Job Discussion Forums

[Wanchai]

I've had a quick look through the FAQs, but didn't find what I was looking for.

Is it possible to get a job in a Japanese school without being part of the JET program?

And if so, do you have to apply to schools individually, or is there any kind of scheme/agency you can sign with?

Basically, the JET program requires you to be in your country of nationality for interviews in January/February, plus orientation in July/August (I think?), and I'm British, but currently working in Hong Kong.

I really don't want to go back to Britain, especially if it's just for interviews, so I was looking for another way into Japan.

I'd like to work in a school, but I have no school experience; I've been working in learning centres in mainland China and Hong Kong for the past two years. I have a four-year degree (an MMath) and a TEFL qualification, and I was wondering what my options were. I don't speak any Japanese, but I think I have a pretty good memory for characters, and could learn a reasonable amount in a short period.

Is it possible to get a job in a school? And if so, how? I would be willing to travel there for interviews, but obviously there's a limit on how much I could do that.

Also, I'd like to work in a city (preferably Osaka or Tokyo)... how much more difficult does that make things, and what would my options be otherwise?

Thanks for any help.

[fluffyhamster]

Unless a Board of Education is advertising to hire directly (or you have heard of opportunities to interview through some grapevine) - and there are very very few BOEs that appear willing to do this nowadays, much to the consternation of practically all of us here on Dave's! - you will not be welcome to apply directly (or if you do, your application will soon find its way into a shredder and fall on deaf ears). So the only way to go is through programmes such as JET, or M-ALT/TEIJ (do a search for those latter acronyms) through Earlham College, or through intermediary dispatchers such as Interac, who would certainly view you as qualified enough, for visa purposes at least (but be warned that dispatch work is 'intermediate exploitation'* i.e. that your wage will be at least a good third less as a result, and paid a month out of synch with the BOE's directly-paid staff i.e. you'll need to survive for two months before you get your first pay packet; benefits are also much-reduced or non-existent e.g. little or no health insurance - again illegal - no sick pay or paid or even unpaid leave granted etc etc).

*Which is technically illegal (i.e. a practice disapproved of/not endorsed in principle by higher authorities, but tolerated in practice and certainly practised by many authorities more locally for whatever dubious reasons and benefits), and certainly IS illegal according to Japan's Labour Standards Law.

[Glenski]

I believe Earlham College's program has folded. So, unless you have a convenient university exchange where you live to provide ALT slots, about the only ways into mainstream public schools here are as fluffyhamster said:

JET
dispatch agency
rare direct hires.

Mind you, public schools aren't the only mainstream schools out there. But with no experience, as you said, you can easily forget private schools and certainly forget about international schools (which require a teaching license and experience from your home country).

As for this statement:

I really don't want to go back to Britain, especially if it's just for interviews,

that's pretty arrogant. "just for interviews". If you can't show up for the interview, that shows lack of commitment. Since you aren't in your home country, you have to tough it out and go other routes.

Eikaiwa, anyone? (But even there, don't expect any to recruit in Hong Kong, so you're going to have to wish for a rare phone interview or pack your bags at the right time of year to come here and sniff around.)