Job Discussion Forums

[Jmbf]

[taikibansei]

[kzjohn]

Yeah, age discrimination...

Post-retirement I think it'd be great to work in the mtns: http://www.inkknot.com

But the ads often list age ranges only up to 45-50. (and it's late in the season--spring is a better time for this)

[mitsui]

You assume everyone should act like you. Not everyone is willing to move anywhere since they may have a place to live and the spouse already has a job.
Not everyone can get to N1 even if they try. It does not make them dumb or lazy. Some teachers come to Japan in their 30s or later. Learning a foreign language as one gets older is not easy.
Not everyone wants a doctorate.

Not everyone dreams of being a university teacher with tenure. They just want stability and a decent salary.

Teachers I know are not unemployed but UNDERemployed.

[taikibansei]

[victory7]

I think everyone's posts have validity. I lean more to Mitsui's side because the observable evidence is there in our faces about the even more rapid decline in hiring opportunities twinned with increasing demands for higher qualifications that frankly are not needed in so many jobs over even the last 5 years or so.

Senmon gakko alone are often demanding MAs or Phds or teaching licences for jobs that have been successfully handled in the past by people without those qualifications. Some of the worst English teachers I have met in Japan have MAs/Phds. Those kinds of people never could and never will be able to walk into a classroom that only has a whiteboard or blackboard, and teach dynamic, focused English classes to all kinds of students including mixed level adult students.

Those 'highly qualified' teachers simply did not have the skill-sets to communicate effectively nor in many cases the wide range of teaching experiences that some teachers in Japan had in the 90s and early 2,000s to mid 200s prior to the real beginning of the downhill slide. Those kinds of native English speaking teachers had real-world experience teaching in community colleges or other colleges back home.

Getting away from senmon gakko, most of the standard college/university job ads around Tokyo demanding MAs and Phds are actually part-time. I am sure this is a very understandable beef Mitsui and others have with the so called increase in opportunities for qualified English teachers in Japan. Many teachers can't match their higher qualifications with suitable jobs as it's the same ol we won't give you many hours but you'll be expected to be available when you could be doing something that is a better opportunity financially and for possible advancement.

Sure, Mr Abe's commitment to employing foreign Phd holders is good but those jobs mostly have very high bars, are very specialised, and do not necessarily require the kind of English teaching and lateral thinking communication skills honed for some years in various kinds of teaching.

And it's also an observable truth that the big numbers of young North Americans coming to Japan (and who have also gone in big numbers to Korea) since around 2009 have played a role in dramatically lowering opportunities for people who were/are in East Asia for teaching as a well-thought out move because this is what they do or they want to do.

I don't blame them at all for coming - it's fascinating even now to hear from some of them that they are unemployed IT people back home and have come here to try and find not IT but English teaching jobs - but the sheer increase in numbers and the obvious need to find anything that pays has resulted in a worse English language working environment for others. As well as them.

[mitsui]

It isn't just foreign teachers - there are Japanese with PhDs teaching part-time around Tokyo.

What I find is that people with a PhD will get more koma than I will (since I merely have a MA), but they don't want to be stuck working at 4 or 5 universities.

There are just too many teachers. I don't think things can get better in the future as there will be fewer students. I think it is amazing how the universities have managed to stay open. They have because the part-time teachers are shouldering a big burden.

There is more opportunity in Hong Kong and China for the intrepid. Plus if you get into teacher training or testing over there, it isn't bad at all.

[Maitoshi]

I sometimes get the feeling that there are some Japanese PhDs worse off than the foreign crowd in terms of job prospects. I knew one who was teaching History classes P/T. He had 5 koma, one at each of five different unis spread out over Osaka and Nagoya. At the time, I mentioned that the paperwork for each school must have been rough. Nowhere near as bad as the commutes, I suspect, though. The one saving grace being that he didn't have to teach in two different places on the same day. I asked him if 5 koma was enough. He said it wasn't enough money and his wife was complaining, but that it allowed him some time for research. At the time I had nine koma and my wife was also complaining that it wasn't enough money. I guess we had THAT in common

[moviefan1987]

I agree with this thread's topic in principle if not completely in substance. If you are working an entry level ALT or eikaiwa job here,the conditions are bad. The pay and the hours are bad. The overall package is bad. it's not worth it and I can't recommend it to most people. OTOH, if you have a MA, teaching experience, and are fluent in Japanese (N2+) there are good jobs here with good conditions. But you will need luck, timing, Japanese language fluency, and good qualifications all on your side. If you don't have all those things, Japan may not be worth it.

I have done alright for myself here though. I have a MA and N1 and I have a direct hire ALT job. I also teach business English classes on the side. Last year, I made a little over 4 million yen and I did a lot of traveling. However, I don't have a family, live frugally, and I don't live in Tokyo.

If you want an entry level TEFL job, I think China and Vietnam offer the best pay in relation to cost of living. Japan can still work out well for people but it'd gotten more competive.

[aviator1x1]

I am in my mid 40s with an MA in TESL, and I got hired at a university outside of Tokyo with 2 years of ESL teaching experience at city and state colleges as an adjunct, and no publications. There are exceptions and I feel very fortunate. I make a little over 5 mil., live walking distance to campus, and have adequate time off during winter and summer breaks to do research but haven't yet. (laziness) I have done presentations as part of my professional development and I think this is important for someone like myself who is at an age disadvantage. Also, it is a contract position that is renewable every two years so who knows if they'll renew it after I hit 50. I'll just have to get better qualifications and connections and maintain a positive mindset. Everyone I meet and interact with, I want to leave a positive impression.

[Sudz]

I would not recommend entry level jobs here in your 40s unless you have a deep interest in Japan, and money isn't a factor.

If you're just looking to have an experience in a new exotic place, I would also recommend somewhere like Vietnam or China. Easier to save money there, and you'll have a better access to a wider range of Asian countries (though I will say that air ticket prices from Japan have gone down).

Now that I've established myself here, I'm doing fairly well, granted I have quite a bit of experience, and an MA. If I hadn't broken out of the entry level gigs, I would have left by now (and with little money in my pocket).

[ssjup81]

What do you recommend for those over 40 without an MA but has experience?

[Ferto]

Experience is an important piece of the puzzle, but so is education.

I would invest in the MA to get to the next level.