Job Discussion Forums

eihpos · Joined: 14 Dec 2008 Posts: 331

I�m raging! I applied for a job advert I saw on tefl.com for teachers for Tokyo and surrounding areas on tefl.com. I sent in my CV and received request to complete the application form. Fine. They sent me info. It mentions they are a school that run all year round in the UK but also specialises in sending teachers to work in Japan. Job sounds OK. Had an informal skype chat which went well. The guy was very nice. Afterwards, he invited me for an interview in London in a couple of weeks, which is a bit of a pain for me since I live in Ireland. However, I understand a face to face interview is necessary for most jobs in Japan. So I booked my flight � it cost 100 euros which is quite a dent in my meagre finances.
Oh hell, it could be worth it, I say. About half an hour later something dawns on me. The hours and conditions outlined by this company sound awfully similar to those of Shane, who I also have an interview with today via skype. I applied to them through teflone who were very clear from the beginning that they were recruiting for Shane. Surely this UIC company would have mentioned by now that they are affiliated to Shane? So I emailed him to ask. Sure enough - I was right. I nearly exploded! Why didn�t they mention this in ANY of their �information�, in one of the 15 emails exchanged by now or when we were speaking on skype? Even the application form had �UIC Teachers� at the top! I�m even angrier at myself for not copping on to this before I paid my non - refundable ryanair flight

Anyway, this is just a rant because I am so annoyed, but be warned!

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Yup, it seems that nowhere on the UIC site does it mention Shane or Saxoncourt. Does this guy's name ring a bell in your communications?
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-wilkins/17/b10/b50

His picture looks like a thinner and older version of the guy in this one.
http://www.saxoncourt.com/contact/

You can clearly see his affiliation to both organizations...or whatever it is...from the first link. I would contact Shane directly and ask why they are using 2 companies in such a way. Perhaps you could ask some British consumer organization if it's legal, first.

A little more digging came up with absolutely no other connections between Shane/Saxoncourt and UIC. It's amazing that the only link with a hit is that one above!

Looks like Shane was bought out by a Japanese outfit called Eikoh in 2010, but again no mention of UIC.
http://www.eltnews.com/news/archives/2010/11/eikoh_to_buy_sh.html

eihpos · Joined: 14 Dec 2008 Posts: 331

Thanks for looking into it Glenski. Yes, David Wilkins contacted me once, initially in reply to my application but after that my contact was just another guy called Tim.
That took quite a bit of investigation to find that link though. Presumably most people apply for more than one job and both are advertising on tefl.com so I hope this doesn't happen to anybody else!
And I was quite excited about the idea that I might have another option for January besides Shane...oh well.

Pitarou · Joined: 16 Nov 2009 Posts: 1116 Location: Narita, Japan

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

I think the biggest problem here is that nowhere on the UIC site does it state that they are connected to Shane or Saxoncourt. Nowhere. In fact, if you weren't even thinking about that fact, you might easily assume that the "School" (yes, they use the capital letter S) mentioned on the site is a UIC branch in Japan.

Confusing.

Want more? The UIC site that the ad links you to is for the London school, which again makes for confusion because one immediately thinks, "Hey, UIC is a school and if they advertise about jobs in Japan, then they must have a branch there." The UIC site linked from the ad does eventually (and in a buried link) get you to their page where it talks about the Japan hiring, but it's so trivially written (Oh, we also hire for Japan jobs) that it's easily missed. Again, nowhere on that internal link is Shane/Saxoncourt mentioned. (I also have issues about the quality of some of their PDFs, but that's another story.)

Pitarou · Joined: 16 Nov 2009 Posts: 1116 Location: Narita, Japan

Having looked at the links that Glenski found, it does appear that UIC are recruiting separately from Saxoncourt. I wonder who gets the commission from Shane if both firms send the same teacher?

Anyway, eihpos, there is a bright side to this: you're getting two chances to apply for the same job.

eihpos · Joined: 14 Dec 2008 Posts: 331

Hi,

Pitarou - I applied for both jobs through tefl.com separately. Not for both through teflone. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I was really annoyed when I was writing that posting!
UIC are recruiting directly for Shane so I wouldn't then be sent to Saxoncourt for another interview.

I wrote to the guy in UIC saying that I had no idea they were recruiting for Shane, and that I had already applied through another agency. I thought UIC had schools in Japan, since they are a school themselves.

He replied to say he was sorry, but because there are 'structural changes' going on in Shane at the moment, they were told not to reveal who they were working with until the face to face interview.

I'm just confused now. I've already had the interview with teflone, who will send my documents/interview review/pre - interview task off to Shane, so there would be no point in having another interview through a different company.

The guy at UIC said he was surprised teflone would email Shane to see how to proceed, and that he was surprised teflone would be able to recommend people on the basis of skype interviews.

I'll see what happens. I would normally apply for a job straight through the company (I thought this is what I was doing with UIC) and will do so in future!

Thanks guys!