Job Discussion Forums

[senza_vavoom]

Hello All,

Prior to NOVA, I also attended an AEON interview. The AEON interview was in Toronto, Canada, and it only occurred a month ago. Bear in mind that it is RECENT and that IT MAY DIFFER IN OTHER CITIES OR COUNTRIES.

THE INTERVIEW WAS DIVIDED INTO 3 COMPONENTS:
1. Information Session
2. Teaching Demonstration
3. Written test

RECRUITERS IN TORONTO:
1. Caucasian, white male
2. Japanese female ( director of a school in Japan )

EXPECTATIONS
- Do NOT expect that the group will be large. In fact, there were only 3 applicants in the room ( I am included in this three )
- Do NOT expect to get an easy session and interview
- Do NOT expect an interview just bc you were called in for the information session

PART 1: INFORMATION SESSION

- This is the longest information session
- It took roughly 4 hours
- In here, these items will be covered:
� Company information
� Schedules, types of schools, day offs, holidays, pay, income tax etc
� Living in Japan
- You will also be shown a video of AEON ( It features one specific teacher and shows how her day goes at AEON )
- You will also be shown a video of a few commercials of AEON featuring big-time Japanese celebrities

PART 2 : TEACHING DEMONSTRATION

- Before interview date, you will be notified to prepare a lesson plan and teach a portion on it for 5 minutes
- You will be timed so use your time wisely
- You will also be assessed while teaching by the 2 recruiters
- Make sure that the items you will be teaching are easy to grasp, straightforward and interesting
- Smile a lot
- Use the blackboard and visual aids you might have
- Make sure your voice projection is clear, at a good pace
- Show a lot of enthusiasm
- Make sure you use the other group members as " student participants "
- Do not attempt to explain your lesson plan to the recruiters
- Just role-play and teach!

PART 3: WRITTEN TEST ( 25 minutes long )
- You will be given a test
- The test is wholly based on grammar
- You will be asked to circle the incorrect information in the sentences
- Some of the sentences are tricky and may appear as entirely incorrect
- Have patience and a clear insight on each of the questions
NOTE ON INTERVIEW
- You will not actually have the interview right there at the session
- At the end of the session and test, you will be given a sealed letter. The recruiters will ask you to open the letters at your own privacy, due to the " content " of the letter.
- ALAS, I DID NOT GET AN INTERVIEW WITH AEON

NO INTERVIEW FOR ME ( LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES )

- The Japanese recruiter and the Caucasian recruiter were very friendly with me
- At first, I took the friendliness towards me as a sign that I may have an advantage in the group
- However, I did not get the interview due to the following reasons ( Reasons that I THINK may been the cause for non-hiring )

1) MY TEACHING DEMONSTRATION
- I ASSUMED that the group session will be larger ( at least 12 people )
- When I got there, there were only 2 others
- My lesson plan bombed bc it needed the participation of more people
- Therefore, my lesson plan did not even reach the 5 minute mark
- I tried to extend it but it led to me explaining the details and the purpose of the lesson
- LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES ON THE LESSON PLAN:
� Construct a lesson plan that will require very little people, but will still provide a valuable and rich source of information
� Make sure that it reaches the 5 minute mark or do not go over the time excessively
� Do NOT explain your lesson. JUST TEACH IT . Role-play is the key here.

2) OVERQUALIFICATION

- I reflected too much knowledge on Japan ( I had statistics, historical / political / sociological knowledge that I mentioned etc )
- 5 yrs at a corporate environment and I did mention I am very familiar with corporate structures

3) OR MAYBE THEY DIDN'T LIKE MY ATTITUDE
- I smiled and participated often which was advised by most people
- I was very interested and wrote notes
- But who knows? They might not have liked this!

[Glenski]

You might want to move this to the Japan forums where it will do more good.

[Perpetual Traveller]

I thought it might be useful to add my recent experience (23/10/05) of being interviewed by AEON in London.

THE INTERVIEW WAS DIVIDED INTO 3 COMPONENTS:
1. Information Session
2. Teaching Demonstration
3. Written test

Everyone (about 50 people) was present for the information session. At the end of this the recruiters divided us in to 6 groups. We took a lunch break and then three of the groups did the group interview the rest of the groups had to wait about another hour and a half.

RECRUITERS IN LONDON:
1. Caucasian, white male, sounded American, NYC office.
2. Japanese female, sounded English, Chicago office.
3. Japanese female, sounded American but poss Japanese born, NYC.


PART 1: INFORMATION SESSION

-It took roughly 4 hours
-In here, these items will be covered:
Company information; schedules, types of schools, days off, holidays, pay, income tax, contract stipulations and benefits, living in Japan.
Also they showed a couple of samples of the textbook and asked people to read them out loud, probably a good idea to look enthusiastic here, also they demonstrated what teaching a kids class would be like and got everyone to join in, again I would assume enthusiasm is a good idea during this.
Shown a video of AEON (Followed a teacher's day and showed an apartment another teacher was living in)
You will also be shown a video of a few commercials of AEON featuring big-time Japanese celebrities

PART 2 : TEACHING DEMONSTRATION

- Before interview date, you will be notified to prepare a lesson plan and teach a portion on it for 5 minutes
- You will also be assessed during the lesson
- Make sure that the items you will be teaching are easy to grasp, straightforward and interesting
- Smile a lot
- Use the blackboard and visual aids you might have
- Make sure your voice projection is clear, at a good pace
- Show a lot of enthusiasm
- Make sure you use the other group members as "student participants"
- Do not attempt to explain your lesson plan to the recruiters, they will tell you not to do this at the beginning.
- Remember to praise the participants a lot.

I picked something pretty simple, adjectives, and the only part of my plan that I taught was getting the participants to make an alphabetical list of adjectives, one for each letter, obviously this would work with one person or a large group.

PART 3: WRITTEN TEST ( 25 minutes long )
- You will be given a test
- The test is half based on grammar (quite short, only about 5 sentences, you will be asked to circle the incorrect information in the sentences) and half on questions about your intentions for Japan, the only one I remember clearly was something along the lines of "What would you do if you had a family emergency?" I know people who flubbed the grammar part and were still granted a personal interview so don't kill yourself of this part.

NOTE ON INTERVIEW
- You will not actually have the interview right there at the session. At the end of the session and test, you will be given a sealed letter. The recruiters will ask you to open the letters at your own privacy, due to the " content " of the letter. In London the interviews could be scheduled anytime in the next 3 days but they were very good about catering to those who had travelled to attend.

THE PERSONAL INTERVIEW:
I was granted a personal interview so returned the next day (Monday) Although the venue was a different hotel it was quite close to the one where the group ones were held.

I went in and the first thing I had to do was prepare another lesson, this time for eight minutes (with eight minutes prep time) using the provided lesson sheet (no way to pre-prepare this as you won't know the subject until it's in front of you. When the recruiter (it was the same as the one who had taken my group the day before) returns to the room she/he will act as a Japanese student to give you an idea of what it is like. My recruiter was of Japanese origin so this was ok, can only imagine that perhaps the interviews with the American guy must have felt a little silly.

As soon as the recruiter returned to the room I behaved as though I was a teacher, I stood up, said 'Good morning _____' and asked her to sit down. I explained what we'd be talking about that day (although I was told after that this was unnecessary). I tried to be really friendly and encouraging, always saying 'well done', 'excellent' or 'good job', etc after each correct response. When this part was over the recruiter gave feedback and said I came across as very friendly and encouraging so I guess I did that right. They like a ratio of the student speaking 80% of the time and I only managed about 60% but I said I thought that was something that would come with training and experience and the recruiter agreed.

Then we moved on to my reasons for choosing AEON, my strengths and weaknesses (this was done a little differently, I was asked to name two of each from the perspective of a previous employer and my brother. I couldn't think of enough weaknesses but perhaps that was in my favour!?!), and other fairly usual interview stuff (sorry should have posted this earlier when it was fresher in my mind). All in all took about an hour.

I heard from them about 9 days later, they phoned and offered me a job.

Hope that helps,

PT

[hip-hop boy78]

Same thing happened to me earlier this year (January), I had an interview in London with AEON, group thing went pretty well and I thought my teaching demo went very well. Even some of the other applicants were impressed by it yet I didn't get invited back for a 1 to 1 interview the next day, and all this despite the fact that I have over 4 years of teaching experience three of which in Japan. Don't worry about it, happens to the best of us

[seanmcginty]

I did my AEON interview in Vancouver about 5 years ago. I don't know if things are the same now, but it seems like the place to go for the easy interview.

It was just a 1 on 1 interview in the recruiters apartment. Did a very brief interview, talked about my experiences in Japan (I had taught there before) and she then showed me a textbook and asked me to prepare a brief demo lesson. As there wasn't anybody to teach there she just asked me to go through what I would do in a classroom setting. Then she showed me a list of schools they had openings at and asked me to choose which one I would want to go to. I chose Himeji and a couple days later she called me up to let me know I was going to be the new AEON Himeji teacher.

Sounds like I lucked out big time.

[gogolucky26]

Aeon was my first choice but then I did more research and ECC seemed like a better fit for me. I heard some interviews are like the luck of the draw. but at the ECC interview I felt like if you did well overall you are hired. I did not think it was any bias, I do not know how others felt, but thats how I felt.

[Willy_In_Japan]

The exact same thing happened to me.........I talked too much.....ie, tried to be 'helpful' by pointing out stuff that I knew etc.

I had just gone through three gruelling days of GEOS interview,.......luckily for me I got hired by GEOS, but got a rejection letter from AEON in Toronto.

The male recruiter was nice enough to suggest the reasons why I didnt get interviewed, let alone hired. He suggested that I seemed 'arrogant'....and that I should smile more. It is tough to remember to smile when you are nervous about the teaching.

There was one particular guy who was really hyper....they interviewed him perhaps because they thought that he could be trained. Super 'genki' but I thought personally that his lesson was confusing as heck. So, goes to show you.

Things I learned.
1. Keep your mouth mostly shut. Ask a few easy to answer questions just to show you are interested, and nothing that puts them on the spot. I asked for example, if one could take a leave of absence between contracts to travel or take a little extra time back home.

2. Don't try to be helpful. Giving advice....demonstrating what you know about Japan........keep your mouth mostly shut.

3. Keep your mouth mostly shut.

4. Smile.

5. Be enthusiastic during the teaching........its more important than giving a great lesson. Smile! I suggest creating say 24 cards with pictures on them.....make two of each with a colour printer.......have the 'students' play go fish. Use the board to 'present' the language......'Do you have any...............s? 'Yes, I do, here you are.' 'No, I don't.' 'Go fish'....have them practice the language, and then play the game......It is practicing vocabulary, and 'do you have any><?'. Very easy for a 5 min demo and can show what you can do. Also, there is very little 'teacher talk' which is important to them. You demonstrate the game (model) and let the students do the game. You monitor, or if the group is small participate. Smile.

5. During presentations, keep your mouth mostly shut.

I did find that they present themselves in a much more relaxed way than GEOS. However, I could see through their spiel. They are EXACTLY like GEOS.