Job Discussion Forums

[feisty-red]

Hello all!

I was curious... if you are working in Japan right now at one of the Big Four...what are your shift hours like? For example I hear ECC has you work between 3-9pm mostly. Is this average? What are the other schools like?

[JimDunlop2]

Never worked for the Big 4, but I did work for a smaller, more local eikaiwa chain. Working hours were 1pm-9:15pm (and there was a punch-in clock).

Whether you were teaching or not, you were "on the clock" between those hours.

Yes, that's very common, as most kids go to "eikaiwa" after school, classes usually being held in the order of dismissal. Grade 1/2 kids get out of school the earliest, so if you work at an eikaiwa, there's a good chance that your first class or two will be younger children.

Then, later on, between 4 to 7 pm, you can expect grades 3 to 9, and occasionally even some high school students. Other high school students and adults take classes primarily in the evenings and on weekends.

It is meant to coincide with people's free-time schedule. In other words, whenever people AREN'T in school or at their jobs is when YOU will generally be working. Some people prefer this, some hate it.

I liked it well enough when I was doing it, but now in retrospect, I would HATE to go back to that lifestyle again. Working a 1-9 shift really mungs up your daily schedule and routine, and I found that I got about half as much done back then as I do now. Now, I'm free at 5pm so I have the opportunity to attend classes of my own, go to the movies, hang out with friends, go to the gym, etc, etc. Before, my mornings were chooched as I slept until 11 or later. Then I had to get ready for work. After work, I cooked a late supper (about 10pm to midnight) and did things usually until 2 or 3 am..... (Hence the reason why my mornings were chooched).

But some people like it that way. Some people (regardless of their work schedule) still get up early in the morning, get lots done BEFORE work, and go to bed at a regular hour....

[feisty-red]

Jim, I could totally see myself sleeping until 11am. I kinda hope not but realistically I will sleep late. I bartended all through college and waitressed, so I slept late bc of the hours. It's what I got used to. Makes sense though.

I was just wondering if anyone else had diff hours at the bid four.

[seastarr]

When I worked for Nova, in the beginning, I usually worked 120-9. After I had been there a while, my shifts started to vary depending on the day of the week because there weren't enough teachers in my area. Some days I would work 10-540, or 1140-720. Usually new teachers had the late shift, which is great if you like to go out drinking, or do stuff in the evening. It isnt so great if you have stuff you need to get done and dont like getting up early. I liked the mix because it was nice to get off work early a couple of nights a week. Working at Nova in the morning was also nice because the class sizes were usually small (1-2 students), which increased your chances of having no shows. The evening classes were usually packed.