Job Discussion Forums

[Osiyo]

Greetings all,

So, in a couple weeks I will be getting a CoE (and consequently will obtain a full-on work visa) from a company that may not actually be able to hire if they cannot find me a position.

Hopefully this is not the case and said company will find a position for me. However, I have to confront the idea of either giving up on going to Japan until I find a company that will hire me from overseas, or...actually go to Japan with the work visa but without a job to look for work. I suppose I would probably like to try the latter if it comes down to it...but how good are my chances? I know just being in Japan helps to some extent, but will already having the visa also help me? Is it worth my time and money to fly to the country and job search there (I do have a place I can stay, so at least I wouldn't have to pay for a hotel)?

I know it's a gamble...but I don't quite know how much of a gamble it is. If I could find a teaching job within a few weeks, it would be worth it...but obviously I don't want to enter the country with my visa only to find that I can't find work and just have to leave again. I'm sure this kind of question has been asked before, so does anyone have any advice for me?

If the company sponsoring my visa cannot hire me, and I chose to go to Japan anyway to look for work, I would probably go at the end of this month or early August, just fyi.

As always thanks in advance.

[Bread]

Having a visa will help enormously compared to not having one if you're in Japan. It won't guarantee anything, but at the very least you'll be eligible for a ton of part-time jobs that can't sponsor someone and short-notice job openings that don't have time to sponsor someone.

It IS a risk, but if you have the time and money, then your chances aren't all that bad. I'm guessing that you have no experience, so that's the only thing that's likely to be a hindrance.

[Osiyo]

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I have no real teaching experience to speak of, but I do speak Japanese pretty well, so there's that.

[Glenski]

[Osiyo]

Thank you Glenski.

The company sponsoring the visa made me sign a "basic contract" in order to get the CoE issued, but they told me that I am not guaranteed a job at this point. They do this to speed up the process I guess. It's an ALT dispatch company so there is a possibility they cannot find a position for me--but they still sponsor the visa "for my troubles" even if this is the case.

As for my credentials, as I mentioned in my second post I do not have much teaching experience. I am a native English speaker with a degree in Asian Studies who can also speak Japanese, that's about it.

I am certainly willing to put in the leg work; I have already had several interviews (in the past) and was even offered a position that I had to decline for unfortunate reasons. I will definitely try my best to find something on the internet before stepping foot in the country, that goes without saying. However I feel like if I get the visa and don't try to do something with it, especially when I do have a place to stay in Chiba-shi, I am selling myself short.

Thank you once again for being brutally honest and efficient, Glenski; I really do appreciate it. I really haven't decided to do things one way or the other yet, that is why I made this thread. It sounds like it would be fairly easy to find part-time work at eikaiwas in such, which would help for experience, but I don't think that sounds too fun in terms of getting by.

[Glenski]

[Osiyo]

If you want to call it lying, I guess that could be true. Keep in mind I haven't been told I don't have a job yet, but I see it as a somewhat likely scenario so I am preparing for the worst. I have read accounts of this particular company doing it before, I think I might PM you with more specific details if you'd like to hear about it.

I haven't taken the JLPT but I suspect I would end up in the new grade 2 if I did, with a good amount of kanji studying. I have lived and studied in Japan on two separate occasions, so I'm not a total stranger to the land and I am not at all worried about getting by the day-to-day. I estimate that I can read about a thousand kanji, which is well short of being fluent but not terrible...writing is of course another story that I shouldn't bring up in polite company.

As for the whole "fun" thing, I was just being sarcastic, forgive me! I don't expect to go to Japan and have it be a land of candy and video games or something...I expect to have a job and to work hard at it. I simply meant that...it doesn't sound like a part-time salary will lead to very good living conditions, but I guess that does depend on the company. But you're right that beggars can't be choosers, and I'm damn close to being a beggar after all the crap I have gone through in the last year trying to get to Japan.

And thank you again for the input Glenski, you are like the god of Japanese ESL advice.

[Glenski]

[Osiyo]

So I will be getting my COE in a week or so, and the company that drafted it for me has officially told me I am a "backup" aka mostly likely not getting a job with them. Joy!

Some people tell me that getting a work visa is 90% of the battle. Well, I have the visa, but no job...Glenski seems to suggest that it isn't a great idea for me to go to Japan with hopes of finding work at this time of year. Anyone else have any opinions? If you had a work visa and a one-way ticket to Japan that you either had to change or cancel (~$200 fee to cancel, less to change), what would you do?

Also, like I mentioned before, if I did go to Japan to look for work, I have a place to stay in Chiba, near Tokyo. However, even with that I do not have enough money to be there for more than just a month or two.

[seklarwia]

What type of visa will you have and what kind of work do are you looking for? Some employers might only care that you have a work visa but there are some who will want you to have the right visa for the job. I actually saw an advert for a direct-hirer ALT a couple of days ago on Ohaiyo-sensei that specifically stated that the applicant must hold an Instructor visa.

But more importantly; you do realise that it could be as much as 2 months after you actually start working before you receive your first pay cheque, right? If you only have enough money for a month or two and you plan to jump off the plane at a pretty dead time of the year without a string of interviews already lined up, how long do you think it is going to be before you get hired and actually start your first day's work? And how do you plan to survive a further two months until payday?

And how much money are calling enough to survive a month or two? Unless you find a job within commuting distance of your place to stay (and the person doesn't mind putting you up for a few months), you will need to either get yourself an apartment or stay in a guest house. Apartments can have set up fees in excess of 200,000 yen and even a guest house could have you forking out 100,000 to get you moved in and sorted until pay day.

Even if you get lucky, and find a job not far from your place to stay very quickly, unless you can walk of cycle to the job, you are going to need to shell out for the daily commute, since many employers cover travel costs by reimbursing them at a later date, often paying you back along with your salary (i.e. you may not see your travel money until your first pay day 2 months after your first day of work). I wonder if you included that in you calculation...

[Osiyo]

I am pretty sure the visa would be an instructor visa.

If I was able to find a job, I could shoulder the costs until payday. My main worry is going there and not finding a job at all. As long as the prospect of getting paid and being able to recoup my losses is there, I can deal with it.

I guess it's this whole "dead time of year" thing that worries me more than anything else...I get the feeling I should just cancel my ticket and spend another six months in the U.S. until things get better, even though I really don't want to.

[Bread]

Nobody else can tell you what to do. This is your decision. Yes, there is a chance that you won't find a job. There is also a chance that you will find a job. There IS an element of chance. Nobody is going to tell you that you're guaranteed to find something. This is 100% your decision. Good luck, whatever you choose.

[Osiyo]

I know it's my decision, and I know it's a gamble. I am just having trouble figuring out how much of a gamble it really is. I've never been job hunting in Japan before and it is hard for me to "line up interviews" right now while I am still in the states. I have been applying to a lot of places but most of the time I don't get any replies, though lately I have been trying to mention the fact that I will already have a work visa.

I guess I could try lying to Gaijinpot and saying that I live in Japan, just so I can apply to all of these "muse reside in Japan" posts that it won't let me do otherwise.

[seklarwia]

How many places have you actually applied to? And how many of those places actually said they were hiring?

If you are talking about having applied to less than 10, then you haven't applied to many, at all.
If you have applied to alot more than that and still haven't even had a nibble, it's possible they have finished hiring (if they were hiring at all) or there is something wrong with your CV and/or cover letter.

And why must you lie? Tell those "must reside in Japan" employers that you have a valid work visa and will be in Japan as of (enter date here). If you lie and they ask you to interview tomorrow, you're screwed. If you interview just after you arrival and they realise that you lied about being here before, they will have, "He's a dishonest person. What else is he lying about?" in the back of the mind, so no matter how well you do in your interview, you'll probably be screwed.

Your timing really is sucky. At this point, many employers would have finished hiring from abroad since the new term is starting in less than 4 weeks in parts of Japan. So, what's left are last minute job adverts and those that want people with experience working and/or living in Japan.

If some of the places want you to go through training before you start, then it's quite possible you are going to be arriving too late. With the Obon holiday in only 3 weeks, you'll get here and likely find that even of those "must reside in Japan" jobs have already been filled. If you don't confirm interviews before you arrive, you are going to have no chance of getting hired anytime soon.

[Osiyo]

It's not the employers I have to lie to exactly, it's just that I have to (untruthfully) change my profile on Gaijinpot to reflect that I live in Japan, so that it will let me apply for the jobs with that criteria. I would definitely mention that I am actually in the U.S. to any employer though, as I have been doing for the few that I can actually find contact information for.

As for how many I have applied to, that's hard to say. I'd say at least ten, probably a little more. I do agree that my timing is really bad, but unfortunately that was mostly out of my control. Earlier this summer I was actually offered a job, and now getting this COE from the other company has caused me to wait even longer (after learning the first job was a no-go I let this current company start my COE early this month).

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, I guess. I will continue to hold my breath and hope something comes my way for once, but I think I've pretty much decided I am not going to be taking a leap of faith and actually go to Japan based on comments in this thread.