Job Discussion Forums

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I have sent piles of top-notch resumes with no response.

What am I doing wrong? Is there something I should be doing that I am not?

Cover Letter
Passport Photo
Resume
A few other photos
Scanned copy of my diploma
Scanned copy of my TESOL certificate

I have looked at this from every angle.

What are employers in Japan looking for? And where are the "easy to get" jobs?

[Gordon]

I understand the part about a resume, cover letter and passport photo, but why the other stuff? They don't need a copy of your degree until they are getting your visa (after they hire you). How can we help you if you don't tell us what you have written or told them? Please be a little more specific?
FWIW don't send your resumes out cold. They will be ignored by employers.

[Glenski]

I agree with Gordon. Why bother sending something other than a cover letter and resume (which should have your picture on it anyway), and especially if you are cold-calling?

As for your "top-notch" resume, how about letting me see it? I've seen plenty, and believe me, they are far from that. Every one needed a major re-write. I promise a frank but honest appraisal. Cover letter, too.

In any case, whether you show your resume to me or not, how about giving the people here a hint as to your credentials that should be on the resume so we can give you some kind of decent evaluation?

Who are you applying to? Eikaiwas? High schools? Universities? Are your qualifications suitable for what they advertise? Or are you over-qualified (a possibility with any top-notch resume, especially since eikaiwas get by with the minimum requirements to get by immigration and don't even care if you have a degree in a related field)?

When are you applying? December? August? Late April? (all 3 are bad times) If it's a HS you want to go to, are you applying after April when all the jobs are taken? Are you answering ads or just cold-calling? The latter is never advised, because if they aren't advertising, they aren't hiring.

How are you applying? That is, what does your cover letter look like? Is it addressed to a person specifically, or "to whom it may concern"? (I've seen those.) Is the cover letter full of high level verbiage with big words that probably blow right by a Japanese reviewer? Is it a page or page and a half long (ok), or several pages (not ok)? What about the resume? Is it concise with bulleted points (good), or is it huge and full of paragraphs (with that verbiage problem again) to describe your experience (bad, and the most common type I've seen)? Is your cover letter personalized for each ad you answer (good), or does it look like a form letter (bad, and yes, I've seen those, too)?

[Gordon]

A little off-topic, but the worst resume I have ever seen was 19 pages long! It arrived through the fax machine and it never ended. Eventually I turned off the fax machine because it was taking all our paper. It came complete with some (all?) of her poems and talked about how successful her son was.

[foster]

[color=red]19 pages!!!! [/color]

WOW!!

Great Wall...are you applying to places that are advertising? Is there an application form that they want filled out as well as all of your other information? Are you applying online?

Glenski, nice offer to help with resumes. Can anyone take you up on that? I have a great job, but it never hurts to have a good resume on hand!

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Basically, I am applying for anything advertised. I am not just knocking on doors left right and center because time is sort of the essence.

My resume certainly is not 19 pages long (whooooly !! ) But it is 3 pages, put into neat little and concise sections detailing experience, education, etc.

I just finished a few years in Korea and I'm looking for something different. I have looked at Taiwan, but having been to Japan more times than I can count, Japan seems to be the best place for me at this time.

I'm 28 years old. Could this be a problem? Too young / old?

I know in Korea, schools don't even want to look at anyone over 35 or someone who can speak Korean. I wonder if it is like like in Japan, too?

Should I mention I can speak a bit of Japanese, or not?

Sorry for all the questions folks.

And yes Glenski I would love you to look at my resume for me. Thanks!

[guest of Japan]

At 28 years old you do not need a three page resume. Get it down to one page, two at the most.

Only mention Japanese ability if the advertisement lists it as a specific requirement.

Your age is fine.

Where are you applying from?
Are you able to interview in Japan?
How relevant is your education to the jobs?

I'll leave you to Glenski now as he is the resident expert on this matter.

[Glenski]

guest of Japan has made some fine points. I agree with all of them.

To add a few of my own...

If a 28-year-old has only a few years of work experience in Korea, I find it outrageous that he/she has a 3-page resume. It is not in "neat little and concise sections" if it's that long. Cut it as guest of Japan suggested. Perhaps your font size is the problem? Hard to say without seeing it.

"A bit of Japanese" will not get your foot in any door. Most places don't even want you to use it in the classroom anyway, so its usefulness is limited to dealing with people outside of work and sometimes with the office staff. I agree that you don't need to mention it. Besides, a "bit" probably won't help in office situations anyway. What is a "bit" anhow? Greetings? Asking for the toilet? Ordering sushi? Talking about the weather?

[easyasabc]

[Sherri]

As someone who has recruited EFL teachers in Tokyo for many years, I would not be put off by a 3-page resume as long as the information was relevant to teaching EFL. I would be put off by someone sending me lots of unasked for documents like transcripts, pictures, diploma copies.

I would advise--read the ads you respond to carefully. When you apply, send just what they ask for, no more, no less. Reply directly to the school, use the name of the recuiter if you know it or can find it out. Address the requirements in the ad in your cover letter. Be very careful about interview availability. If the school expects you to be resident in Japan, they will not reply to an overseas address. If you plan to be in Japan to attend interviews, make sure you say when you are going to be in Japan.

Hope this helps, let us know how you get on.
Sherri

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

[Mike L.]

A 3 pg resume is way too long. No employer will read it.

1 pg US standard with a cover letter tailored to the job you are applying for is best.

Highlight only experience applicable to the position.

Always get at least two people to read it over. It's difficult to catch your own mistakes.

Picture goes on the upper right of the resume in Japan.

If your mailing it in buy nice textured paper. A cream or beige like color is nice. Nothing too bright or dark.

If you make the changes recommended by everyone here you'll get loads of interviews.

[guest of Japan]

In response to easyasabc:

I'm 28 years old and have done nothing but teaching jobs since I was 21, yet I still manage to keep my resume at one page. Everytime I update it, I throw something out. By setting a goal of page length it helps a resume writer to better extract unnecessary details and redundancies in experience.

The reason I wrote that Glenski is the resident expert is because these are the kinds of posts he usually responds to. He has written hundreds of responses to newbie job seekers and helped to rewrite countless resumes.

To the great wall of whiner,

-Good idea to lower the font size.
- Try to limit your job description summaries to 3 or 4 concise points each.
- Being in Canada makes things a lot harder for you. You are nearly limited to the big companies like Nova, AEON. GEOS etc. There is always the chance of a small school taking the chance on you, but that will depend a lot on luck. You can also check to see if your city has a sister city relationship with a city in Japan. Sometimes people get very good public school jobs from those relationships.
- Your Korean experience is better than no experience at all, but sometimes it may work against you. Most schools in Japan are familiar with the rogue nature of many Korean schools. Teachers often come from Korea with the belief that they are already effective teachers, but the style they utilize is not what Japanese schools want.

Good luck.

[Sadebugo]

In contrast to the original poster, I have had decent luck in applying to Japanese companies. I've answered about 10 different ads, received responses from seven, and received offers or am in the process of receiving offers from five of them. As to my background, I have worked in Korea for several years with a few years in the Middle East and Thailand thrown in (no experience in Japan).

I'm just glad I didn't read this thread before I applied or I might have been too intimidated to follow through. I just sent a basic resume, cover letter, and photo to all employers. Perhaps, my record speaks for itself but who knows. Also, I guess my age (41) didn't hurt me too much.

Good luck with the search!

[Deconstructor]

Hi guys,

Here's what I think: 3 page resume is just fine if it is well written and relevant. However, I don't think that Japanese (or Korean) teaching companies really want to see a long resume, one that demonstrates great experience and professionalism. My resume IS 3 pages long; I have been teaching ESL as well as English language arts for 10 years. I started my career teaching in Korea, then at various language schools back home in Montreal where I eventually taught at a Canadian university as well as in a number of public schools. I currently work in a public school. I hold an M.A. in English and a B.Ed. TESL.

I am not trying to tute my own horn here. My point is this: when I had no experience I got a job overseas faster than I could blink. Now I have been trying to get a job in Japan or Korea and haven't gotten a single response. I'm doing this just to prove my point that I will not be hired BECAUSE I AM QUALIFIED. They don't need qualified teachers only Western faces who speak English. This is why one month certificate like CELTA is all you need. (No offence to all the teachers overseas holding such certificates.) As I said, I already have a job that pays me well. I have no intention of working for bunch of halfwits and morons who know squat about education, speak English at a 4 year old level and abuse their teachers. They will not hire me precisely because I know what I'm doing and will question their practices.

So my advice: sound as innocent and inexperienced as you possibly can. You will get the job.

Thank you very little.