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Alizardo
Joined: 30 Jan 2011
Posts: 7
Location: California
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 Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 8:01 am Post subject: BA, and not much else = Resume? |
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I am looking for help on my resume. My goal is a teaching job in Japan (Focused on AEON/ECC and such), so I need to craft a resume for such.
My problem is only seeing the disjoint in my background coming in to this whole world of teaching, in spite of hearing "no experience required". I am a studio art major, and my only real working experience is as a restaurant server. I have gone to several resume help sites and am only left feeling like I have to stretch or fluff my experience to make it relevant. I also feel like when I focus on what seems to pertain to teaching and such, I am completely ignoring my Studio BA, thus making it feel irrelevant and it was my MAJOR 
Thing is, I KNOW my experience is valid and relevant, I just have no clue how to make my resume say that. I didn't think I should post what I have here, because I am not sure if this is the place. Thanks for any help or advice that can be offered |
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denise
Joined: 23 Apr 2003
Posts: 3419
Location: finally home-ish
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 10:12 am Post subject: |
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Unless you have work experience in an art studio, you shouldn't really say too much about it anyway. Yes, it was your major, but it's a degree. List it under an "Education" heading and then move on. CVs should focus on work experience, not on what you did in school. List what you've got, and in your cover letter make sure to emphasize how much you are looking forward to teaching and why you think you would be a good teacher. You can't hide the fact that you don't have much experience, so don't try to... Just convince them of your future goals. (Which would hopefully include getting some sort of certification.)
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 10:33 am Post subject: |
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My BA was in Studio Arts and Business Management, it' doesn't really matter what your degree is in, but the fact that you HAVE a degree. List your GPA, honours, awards, or internships that you have as well.
If you need to fluff your CV, then do so, just make sure you're not stretching the truth. For entry level jobs they're not going to expect all the bells, buzzers, and whistles that compare with years of experience.
As long as you're a native speaker with a degree and a clean criminal background check you should be ok. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:09 pm Post subject: Re: BA, and not much else = Resume? |
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| Alizardo wrote: |
| I am looking for help on my resume. My goal is a teaching job in Japan (Focused on AEON/ECC and such), so I need to craft a resume for such. |
Realize that thousands of people want exactly what you do, and a majority of them are in the same boat with majors from anthropology to zoology. Also realize that the market here is terribly flooded, so that if you only look at the AEONs and ECCs, you will be looking from your home country and missing out on 99% of the others, which only take people if they are in Japan when they apply.
| Quote: |
I have gone to several resume help sites and am only left feeling like I have to stretch or fluff my experience to make it relevant. I also feel like when I focus on what seems to pertain to teaching and such, I am completely ignoring my Studio BA, thus making it feel irrelevant and it was my MAJOR
Thing is, I KNOW my experience is valid and relevant, I just have no clue how to make my resume say that. |
Personally, I don't think it's relevant. Let's play Devil's Advocate here. Convince us first. How do you think its relevant to teaching a foreign language in Japan?
You can continue to post here in the Newbie forum, or meet me and others in the Japan forum.
Keep another thing in mind: someone like you (inexperienced with no teaching-related degree) should probably not hope to put much if anything on the resume, but rather should put it in the cover letter.
Lastly, what else is in your background that might give an employer the slightest inkling to stop from throwing your resume in the circular file? |
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Sadebugo
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 524
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 4:09 pm Post subject: Re: BA, and not much else = Resume? |
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| Alizardo wrote: |
I am looking for help on my resume. My goal is a teaching job in Japan (Focused on AEON/ECC and such), so I need to craft a resume for such.
My problem is only seeing the disjoint in my background coming in to this whole world of teaching, in spite of hearing "no experience required". I am a studio art major, and my only real working experience is as a restaurant server. I have gone to several resume help sites and am only left feeling like I have to stretch or fluff my experience to make it relevant. I also feel like when I focus on what seems to pertain to teaching and such, I am completely ignoring my Studio BA, thus making it feel irrelevant and it was my MAJOR
Thing is, I KNOW my experience is valid and relevant, I just have no clue how to make my resume say that. I didn't think I should post what I have here, because I am not sure if this is the place. Thanks for any help or advice that can be offered |
As others have said many times, the market in Japan is tight right now. You may want to go to Korea as thousands before you have worked there with nothing more than a BA in any subject. But, if you get serious about teaching as a career, you need to get qualified beginning with a CELTA.
Sadebugo
http://travldawrld.blogspot.com/ |
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Alizardo
Joined: 30 Jan 2011
Posts: 7
Location: California
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 11:39 pm Post subject: |
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ok well, i am just trying to craft my resume to reflect my experience as pertains to working in Japan. I worked with exchange students a lot at my college, helped my korean roommate in her studies, trained employees at work, had a lot of experience in objective and subjective observation/criticism in art critiques, and really love Japan. Also I have no problem with sales since I do that every day as a server. I've been to Japan on my own for 2 weeks.
I guess what I am really after is a place to post my resume as a work in progress (I suppose I am too used to that in art lol  ) to get feedback and suggestions |
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 11:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Alizardo wrote: |
ok well, i am just trying to craft my resume to reflect my experience as pertains to working in Japan. I worked with exchange students a lot at my college, helped my korean roommate in her studies, trained employees at work, had a lot of experience in objective and subjective observation/criticism in art critiques, and really love Japan. Also I have no problem with sales since I do that every day as a server. I've been to Japan on my own for 2 weeks.
I guess what I am really after is a place to post my resume as a work in progress (I suppose I am too used to that in art lol ) to get feedback and suggestions |
Working with exchange students is good, as is assisting yoru roommate, and training employees. Critiquing art, not relevant. Sales? NOt relevant unless you mean selling yourself to a prospective employer. Going to Japan on your own, eh, maybe relevant.
If you want a place to post your CV, just put it up here. Many peopel have before. Just cut out the personal contact info and paste the rest here. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 1:24 am Post subject: |
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| Alizardo wrote: |
| ok well, i am just trying to craft my resume to reflect my experience as pertains to working in Japan. |
I realize that. So far, you have not described any experience at all. Let's see what you have to say...
And, before you respond to what I write, keep this in mind. A potential employer will be equally or more harsh in their judgment and appraisal. You are going to compete against 49-99 others for every job.
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| I worked with exchange students a lot at my college, |
Doing what? This is such a vague statement. If you were in an interview, expect to be asked for more thorough answers.
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| helped my korean roommate in her studies, |
What "studies"? Math, chemistry, anthropology, English reading course, or just in some general sense of study skills? How did you help her? By reading and translating the textbooks? By explaining the grammar in difficult passages? Giving voice training? What did you do?
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| trained employees at work, |
Retail? Construction? This is a very common item that inexperienced people feel they must list on a resume. If you have zero teaching experience, ok, put it on, but don't bluff your way through a resume thinking this is similar enough to teaching a 7-year-old or a college student some rudiments of a language they don't understand. Again, what did you train them? How? In large groups or individuals? Did you make your own curriculum? If it's just explaining how to bus tables, I'd not even mention this.
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| had a lot of experience in objective and subjective observation/criticism in art critiques, |
I suspected that you would bring your BA history into this at some point. You're going to have to do a heckuva lot more than just say this statement to be clear on what you did and how it seems relevant to teaching a foreign language. Try again.
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| and really love Japan. |
This is not experience. Pardon me for being blunt, but big deal if you love Japan. That is a given for 99% of applicants. Do you know the language to any small degree? Have you ever visited here? Do you know an exchange student from Japan? Got a friend of your aunt's who is Japanese? Ever did an internship with someone from Japan? Loving the country is a meaningless statement in an interview without backing it up. Tons of people say they love the country and culture without ever having set foot here. Many are the scary anime/manga freaks, while others are similar otakus. IMO, freak or otherwise, the vast majority of people who have never been here have no concept of what it is like living and working here. You won't know until you try it, but you have to explain to an interviewer what your perceptions are, and they are often the same from one applicant to another. No harm in that, but how about telling us your perceptions and experience before you hit the interviewer's hot seat?
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| Also I have no problem with sales since I do that every day as a server. |
In 98% of teaching jobs you will not be a sales person. In the few that you are, you will not do things in a non-Japanese way, and I think you should wake up to realize that being a waiter/waitress (server) is nothing even close to being a salesperson!
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| I've been to Japan on my own for 2 weeks. |
Extremely limited experience, but infinitesimally better than nothing. Expand on this. Put it in perspective of an interviewer wanting to know what you did, where you went, why you came, and what you learned.
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| I guess what I am really after is a place to post my resume as a work in progress (I suppose I am too used to that in art lol ) to get feedback and suggestions |
No, don't even think of that at this point. Resumes get looked at after cover letters. Resumes are read for only 2 reasons IMO:
To confirm you are eligible for a work visa (you are).
To see more specifically about certain items you described in detail in your cover letter (e.g., years of work experience, name of certification, etc.)
So, you want to get advice on how to make your resume show your "experience" is relevant to teaching EFL. Well, you can't. That must be done in your cover letter. |
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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| Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 3:07 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| And, before you respond to what I write, keep this in mind. A potential employer will be equally or more harsh in their judgment and appraisal. You are going to compete against 49-99 others for every job.. |
At least. OP, Glenski is spot on and has been in Japan for ages. You'd do well to listen to his advice and post your CV as well
| Glenski wrote: |
| IMO, freak or otherwise, the vast majority of people who have never been here have no concept of what it is like living and working here. |
Yep. Peru's a nice place to visit, but I certainly wouldnjt want to LIVE there. |
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Alizardo
Joined: 30 Jan 2011
Posts: 7
Location: California
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| Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 9:45 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the input I'll consider this.
Sorry Glenski, I must have missed that you were looking for me to convince you.  |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I did write this:
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| Let's play Devil's Advocate here. Convince us first. How do you think its relevant to teaching a foreign language in Japan? |
Perhaps it got buried in the rest of the text. Looking forward to your next post. |
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