Job Discussion Forums

[sideways_gun]

Hello everyone~ My mind has been turning over on this topic for several months and, now that I know I am definitely moving to Tokyo from London in February of next year, I am wondering how "CV-padding" or simple exaggeration of experience can help find a job.

From the experience of friends who have already moved to Tokyo (they have all pitched a tent in that city only), they used agencies or responded to classifieds in order to land employment teaching toddlers to grandparents in random eikaiwa. Whenever asked, "Do you have experience teaching children?" or the like, they would simply answer, "Yes, of course!" and fabricate some stories of long-term teaching one-on-one lessons to any number of the curious Japanese many who come to London on Working Holiday Visa from Japan..........

Now, that's not to say they are not doing their jobs "well" (what does that even mean?). None of them have been fired, and they are all enjoying their mind-numbingly long working hours, izakaya, restaurants, and running for the last train, etc. staples of metropolitan life AND YET I can't help but raise my eyebrow at the dishonesty of it all. I have exaggerated the importance of job roles I have had on my CV in the past, but I have never flat-out LIED about having had the job in the first place!

Is it that people can get away with this in Japan because they just want someone to do the job who dresses and conducts themselves appropriately (for entry-level "an English hand to hold" type employment)? Is it like taking performance enhancers (everybody does it, just don't go overboard lest you get caught)?

In summary, should I lie about experience within the UK (i.e. untraceable!) at interview, to increase the likelihood of me being hired? If I chose to NOT fabricate a successful private business of teaching English to the target nationality in my home country ( ) would I be doing myself a disadvantage? Never mind the allegiance to I would be declaring if I did

[gwynnie86]

I don't think that anybody is going to publicly condone fraud here....

It doesn't sound as if your conscience would be able to deal with it, for one. Secondly, many companies might ask for references. Finally, for companies like JET I have often heard that having teaching experience can count AGAINST you!! Crazy but they look for fresh-faced, shiny foreigners, not experienced teaching. I had no teaching experience, and neither did most of my Interac co-workers, and yet we still got hired... perhaps because we were friendly, bubbly, enthusiastic and they could tell from our interviews that we would make good Assistant Language Teachers.

While I'm sure that many people have lied in order to get jobs, I have also read about people getting into a lot of legal trouble for fabcricating qualifications that they didn't have. If you were caught out with a lie, would it be worth it when you might have been employed with no experience anyway? You're right, there is a difference between making the experience you have sound good, and flat out lying. Perhaps you could go out there and gain some minimal experience and make it sound great on your application...

[sideways_gun]

Hello gwynnie86~ thank you for taking the time to reply~

I completely understand what you are saying, and agree! The negative repercussions of the lies could be far greater than the positive outcome of landing a job. Indeed, references would be the issue....... as I am talking about making up having experience doing x or teaching y, as opposed to forged paper qualifications, or something like that~

I have personal teaching experience but not underneath an official employer. I just do it for my own personal joy and to make the ���, so I will do my best as a green gal in Tokyo. I suppose only if I keep getting knocked back for lack of something in particular will I consider some verbal propaganda....

Do you think it would help to have reference letters from my regular patrons? Or does it not count for anything in Japan as, even though they pay for my services, our lessons are not regulated by some higher authority?

[gwynnie86]

Hey! Well if you DO have that teaching experience, you should definitely mention it. Say you're self-employed as a freelance teacher, or something like that... I guess a student could write a reference if they asked, but I'm pretty sure that being self employed still counts.

[Glenski]

Lying about one on one lessons is probably something you can get away with. There is no way to confirm the truth. That doesn't mean it's something one should do. If you are caught (overheard conversations can be damning), you can be fired and your visa can potentially be voided.

Exaggerating is another story. It is up to the interviewer/reviewer to decide just what you did in that exaggerated story. If they want a reference, be prepared. If the reference tells a different story than you, be prepared.

[natsume]

[Diceman]

I guess if you're confidient in your abilities, than it probably won't hurt you too much. Just be aware that it can be very easy to tell if someone doesn't have experience, I've done overviews for teachers before and I can usually tell within a few minutes whether or not the person has done similar work before, even if I didn't have their past history available. If you listed that you have experience in the field, then I'd either assume you were lying or that you're a worthless teacher who should get out of the industry since you're clearly not learning from your experiences. Needless to say, I don't think you want to leave either of those impressions on your employer.

[G Cthulhu]

[Glenski]

[OneJoelFifty]

Sideways gun, why do you think you might need to lie?

You said that your friends have found work by lying about private lessons that they've taught, but then you also said that you have actually taught these private lessons. Why not ask for a written reference from one of your students?

In the meantime there's also plenty of stuff you can do to make your CV look better. Why not volunteer somewhere with kids a couple of hours a week? A weekend TEFL course will set you back about 120 quid. Employers might not care but I'd recommend doing that to give yourself a little extra confidence in any interviews.

Good luck! I came over from London last year but went through a dispatch company.

[G Cthulhu]

[my_way]

not an issue that immigration would get involved in
i have never had an employer check references or past jobs in tokyo and i don't think it is common.
i fiddle with the dates on my resume because i have quit and been fired from jobs here for various reasons. it's a messy job teaching here, and took me 3 years to find my place!!
i do agree that you can tell someone who has no experience. the job may be easy, but there is a craft to it.

[seklarwia]

[TokyoLiz]

gwynnie86 wrote:

[G Cthulhu]