Jan 08, 2013 2:45 am; edited 1 time in total |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 9:08 am Post subject: |
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@nightsintodreams:
I'm the same. I've never had a problem in my branch. They pay what they promise and on time. They don't deduct if my schools give me extra days off. The office staff have really been helpful when I needed them to sort out things for me (I've just had one person chasing up my last housing agent which owed me a substantial amount of money) and the managers leave me alone (which suits me just fine).
But rxk22 is right; it depends on your branch because different branches have different rules.
I know people in a few branches and the Hiroshima branch has a bit of a notorious rep. And I personally witnessed some shocking things from that branch when I arrived. Whilst our branch manager came to welcome us personally and give us lots of info at training, my poor roomate (in the Hiroshima branch) was left distraught every night because she had no info, they'd sent some "head-teacher" instead of a manager who genuinely couldn't tell her anything and then found out that her branch staff had yet to sort out her accomodation so she was going to have to go back and forth between hotels every couple of days and was being expected to pay for the transport of her luggage each time (she was from the US so she had too much to carry with her but she wasn't allowed to leave what she didn't need at the Hiroshima head office). Then on the last night she got slapped with the car agreement... apparently it was not only a bit different to what happens in our branch but they also had not told them anything about how the car situation works before hand (our branch sent out extensive info before we left our home countries). She was wishing at that point that she had accepted the first placement which she had been offered in our branch but had turned down because she was worried that it would be out in the inaka. |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 1:47 pm Post subject: |
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| seklarwia wrote: |
@nightsintodreams:
I'm the same. I've never had a problem in my branch. They pay what they promise and on time. They don't deduct if my schools give me extra days off. The office staff have really been helpful when I needed them to sort out things for me (I've just had one person chasing up my last housing agent which owed me a substantial amount of money) and the managers leave me alone (which suits me just fine).
But rxk22 is right; it depends on your branch because different branches have different rules.
I know people in a few branches and the Hiroshima branch has a bit of a notorious rep. And I personally witnessed some shocking things from that branch when I arrived. Whilst our branch manager came to welcome us personally and give us lots of info at training, my poor roomate (in the Hiroshima branch) was left distraught every night because she had no info, they'd sent some "head-teacher" instead of a manager who genuinely couldn't tell her anything and then found out that her branch staff had yet to sort out her accomodation so she was going to have to go back and forth between hotels every couple of days and was being expected to pay for the transport of her luggage each time (she was from the US so she had too much to carry with her but she wasn't allowed to leave what she didn't need at the Hiroshima head office). Then on the last night she got slapped with the car agreement... apparently it was not only a bit different to what happens in our branch but they also had not told them anything about how the car situation works before hand (our branch sent out extensive info before we left our home countries). She was wishing at that point that she had accepted the first placement which she had been offered in our branch but had turned down because she was worried that it would be out in the inaka. |
Yeah, biggest problem I had, was Internac just didn't seem to know what they were doing. They lost my contract when i first arrived, and I had to live in a hotel for a week. They also messed up my schedule a good couple of times. Also when I had a workday or a prefecture holiday, they made me work, each and every time.
I think the company is too big, and often times no one knows what is going on. But also allows for some kingdom building. Which makes Interacs' quality vary radically. |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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| Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 2:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Although my unfortunately brief stint with Interac was quite a few years ago (and thus possibly a little out of date by now), I also found them to be a generally good employer, and much much better than most of the pondscum that currently pose as dispatch agencies. (You can find my pretty positive comments about them by searching). I'd certainly recommend them far far FAR above Borderlink, and wouldn't ever really mention/lump them in in the same thread (it's another poster or other posters who've done so, but again, it should be stressed that the percentage of people who've had bad experiences with Interac seems very small in comparison to the real nightmares offered by outfits like Borderstink and RCS). |
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jcook77
Joined: 08 Oct 2010
Posts: 32
Location: Tokyo
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| Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 3:19 am Post subject: |
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| rxk22 wrote: |
I think the company is too big, and often times no one knows what is going on. But also allows for some kingdom building. Which makes Interacs' quality vary radically. |
I totally agree. I worked in the Tokyo branch. There are a lot of quality people in the office, it's just that they're spread too thin. A lot of stressed-out office workers, trainers, etc. Generally, I think the company is fine, but as some have mentioned, the branches are a crapshoot. The rep around Kanto is that most Tokyo branches are OK but the Yokohama branch is a nightmare. Interac tends to be forgetful at times and will then turn it around on the teacher, but overall they offer a competitive ALT salary (though still quite low) and if you're lucky to land in a decent branch the staff will be helpful and fun.  |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 5:36 am Post subject: |
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| jcook77 wrote: |
| rxk22 wrote: |
I think the company is too big, and often times no one knows what is going on. But also allows for some kingdom building. Which makes Interacs' quality vary radically. |
I totally agree. I worked in the Tokyo branch. There are a lot of quality people in the office, it's just that they're spread too thin. A lot of stressed-out office workers, trainers, etc. Generally, I think the company is fine, but as some have mentioned, the branches are a crapshoot. The rep around Kanto is that most Tokyo branches are OK but the Yokohama branch is a nightmare. Interac tends to be forgetful at times and will then turn it around on the teacher, but overall they offer a competitive ALT salary (though still quite low) and if you're lucky to land in a decent branch the staff will be helpful and fun. |
Yeah, I heard that the Yokohama branch is bigger than almost all the Kanto branches combined.
Well, it's not an awful company to work for, but as normal jobs go, it's not a good company either. But I bet some of the smaller branches can be nice to work for.
I noticed that a lot of the Japanese staff quits fairly often. I heard that my GM left my old branch recently.
But the best thing is, that it seems like eikaiwas and ALT dispatch companies have in common is; a Japanese manager who not only doesn't speak English, but doesn't seem to do anything save for being a living Hanko  |
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Weezer
Joined: 21 Sep 2010
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 8:53 am Post subject: |
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| What about Borderlink vs. RCS? No matter how you spell them, the suprises keep happening and the salaries keep going down. |
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Metacchi
Joined: 01 Jun 2011
Posts: 17
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 1:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Borderlink and RCS? I wouldn't trust one any further than I could throw the other. |
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TTTT
Joined: 29 May 2011
Posts: 30
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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| I used to work for the Yokohama branch. I was never sure if I worked for Interac or Maxceed or if they were one and the same company. It wasn't THAT bad though...they pretty much left me alone and I could sit in the back and hide if I felt like it during the monthly meetings. I feel like for any of these companies your real day-to-day experience has more to do with what school(s) you end up being dispatched to. I lucked out and went to a pretty good JHS. Your experience may be different. Talk to other teachers at your level before/after the monthly meetings. They'll tell you what's up. |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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| TTTT wrote: |
| I used to work for the Yokohama branch. I was never sure if I worked for Interac or Maxceed or if they were one and the same company. It wasn't THAT bad though...they pretty much left me alone and I could sit in the back and hide if I felt like it during the monthly meetings. I feel like for any of these companies your real day-to-day experience has more to do with what school(s) you end up being dispatched to. I lucked out and went to a pretty good JHS. Your experience may be different. Talk to other teachers at your level before/after the monthly meetings. They'll tell you what's up. |
Perfect example of how different branches have different rules.
No monthly meetings for us; only have 2/3 meetings per year of which the spring meeting isn't compulsory since it falls out the contract dates for many.
And as to your observation about Interac and Maxceed: It's probably better to consider them as two branches upon the larger Selnate tree; they are not quite one in the same, but they are by no means separate/independent entities. |
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yamanote senbei
Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 435
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| Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 9:52 am Post subject: |
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| nightsintodreams wrote: |
| They wont pay your shokai houken, but they make that clear at the interview in the UK, so if you don't like it don't you can apply with someone else. |
So how exactly did they make that clear to you at your interview in the UK? Did they outright tell you that they don't follow the law and that they know that it's quite unlikely that you'll eventually find out what your rights are and that if you do find out your rights you'll probably be to sheepish to complain about it?
http://tokyogeneralunion.org/issues/SHAKAI-HOKEN/
Learn your rights. If Interac or Borderlink aren't enrolling you in Shakai Hoken you're being cheated. |
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