Job Discussion Forums

[stillnosheep]

Wishborn will not sponser you for a work visa until you arrive in the country. They never do. As you were told over the telephone they always ask new employees to enter Japan on a tourist visa. This is one example of what I mean by a 'Mickey Mouse' company. They do not follow the proper legal procedure of obtaing a work visa for new teachers prior to their entering Japan. They are always recruiting at the last moment and always need teachers who can start immediately.

PROS:

They pay on time.
They will subsidise your rent if it is over 50,000 yen.
There is little corporate bs.
You will get out to Japan and start work quickly.

CONS:

They will deduct 29,500 of your 250, 000 salary for the use of a company Daihatsu Mira which many teachers neither need nor want. 29 500 is over the odds for such a car and a source of profit for the company. Reputable companies will supply a car at no cost to the teacher if the teacher needs one due to being required to work at multiple sites.

They pay their Japanese local school management appalingly and this is reflected in the quality of their managers.

They have a history, under their old name of AEG, of losing court cases to employees and the General Union.

The company appears to be struggling financially, selling (or trying to sell) loss-making branches, and taking on more dispatch work to schools which means teachers working more hours with more (unpaid) travel hours each week, for the same (arguably sub 250 000) salary.

They expect new teachers to pay for half of the cost of their hotel if the compulsory one-day initial training takes place in Wakayama and then to undertake a one week induction week at their branch shadowing and taking over from the teacher they are replacing at some ridiculously low 'training' salary (25 or 30 000 yen for the week).

I'd ask for full pay for the induction week and that the company pay any hotel costs associated with initial training.

[Kynan]

StillNoSheep,

Thanks for the thorough post. I think this thread will be helpful for anybody considering this company in the future. It seems to give the best overall assessment of them so far. Now we just need a couple of teacher testimonials from their employees...

[nonsmoker]

I agree. Let's keep this thread going. Any former Employees here?

Edit: stillnosheep: where do you get this information from? Is it the job ad or from personal experience with the company?

[the real thing]

I've noticed that no one ever posts anything good on the net. I often wonder why. So, I thought I would throw in my unbiased thoughts.

It seems to me that this school is doing what they have to in order to keep their students happy. Without students there wouldn't be jobs for many of us foreigners. Of course without teachers to teach, there won't be students either. They kind of go hand in hand. Working without a visa is illegal. I know several people who have done it, and also know many companies, not just English schools, that have had foreign employees do this. If you are not comfortable doing it, don't. If you have no personal problem with it, it is your choice. No one can force you to do something you don't want to.

Remember, there are two sides to every story, and reasons for every opinion. Someone once said, "Don't believe everything you read." I often hear this, and it is especially true for the internet.

If you want to know some things from former teachers, pm me and I can introduce you to a couple.

[Kynan]

Thank you, "the real thing". I think many of these threads could benefit from some of what you've added. It's also kind of you to offer connecting people with relevant teachers you know.

[B.B.]

Thank you to everyone who participated in this forum. It is now the end of 2010 and I am having a phone interview with Wishborn tomorrow. I was unsure about the job before and feel like I will probably turn it down but I'll still do the interview and try to find out if some of these problems have improved. (mostly the working with a proper visa)

[kimsmith]

You may already have turned the job down but: I wouldn't worry about entering on a tourist visa - 3 of 4 jobs I've had in Japan did that. My husband worked at Wishborn for a year, five years ago and is still in touch with the American director. It was your typical busy-all the-time-job eikaiwa job. The areas where most of their schools are located do make the car a necessity, and we put a ton of miles on the car at weekends and in the vacations - we went to a lot of places that would have been very difficult by public transportation. The director, Greg, tries really hard to do a good job. The Japanese owner breathes down his neck the whole time, pinching pennies, but Greg is a very decent guy and does the right thing by his teachers... I subbed for them a few times, and the facilities made by own school look a like a slum. Good luck!

[B.B.]

Sorry for not responding to my own post immediately after the interview but I was distracted and then forgot

My interview with Wishborn went great! There was no pressure to get me there without a working visa. The guy was even willing to discuss past problems that occurred with the company in the past. The job sounded great and if they called me back I would have taken the job. I'll gladly apply again if another job for Wishborn shows up on my radar.

[cvmurrieta]

[Kionon]

Worked for Wishborn for three years. Would do so again.

PM me if you want the scoop.

Not currently employed by Wishborn, not even currently still in Japan (although I still have status of residence, and will return shortly). I'm not a shill for the company, but I do think this thread is waaaay too biased towards the negative.

[handoftheking]

I'm digging up an old thread here but I have experience with the company and I wanted to share since most of the information out there is in my opinion overly negative, although they certainly aren't beyond reproach.

I've worked for Wishborn on two seperate occasions, once in 2005 and again this year (currently and until next Spring)

Regarding working without a visa: I did indeed do this for the first month on my first tour as did a lot of other teachers. I didn't hear of anybody having any problems but at any rate it seems to be something that they've stopped doing or at least they didn't ask me to do it this time around.

Anyways here's a list of the pros and cons as i see them. Please note that both times I've worked for Wishborn I've done so as an Eikaiwa teacher so I can't speak for the ALTs. Also keep in mind that Wishborn is very decentralized so teachers in different areas may have vastly different experiences.

Pros:
Attractive working schedule. At least in my opinion. Some may not like having class in both the morning and the evening but the bottom line is my teaching hours are just under 20 a week, and when I'm not teaching my time is my own. Lesson Preparation? As much or as little as I want to put in. morning class cancelled? I can sleep in. Last class cancelled? I can go home. No matter how you cut it getting a full months salary for 3.5 hours of work a day is a very good deal. The one downside to this is that your schedule is always subject to change. you may all of a sudden end up with and extra class at the end of your week (Friday or Saturday) but it still beats having to be there for 8 hours a day*
* Again I must stress that this is for the Eikaiwa position. Alt's generally work more ordinary/fixed hours.

Holidays. Almost all the national holidays are off, as well as about a week in the summer and a week in the winter and as long as you give reasonable notice you shouldn't have a problem with taking your 10 days.

Relatively relaxed rules. Unless you happen to be working at the main office in Arida or close to it you won't see much of the management. In some areas you'll basically never see them at all. The school managers will not breathe down your neck and as long as you show up on time and don't do anything crazy you're basically free to do as you like. On the flip side you may not get all the help you need.

Reasonably helpful school managers. This actually varies a lot from school to school but at the very least I'll say that none of the managers I had were bad. One could barely speak English which was odd (and would be difficult for somebody new to Japan with no Japanese ability) but other than that they were all helpful and nice.

Finally it's relatively easy to get a job there and they will sponsor your visa and get you working relatively quickly. I'll also say that I never had any real problem getting paid or getting reimbursed for gas, although I am getting skimped out of some technical overtime.

Cons:

As others have mentioned they overcharge for the company car and apartment. 29 000 is waaaay too much to be paying for the 10 year old suzuki alto that I'm driving. On my first go around they put me up in a small but clean Leopalace which was fine but overpriced at 55 000 in rural wakayama. Second time was worse. The apartment was spacious but very old and very gross and I was charged 60 000 (plus utilities). Unacceptable. On the other hand it's worth pointing out that you do have the option of arranging a car and apt. for yourself although this is difficult to do if you're new to the country.

Living in the sticks. It is what it is. Some people like living in small towns, I don't. If you want to go Urban with Wishborn the best you can do is Wakayama city or southern Osaka.

In short I think working at Wishborn is a pretty good gig. You won't get rich and you'll likely be living in a small town but the job itself is good and you'll have lots of free time.

[G Cthulhu]