Job Discussion Forums

[Hall]

Just curious.

I'm sure some teachers end up meeting a nice girl and one thing leads to another and BAM you've got kids.

Are any of you supporting families with an Eikaiwa school revenue?

[PAULH]

I have two little ones of my own that I am raising here and a non-working wife and based on my experience I would say that raising a family on an ekaiwa income is next to impossible, unless you live in a cardboard box on the Sumida river and eat cup ramen for meals. Food costs, education and transport costs are my biggest expenses.

[Hall]

Hehe.

So you started out in Eikaiwa and moved on to better things?
What are you doing now?

[PAULH]

I teach full time at a university and have a Masters degree. My daughter goes to an international school and my son (4) goes to a private Japanese kindergarten. I did teach at a conversation school in my early days in Japan but since 1990 have taught part time at universities.

We put aside some money every month for savings pension, insurance etc but my average out goings are 400-450,000 yen a month. I think you would need AT LEAST 350,000 yen a month coming in to support more than 2 people, especially if your wife is not working (I think if you have kids you can forget about that). If you had kids and are on an eikaiwa income you would need to think about increasing your qualifications/skills and/or earnings every month either from privates or non-teaching income.

[Hall]

I also have a master's degree.
I thought it was impossible to get tenure at a Japanese university.
How did you go about getting a full-time job at a university?

Sorry for all the questions...

[PAULH]

[PAULH]

Some Do's and Don'ts for Getting Hired
Don't get a list of schools in Japan and then waste incredible amounts on copying and postage costs sending your resume to all the schools listed. Most schools do not maintain files of applicants, especially not ones coming from overseas in a foreign language. Schools accept applications when they are conducting searches to fill specific jobs in their organisational structure. Do target your job search to those jobs which are available. The key, then, is to be effective in finding out about what jobs are open.

The Web and its many search and directory facilities open up incredible possibilities in finding job listings for Japan, and many if not most schools put out certain job announcements overseas. However, the better publicised an attractive job is, the more likely it is to have a large number of highly qualified applicants. Because of this, one of the smartest ways to do effective job searches is the old fashioned way: personal contacts and connections.

Check in at your undergraduate or graduate school to find job announcements; some of these may be targeted particularly at your school because it has some sort of special sister school relationship with a college or university in Japan.

About Duties and Qualifications
Internationals are often hired for select positions that are meant to complement the majority of staff positions held by Japanese nationals. International ELT professionals are almost invariably expected to teach English speaking and listening skills as a primary responsibility. At the tertiary level, duties may also include English writing and reading skills as well.

Especially at national and public schools, foreign instructors teach the larger, survey-type, "service" courses, while Japanese nationals teach the smaller, so-called "advanced" classes geared towards junior and senior students working to complete their majors. Since university instructors and professors are expected to plan, implement and evaluate their own classes without help or collaboration, it is vital for candidates to show experiences and abilities that indicate a capacity to adapt quickly and teach independently.

Experience
Generally, it is preferred that all applicants have at least two years of experience teaching (in order of desirability) 1) at a Japanese university or college, 2) at a junior or senior high school in Japan, 3) at an overseas college where the subject taught was EFL. Being able to show a successful track record with Japanese students is extremely helpful. The reason is simple: hiring a non-Japanese represents a great investment in time and money; this will have been wasted if the international proves unable (as a significant proportion do) to complete the full-term of his or her contract.

Qualifications
Having a master's degree in either TESOL or applied linguistics has been considered de rigueur (though such a qualification is only now becoming common among Japanese teachers). Recently, however, a significant number of positions have required a degree in another speciality (such as business), either in addition to, or in lieu of, the more traditional TESOL-related degree. Three publications are the usual minimum requirement for employment consideration at many schools, especially for the "kyouin" positions. Having more is helpful, but be careful about seeming to pad your resume with marginally relevant publications.

Age
Age is another important issue: it is often very difficult for foreign nationals above the age of 35 to find full-time employment in Japan at the tertiary level unless they have either a significant amount of experience teaching in Japanese universities or an impressive publishing record. Having both is often necessary. If older teachers do manage to find work, it is often because a particular department really wanted them for a particular speciality.

To be fair to those departments who seem guilty of "age discrimination" here - one thing else must be said: if promotion in many places is still based on seniority, and if departments are under scrutiny and criticism for making promotion too much a matter of course (i.e. ageing), then it makes very good sense for a department to hire the youngest candidate available. Such age bias often applies to Japanese nationals as well as international candidates.

Japanese Language Skills
Finally, there's the sticky question of Japanese ability. Some universities include intermediate to advanced Japanese skills among their minimum requirements; many do not. The general rule seems to be this: Japanese skills are rarely necessary to qualify for short-term, "gaikokujin kyoushi"-type positions; most schools offering long-term "kyouin" positions, however, expect you to be reasonably conversant in the language before applying.

Furthermore, while schools located in the bigger cities (e.g., Tokyo, Kyoto, etc.) rarely ask for Japanese ability, schools located outside these metropolises almost invariably make Japanese skills one of their requirements. As the competition for employment among foreigners is often quite fierce in the major metropolises, learning some Japanese might be just the thing to separate you from the pack.

[Brooks]

I know of two men (one Brit, one Kiwi) who are married to Japanese women and they each have a child and they work at an eikaiwa.
I think one or both of the women work.
The New Zealander has at least two jobs. He can get grumpy, which is understandable. I think he joined a union.

So it can be done but life is easier if you work at a public or private school, and get a couple bonuses a year.

Brooks

[PAULH]

I just want to add that I own a fairly large car and send my daughter to a school which demands high school fees. My son goes to a Japanese school and the fees are about 35,000 yen a month for a private kindergarten. Nursery fees depend on age, as children require less attention as they get older and there are more children per class.

If you can manage without a car and enrol them in Japanese schools you could save money but that raises the issue of whether and how you bring them bilingual, speaking English and/ or with a western education, especially if you are working crazy hours at a language school and your wife is by herself at home with a toddler.

[Glenski]

[PAULH]

[Hall]

Is there a list somewhere on the net of all the job openings in Japanese universities?

I'd also like to know about other listings for openings in fields other than English. That list could be in Japanese, I can handle it.

Thank you

[PAULH]

Hall

go to http://jrecin.jst.go.jp and click on the area that you want. That lists all the postings for jobs in that region e.g Kinki, Hokkaido, Chugoku etc.

Probably best to do a search of keywords e.g. English, Linguistics, area etc to narrow down the search (otherwise you have to click on each link to find the English-teaching jobs)

[Vince]

Support a wife and kids on eikaiwa pay? If she isn't working too, no way. I work at a college and do part-time work, my wife doesn't work, and money is tight. She's talking about kids now, but that won't happen in Japan.

[ruggedtoast]

I know of a lot of Japanese who support families on less than I make...