Job Discussion Forums

[Suwon23]

OK, so feel free to use this thread to voice your own questions about this topic. Hopefully this will prevent having to create new topics for old questions.

My questions are:

1) How long, typically, does it take between a successful interview (in the states) and a job placement for eikaiwa like Geos, ECC, and AEON?
2) If I am accepted after the start of the school year, will I have to wait until next spring?

Thanks everyone!

[southofreality]

1) Usually between 2 and 5 months depending on the candidate's availability and company needs, assuming by placement you mean the assignment of a teacher to a particular work location and not just getting hired. Job offers can be received within as little time as one or two weeks if the timing and circumstances are right.

2) Eikaiwa teaching positions open up regularly throughout the year and the big companies you've listed hire and train people at regular intervals, not just one time per year.

But, typically, these companies do the largest portion of their hiring for positions beginning in the spring.

[Glenski]

Pretty misleading subject of this thread, if you ask me...

1) I agree.

2) Depends on the employer. It usually doesn't pay to apply unless they are advertising, so just follow #1 timeline. Some of them will want you to re-sign another contract in April even if you started with them only a few months earlier.

[Suwon23]

Thanks for your answers. I'm planning to interview in early March, so I'm sure I'll miss the big hiring boom in April, but from what you're saying, I should have a job by summer's end. Good news.

Question 3!

3) Which Eikaiwa have the lowest standards?

I need a school that will hire ANYBODY because I don't have TEFL certification, and only one year of experience in Korea. I know I could get into NOVA, because I did just that. But sadly (actually, not sadly at all) they are gone. Are there any other schools that have equally low standards?

[Amethyst99]

Have you tried AEON? I recently went to a group interview of 7 people (including myself), and everyone else was fresh out of University (or just finishing) with no certificate. I was the only one with a TEFL certificate, and I just have the Oxford Seminars one, which is not very impressive compared to others out there. (I don't know if I have the job yet, though I did get called in for the second interview. She said 3 weeks before they call (I'm a week in) and then 3 months until the job starts).

[Glenski]

[Suwon23]

I didn't mean to denigrate the hard-working men and women of NOVA and AEON. But teaching in Japan is far more competitive than in Korea, and after browsing a few websites I became disheartened that the Japanese schools seem to think their poo doesn't stink. My favorites are the schools that say they won't sponsor a work visa. Hello?! How am I supposed to work for you without a work visa? Who do they think they could possibly get for such a job?

Anyway, I'm glad that March is not too late, and I'm glad that I'm not horrifically under-qualified. Thanks again.

[Apsara]

There are plenty of people who don't need sponsorship for a visa in Japan. They include: People on spouse visas, people on working holiday visas, people who already have 3-year working visas with plenty of that time left to go, among others. I'm guessing that the situation is a bit different in Korea.

[Suwon23]

[Dipso]

Many English teachers currently in Japan already have 3 year working visas. I have a couple of ex-Nova friends who had to re-new their one-year visas just a few weeks before Nova finally went under - they were both given 3 year visas by immigration, much to their surprise and delight. I believe it is also possible to self-sponsor after you have been in the country for a while if you can get your income up to a certain monthly level.

By the way, if you are referring to GABA when you talk about companies who do not provide sponsorship, I don't think they are actually allowed to sponsor visas any more! It certainly used to be the case, anyway.

[Apsara]

You don't have to be in Japan to marry a Japanese or get a spouse visa- I have met plenty of people who married a Japanese person without ever setting foot in Japan, they met their spouse in the UK, the States etc, got married there, just arrived in Japan with fresh spouse visa, applied for while still overseas. The number of international marriages these days is quite high, I went to a job interview a few years ago where every single other applicant interviewing that day was on a spouse visa.

Obviously those schools can survive without sponsoring, as they wouldn't be advertising otherwise. I don't know why they don't sponsor though, as the company I work for now (normal Japanese company, not English school) only has 2 foreign employees and had no problems sponsoring me.

Gaba can sponsor visas again as of a couple of years ago- the management has changed since they were banned from sponsoring.

[Suwon23]

Interesting... Still, I would never marry someone just for 12 months of employment.

Since this thread is for anyone moving from Korea to Japan, what other issues should they know about? What other questions do people have? Speak up, waigugin!