Job Discussion Forums

[cafebleu]

a cop-out?" I accidentally pressed new topic instead of reply! Sorry!

Don't take offence at the posters who give a less than rosy view of career prospects after teaching English in Japan. It IS a reality for more people than you think.

I was fine after leaving Japan - yes, I had the security of a husband with a good career and income if I hadn't been able to find work. So there wasn't the financial pressure for me to get a job post Japan and get it fast, unlike friends of mine especially women friends.

I am a qualified teacher from the UK so post-Japan I had a good assortment of options. Being a qualified teacher allows you to sidestep assorted TEFL qualifications, which are becoming more and more a demand for people who leave Japan and try to find a job in the same field if there having no luck in other lines of work.

BUT I can give you not a few examples of friends I had in Japan who have had a very rough ride in their home countries - including the US, Australia and New Zealand. The ones from the US and Australia had the roughest time especially if they'd been gone for 4 years or more.

These were educated people who didn't have specific teaching qualifications and couldn't work in those fields, and they were left out of the running for jobs they could have applied their skills and knowledge to. Why? There's a distinct lack of appreciation in the US for the Japan experience - it's seen generally as a kind of interim thing according to my friends and definitely not something you can use if you're in your 30s plus to make a career post Japan.

As for my Auzzie friends - as they said, Australia's low population hits many opportunities for six.Most could not find work for a long time and it was very stressful for them. Universities and colleges in Australia have much fewer opportunites than those in the Uk for example for teaching. They have entrenched staff and the turnover is low.

Among my friends were fluent speakers of Japanese who couldn't find even casual work in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide at unis or colleges - apparently many of those jobs often are given internally. Better ones require a Phd, MA or BA in TEFL - no ifs, no buts.

I was also surprised to learn how many positions in Australia are advertised only because they have to be by law. Therefore Auzzie friends found out that the interviews were a farce because somebody was already in the job. Their frustration was centred around the fact they couldn't get teaching jobs and the non education sectors just wouldn't employ them.

I have a friend who has a great working record in Japan, working for elite companies, universities and senmon gakko. Back in Australia she hasn't had an interview since she went back - 5 months ago.

I suppose the solution for these people is to go back to university but most posters here are assuming they have the money to do so. More people than you think don't have the money to return to university, especially in the US.

Working in Japan can leave some people relatively badly off in their 30s and older whereas if their home country is cheap by comparison they would have saved much, much more money working for the same amount of time. My Aussie friends said they were worse off in Japan the longer they stayed and they also missed out on superannuation - their form of the pension.

Japan can be a financial and career dead-end for some people.