Job Discussion Forums

[T-Bone]

Very informative post! Thanks very much.

I worked for NOVA for a year and had been thinking about going back to Japan, maybe with Aeon. I thought Aeon would blow Nova away for working conditions, but after reading your post I'm not so sure. At Nova you teach 8 lessons a day, but after doing them several times you can do them in your sleep, and when you've put in your 8 hours, you are outta there. Plus we didn't have to wear suits or do this "lobby time".

I guess with all the eikaiwas you can complain or take things as they are, ad nauseum, according to your choice...

Thanks again for the great post.

[guest of Japan]

Nagoyaguy, everything you wrote fits Aeon as well except for the teacher sales bonuses. If I had been compensated proportionally to the amount of money I made for the school, I might still be an AEON teacher. Most teachers never see the faxes, but I took an interest in the business aspects.

Don't take too much pity on the managers at AEON. They make a considerable bit more than a teacher. And those poor assistant managers that don't, rise to become managers very quickly in the AEON world. You might want to take pity on the head teachers though. They usually work as hard as a manager for a fraction of the money, and their promotion elevator rises a lot slower. Be careful of their half baked teaching ideas though.

[sildentokyo1]

Nagoyaguy was talking about GEOS, wasn't he? Anyway, from everything I've heard about Aeon managers' salary (after about two years of working there), they actually make quite a bit *less* than the foreign techers---- excluding any commision bonuses they might make. Add to that the fact that they work from at least 12 to 10 or so every day, almost never get a real lunch break (at least at my school), rarely have two days off in a row, have to put up with Head Office's crap *and* have to oversee the foreign teacher's payslips which show that we earn more than they do... Sounds like kind of a raw deal to me.

Managers at Aeon rarely last long due to all the stress, and I think that's the worst part of the job. Say what you might about having to teach so many classes or whatever, but at least we don't have Head Office breathing down our necks at every juncture.

That's not to say that most managers couldn't treat the teachers with a bit more respect. I've noticed that, for the most part, we're treated more or less as disposable commodities. Still, most foreign teachers at Aeon will outlast at least one manager. In my case, I've outlasted four--- and counting... That has to tell you something about the job they do.

All that being said, from everything I've heard (and not having worked for Nova but having heard a lot about it), I still do think that Aeon is a much better place to work. Getting to know your students is worth a mint, in my opinion, and can make your experience at work so much more fun. And even if you do work the Tuesday through Saturday schedule, at least Aeon teachers get two days off in a row and a private apartment. When I was chosing who to work for in Japan, those were important factors for me.

[sildentokyo1]

Sorry, Guest of Japan--- I didn't read your post well enough before responding.

Anyway, I also wanted to say that I agree with chitownesl that the Tuesday through Saturday schedule does have its advantages. I can always run my errands on Monday without the crazy crowds and lines making me nuts. Still, if I had to choose between that and what amounts to an extra week of vacation in a year, I have to say I'd take the vacation. Not to mention the fact that Saturday teachers (at my school anyway) have to teach seven classes in a day every single Saturday and there's no time when a M-F teacher has to do that. As Nando said, working on a Monday is almost like a holiday in and of itself.

As Guest of Japan said, Aeon did try to remedy the situation a couple of years ago (in 2003), but it did end up being a logistical nightmare for them. Still, couldn't Tues-Sat at least get paid extra for the days they don't get a national holiday? That seems only fair to me...

[craven]

Hi all

I worked for Aeon for a couple of years, and am now working for JET. I actually really liked the Tues-Sat schedule because I always had a day off during regular working hours.

I might add a specific Aeon area warning...if possible, try to avoid working in the Hokkuriku region(Fukui, Ishikawa, Toyama). I really enjoyed my time at Aeon, but the management in this area was quite difficult to deal with. It's not a very profitable area, so the pressure for sales is VERY intense (my manager used to routinely shut off the A/C to the classes after they started during 36C summers, and made the assistant managers buy office supplies out of their own pockets). Several coworkers of mine went on to work for Aeon in other regions (Nagoya, etc), and they said it was a much nicer working environment. With Aeon, despite what you learn in boot-camp training, everything is local when it comes to the teachers, and you'll find that what your manager wants, goes, rather than what head office wants.

A few people have mentioned that Aeon can be rather inflexible, and I think this is true as well. However, that being said, you can get around most of this by putting on a very genki face and always toeing the company line (even if you're not actually following it). For example, it was almost always ok for me to be doing my own thing in the classroom rather than strictly following the books, but it was NEVER ok for me to actually TELL my manager I was doing it! Same went for sales (yes manager, I will do my best to sell these books...I sold 1 in 2 years there!)

I loved Aeon for the classes (having the same students for 4 months is a HUGE plus as far as being a teacher, and as far as developing a personal relationship with your students), but I ended up leaving because of the sales atmosphere. If you're someone who does not enjoy sales, then Aeon is not the best choice for you. Otherwise, I think it's one of the better places to work in Japan.

[Gaikokujim]

This page has gotten a lot of reading and a lot of comments. I thought I would add my own, too.

I work a Tuesday-Saturday schedule as well. It is better than the Monday-Friday in that I can explore the city without any crowds on Monday. Also, I get to cash in on those weekday lunch specials around town. Whenever I need to go to the bank or government office, low and behold, no problem. Just go on Monday. Also, AEON has all of their parties on Saturday. So, after work I just go. Since our school has quite a few parties throughout the year, you actually miss out on a lot of your days off if you work M-F. Even though you are not obligated to go, you should if you want to maintain good standings with your co-workers. Also, now that the head office is telling us that we have to wear our suits to parties, my co-worker working on Monday is pretty unhappy about that too.

A lot of people in this thread complain about the selling. When I applied for this job, I knew about the selling aspect. It's a corporation, right? The main goal of a company is to make money, right? I don't who most of your recruiters were, but my recruiter showed me a bunch of materials that I'd have to hawk to students. Also, they told me this job was good for someone who was interested in international business and teaching. The recruiters told me if I wanted a position that was solely teaching oriented that I should head out the door and apply for JET or a university.

With JET, you are stuck out in the middle of nowhere. At least with AEON it is in the middle of the city, next to the train station and I can do a lot of what I want to do. Since I am used to college hours, I like working 12-9 or 1-8. The only day its hard to get up for is Saturday when I work 10-7, but all I have to do is wake up and go in and teach. Since it is the end of the week, all of my classes are repeats from previous lessons I taught. Since we finish at 7 I can go out with some friends or go shopping at the supermarket. Good deals on food before it closes.

The main reason I took this job was of the training. The initial training week was hard, but mostly it was because I never taught before and I was adjusting to working with British, Australian, Canadian as well as Japanese for the first time. The training helped me be able to teach English to people who speak only Japanese. I did not have the confidence to plan and teach on my own. So, this was a good thing for me. There is a structure that I have to follow, but I expected that much. I mean if I go to a franchise restaurant, I would want X product to be the same no matter which city I was in. For those teachers out there doing their own thing all I have to say is if you went to Starbucks and the clerk gave you something totally different from what you ordered and the clerk said or, that's my original drink. I hope you enjoy it. You would complain to the manager. You wouldn't just take the drink, would you? Now, think about your typical Japanese student and about Japanese culture. More than likely they might not complain, but come renewal time and suddenly they are too busy to study or they suddenly don't have enough money to continue.

Maybe I am too loyal or too naive. However, I decided to work for AEON. I decided that the things that this job entails is all of the things asked of me. So far they have not asked me to do anything that is not clearly spelled out in my contract/policy manual. I am an employee of a company that just happens to be selling education which makes me a teacher who is selling lessons and books. I don't have a clear quota or pressure to do so, it is there every morning as my manager tells me we need X amount of yen.

My reason for posting this is that if what I am talking about doesn't suit you, then don't join/continue. I hate listening to people complain about their job. It brings me down. No one forces you to join/continue with AEON. If you continue/join AEON that means that you agree to do the things that we have to do. There are a lot of things that I don't like to do/want to do, but I don't have a choice. It's my job. For the most part, I like my job, so I do things that I don't like, too. I can't have my cake and eat it, too. Ask yourself if you are just eating your cake and trying to have it, too.