Job Discussion Forums

[Hauraunah]

Hello everyone I've received another response from someone I submitted my resume to.

Has anyone heard of Apple English House in Ibaraki-shi?

Here's what the employer said:

Hello,thank you for your interest.

I will give you some more informations.

We are located in Ibaraki-shi,Osaka,Japan.
Our city is between Osaka and Kyoto.
The position will be available in April for one year.
We have 26 teaching hours a week.
Mon to Fri:3:55-8:30 (4 lessons each)
Sat:1:55-6:30 (4 lessons)
( 2-hour lesson for infants on Wed morning,too)
The salary is 254000 yen a month. We have a sponsorship for a visa. We have an accommodation just across from the school,so you don't have to commute at all. The rent is 45000 yen a month plus utilities.
The accommodation is a house.
You can live alone, but you can have a roommate to save rent if you want.(The rent will be 30000 yen for each)
If you get this job, we will ask you to move into our accommodation.Our school is a little far from the station (you need to take a bus) and we can't provide the transportation. So it is very hard to commute everyday.
Is it OK for you to live in our accomodation?
We have a team teaching system,so Japanese teachers can help you in class.
We have some vacations.
summer and winter: 16-17days each ( we will guarantee you to pay 70-75% of the basic salary)
spring and golden-week: about 1 week each (this will be paid 100%)
You can check our website at
www.apple-english.com
It is written in Japanese but you can see a movie and some photos.

If you are still interested in, please contact me again.

Her name
Apple English House

Any thoughts?

I'm not too keen on having one off day but with the pay and the short hours for the most part I think I could handle it. I seems like I should be teaching for about 4-5 hours each day which is ALOT better than 8-9 hours for 5 days. I'm willing to take that compromise.

According to the ad the house is: Accommodation: "45000yen/month, no key money or deposit, Japanese old style house (3 bedrooms and kitchen). The accommodation is just across from the school (no commuting)."

I'm not too keen on all that space to myself since I'm a huge scaredy-cat come night time and I'd prefer not to have any roommates as I really don't feel like I'm back in college. I could use the bedrooms as guest rooms for friends who come to visit me.

Quite honestly in the last school I responded to the accommodation was a small apartment. The only red flag I'm sensing is the pay deduction for the paid winter and summer vacation.

That ad also mentioned it would chip in for health insurance.

I'm crossing my fingers for this one.

[rtm]

[Shimokitazawa]

OP,

I feel for you. It's a difficult decision. I think you'll find that most entry level TEFL positions in Japan are barely legal or skirt back and forth between what is legal and what isn't.

Also, it would be well within your interest to seriously consider not having your housing tied to your employer. That is never - ever - a good idea.

And yes, the 6 day work week sounds warning bells. You should be getting 2 days off per week.

Finally, employers are legally required to contribute towards pension and social benefits.

I suppose you can accept the offer and then, once you are established, you can work on getting a better job. Or you can eventually arrange a string of part-time positions around Osaka or Kyoto if you plan on remaining in Japan.

Whatever you decide, all the best to you.

[Rooster.]

The amount of hours you are working is nice, but working six days every week is too much. There might also be some similar problems with the last job, but, as stated above, you will probably find something wrong with every job like this in Japan.

I get that you want to be in more of a country setting, but you can work in a city and be a little further out.

I would just go to wherever you found these last two listing and apply to any jobs that are similar.

[Hauraunah]

rtm

The ad merely mentioned that it participated in paying insurance. I'll ask after the interview.


Shimokitazawa

I completely understand where you're coming from but at this point I need to get a foot in. The China jobs I'm being offered pay significantly less than what I was making here in America. The FBI STILL hasn't given me my background check so no Korean schools will take me seriously.

At this point I'm trying to pick a job that I can tough it out in for at least a year or two. I've already accepted that most of these jobs will be shady in some one but it should at least be shade I'm willing to deal with.

Also I have to keep in mind the schools that respond to me immediately versus the ones that don't at all.

I still have the ECC interview as I canceled the AEON interview. I just can't accept them jerking me around for 3 days to prove I'm an amazing teacher when what they want is a fricken seller. ECC's interview is far more efficient and straight-forward. If I landed ECC I'd be able to calm down with the Russian-roulette bargains.

Quite honestly, I put up with actual hell from my former job. Every day. I even developed a minor case of work-place PTSD. The same thing could happen in Japan but at least I'd finally have my foot in the door. I'd be paying my dues and open to all those amazing jobs that required I already live in the country.



Rooster

I applied to everything I qualified for and even sent them more than what they asked for. If they asked for only a picture and my resume, I sent them a cover letter, a scan of my diploma, and a scan of my teaching certificate. So far only this school and American School in Kofu have gotten back to me. Everything else there required a driver's license, which I do not have (I never learned to drive), or require I'm already in Japan.

I think this job might definitely be shady but it's a way bigger step up from Blue-Jays English club in pay and in accommodations. There's no pay deduction unless you count how they do winter and summer vacations. There's no weird cuts on holidays.

I think the toughest thing for me might be the 6 day work days but I think I can get used to it after a while and the most I'd be working each day is close to 6 hours which makes a difference to me because 8-9 hour shifts can be murder on my ADHD.


I appreciate everyone's concerned and guidance. All I can do is pray this goes through if ECC does not. Like I said before, if I could just get my foot in the door I KNOW that I could land some of the nicer gigs.

[rtm]

[RM1983]

I got tricked in my first job here, and wound up doing basically 6 days a week (although one was just a morning gig and Saturday was the same as yours more or less).

It was ok for a while but it will wear you out. I didnt leave Tokyo at all for about a year except for summer holiday to Korea.

It could go either way. If the school is nice and you get on with your coworkers it might be quite enjoyable. Do you like teaching a lot? Did you talk about what kind of classes they do? Is it all kids? How many non Japanese teachers work there and could you talk to them before accepting the offer?

You could bail as well, once you have that visa you can make plans for the next job. Nothing says tough it out for a year, you can look for another job when you want. Although that could be tricky working 6 days a week, you will not have time to travel very far for an interview. Oh, and the house thing too, that can be quite constricting I believe

What made that job worth it for me was that I was unsupervised and had basically carte blanche over what I taught. So, I was able to develop the young learner thing, and I thought this would be a good idea for future employment. Also, it was fun but I got tired of talking mainly to small children 6 days a week. And bored sometimes. It is quite grim getting to Friday night, and realising you hve to go home early because you have work on Saturday after a full week working. And, it probably will feel like you have done a week by Friday night even if your hours are short

Overall it is going to be a risk doing 6 days and you probably will burn out at some point. But could be a nice way in

[kzjohn]

Playing with kids for a year is a job?

If you're not into it, then I guess it would suck; if you enjoy kids it would be easy & fun.

Personally, I'm looking forward to grandkids, and don't look at them as crumb-eaters or carpet-critters.

Yes, there can be discipline problems, and hopefully your school will have your back and not hang you out on your own. (what you need to check on)

But wouldn't it be nice, after some years, to have one of those kids look you up and say "thanks, I got into such-and-such school", or even just "hey, I remember you."?

Are you an educator/teacher, following something you like, or are you a bean counter, doing it for money/benefits?

[Rooster.]

Are you only using eslcafe.com to search for jobs?

[Hauraunah]

rtm

I see. I keep forgetting that. I don't know much about China compared to what I know about Korea and Japan and costs of living. Do you know any reliable sites that can help me decipher if those low paying jobs are actually the equivalent to what I was making in America? It's hard to find sites that do a good comparison. I feel like if I ever moved to one of those places I'd have to take it upon myself to give the raw details for for future references.



RM1983

How long did it take for it to wear you out? I'm not much of a traveler. I'm really settled. I don't think I'll have an itch to venture far until I've been settled for perhaps 2-3 years.

I've never taught before. It is all kids. I'm going to ask about the teachers after the interview. This particular employer seems in a hurry ti interview and move into everything. If she gives me a window of opportunity during the interview I will ask her. On the site I see there are two foreign teacher: one Caucasian guy, on African American woman. In activity pictures there seems to be another teacher who could perhaps be latino.

I feel like if I bail on a job I just lost my reference and I'm back to square one and I have some explaining to do to the next employer.

According to the employer she wants me in the house because it's right across from the school and because she cannot afford to give me commuting compensation if I chose to live elsewhere.

kzjohn

I'm trying to look further into something I was told I have a knack for. Quite honestly when I went to college and became a language major I told myself I would be happy with almost any job as long as I was able to continue my pursuit for fluency in languages I found interesting. I may not be able to speak Japanese at work. Seems like here it wont matter because she didn't make a note about it so that's good considering the children's English is most likely limited. If this is the work for me I could take it a step further and someday gain credentials to teach Korean/Spanish in Japan or Japanese/Spanish in Korea. I love languages and being an EFL teacher might help me develop skills that will help me to properly share that love of languages with young learners. There have to be some kids out there fascinated by English the way I was fascinated by Chinese/Japanese/Korean when I was very small.

If not then I can improve my language skills and put myself into a company that can utilize someone who speaks the languages I've chosen to learn. Once I feel like my business Japanese is impeccable I could move to Korea and get my Korean languages skills up to par and transfer to Guatemala and try to become a diplomat.

Short story long; I'm open to all options of where I could go career wise. I don't need to be filthy rich. I just want a job where I'm healthy, happy, productive, and stable.




Rooster

No. I used Daves to find my current recruiter. But when it comes to Japan jobs I've been looking at popular websites like Ohaiyousensei. That's where I found this job and the last. I'm too afraid to search Dave's for China jobs as I have no way of knowing if an ad is a scam or not. I can't really apply to Korea jobs until I can prove I have my background check. I applied for it September and it's December and I'm STILL waiting. So I've pretty much given up on Korea for the time being because thinking about the FBI dragging their feet is pissing me off and given me very unhealthy thoughts.

Do you have any recommended places? I didn't see anything on the Japanese consulate website.

[RM1983]

It took a few months to get a handle on what I was doing, while I was kind of starstruck by living here so enjoying myself and didnt mind 6 days a week. After a while though the cracks started to appear regards my boss and the company in general, for example them failing to help me with a couple of discipline issues when they could have easily resolved them with a quick phone call.

So it was a little up and down, cushioned with a bit of free time in the summer and lots of sunday/monday bank holidays during that year.

After about 8 months or so though I was starting to hit the skids a bit, and a little bitter about working 6 days. Especially when I had to miss something really cool because of working saturdays, like a festival or something. Kind of like, what am I even working here for? When I cant go and actually do anything?

Also, it doesnt help when you meet other teachers who basically tell you youre being shafted (and I basically was). Also I was physically quite exhausted and missing going out and stuff, always having to think about work.

Again though what made it worth it was because I had a bit of freedom I was able to get a good handle on teaching kids and I think that is going to be good as I start to look for better jobs. So if you like teaching then you might find you actually enjoy working like that. It takes a while to get to grips on it so you could really focus on that, try and gve yourself an edge. Cos I was making all my own classes, I now have a lot of ideas beyond the standard eikawa stuff.

What I meant by not being able to travel was I didnt even get to an Onsen until after a year here. And it is worth finding out who else works there (pics could be old) because they will more likely than not be your friends.

Dont mean to be gloomy, but Japan can be very boring at times, so you might need to be prepared for that.

Quite right about the reference, there arent THAT important here, but
sounds like itd be difficult to leave before a year had gone.

The other thing is your holidays sound quite good, and the time will probably be go quickly. By the time you settle in, summer holiday will be approaching and you can get excited for that.

[kzjohn]

As pointed out, your holidays are good enough--you'll be able get out of town, onsen, schedule interviews then for your next job(s), etc.

Tho it is 6 days, one of the things you're interested in is studying Japanese. This job would allow you to study/practice/use that from the time you get up till after 3, monday thru friday. It would allow you to accomplish one of your personal goals. You're already got good credentials, and adding N2 (N1?) to those would be wonderful.

If you haven't seen these sites, take a look. It's fairly common for ads to mention that they want some J-lang skills:

http://www.jacet.org/kobo/index.html

https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekTop (use 英語 as a key word)

Use your year to look at those ads, and, if they appeal, to figure out how to get there. True full time (tenured) jobs are now rare, but that means schools are now playing "musical chairs"--offering teachers yearly contracts, renewable up to 3-5 years. This is to your advantage, since instead of slots being less frequently open and then filled forever, there's a lot of churning. And youth always helps, as young people are more genki...!

Some of those ads are for part time work (非常勤), maybe 2-4 classes/week and paid on a per class basis (no pay in the summer, or late Feb/March). But there are quite a few people who do part time classes at several schools and have a full schedule, and make much better than 25万/month.

Finally, if you haven't found it, this site is kind of a different version of this one:

http://www.jref.com/forum/forums/working-in-japan.141/
http://www.jref.com/forum/forums/learning-japanese.64/ ( < good!)

[Rooster.]

There are a lot of good responses here.

Remember, no job in Japan will be perfect, but don't take just any job.

I PM'ed you.

[nightsintodreams]

As a newbie coming to Japan for the first time, you're not going to find a great job. Whatever you find and post here, people are going to tear apart.

My advice is to take any job with one of the dispatch companies like Interac.

Failing that, take any job that pays 240,000 or more and gives you two days off a week and reasonable hours.

[kzjohn]