Job Discussion Forums

[chriscordry]

I have read the FAQs and many of the posts on this forum, and have done research on other sites as well. I am aware that the job situation in Japan is difficult at present, that there are more teachers than jobs, etc.

I want to teach English abroad, and although I know the situation is better in other countries, Japan is still my top choice because I have a lifelong interest in Japanese culture (including art, literature, tea culture, martial arts, religion, and philosophy) and would love to learn the language (I only took one semester of Japanese but scored 100% on the final exam, so I am confident in my ability to learn more).

Are there more opportunities to teach in rural areas than in the big cities? It seems like most teachers want to live and work in the city, but frankly I would love to teach in as remote and rural a location as possible. A little farming or fishing village or small town would be ideal.

I have a B.A. in Liberal Arts and am a 26-year-old male, native English speaker, from California. However, I currently have no teaching or EFL credentials and no teaching experience, other than private tutoring.

Would getting a CELTA improve my chances? What about learning Japanese, or at least as much as possible? Okay, I guess that last one is a no-brainer... but what about going and getting my CELTA (and some teaching experience) somewhere like IH Bangkok or Prague, and then coming to Japan? What about an MA in TESOL?

I would love to fly to Japan right now, and frankly I would do so if it would help me get the kind of job I am looking for. But is it even possible to get the kind of job I want right now without prior experience teaching in Japan?

I understand that I might be able to get the kind of position I want through the JET Programme, but that would mean waiting a year and a half to go to Japan (and that's assuming I was accepted) and I want to go now. Nevertheless, I will wait if I have to.

I realize that I've rambled a bit in this post, and I apologize in advance for that. I would greatly appreciate any advice that you might have for me. Thank you.

[Stark]

You could land a rural position in your sleep. There are much more rural positions than city ones. If you apply now with say, Interac or some other dispatch company you could, if everything goes well, be in Japan by August. Of course for Interac you need to bring over about 5k USD and even that isn't enough for some people for the first two months before you get paid.

Teaching experience would certainly help you out, but its not needed at all for the entry level positions. Most of these positions are pretty much "you have a pulse? You have a four year degree? Well ok, you are in." You also need no Japanese for said positions, it'll help, but ultimately unnecessary.

I'd still recommend trying for JET... Believe me the perks are so much better on that side of the field. Especially since the salaries of late have been seeming to shrink for ALTs.

[jazznfox]

If you apply for JET you would have to wait until late September early October to apply and provided you got an interview and made the final cut you would not leave for Japan until August 2012. I applied is year and did not get offered an interview. Fortunately I got a job with a private company during the long several month wait to see if JET would even interview me. The perks are nice for JET but competition is FIERCE and increasing every year. It's a mystery to me what they look for in a candidate. I thought would at least get an interview with my qualifications and letters of recommendation.

If you want to start as soon as possible, I would look for work in the private sector. Many companies/schools are recruiting still for august starts. A willingness to be in a rural area is a major plus. I do not think you will have a problem finding open positions.

[Glenski]

You have a generic degree and no teaching experience. Think where that puts you on the totem pole. Now realize even further how flooded the market is, and what your chances are to compete with experienced people, whether they are outside Japan or already here.

A desire to work in a rural area is admirable and will score you some points in minds of some recruiters. I disagree with Stark that you could "could land a rural position in your sleep" because of the competition. (What are recruiters using to judge entry level candidates these days? More than just a pulse and ability to fog a mirror with a native English speaking breath. There are hundreds of people applying for each position, you know.)

Also, there are only a few large eikaiwa chains that recruit from outside Japan, so unless you can physically be here to look around, you won't have many opportunities. Feb and March are peak months for eikaiwa hires. Even they have academic years which start in April.

[jcook77]

[gwynnie86]

I'd try with Interac.... most people want to be in cities, so your chances are possibly higher if you tell them you don't mind a rural position. However, it seems that they've lost their contracts in a lot of areas recently so it might become harder to get accepted...

[robinnn]

I can tell you from personal experience that 90% of the ALTs I've known or worked with in the last 3 years don't want a rural placement so, as Gwynnie said, it's definitely a boost to your chances of getting a position if you DO want to work in the countryside. I wouldn't mind working in the country again if I didn't hate bugs so much. Also worked with a few ALTs this year who had no teaching experience orJapanese ability and that was in a city an hour from Tokyo. Another point worth mentioning is that boards of education are a little unpredictable about hiring, in that they often take inexperienced candidates for positions and reject experienced ones. Sometimes of the basis of personality, suitability and other more mysterious reasons.

[Butonz]

The term "rural" seems to get thrown around a lot, often times with a disconcerting amount of stigma it seems.

Looking at pictures and reading the blogs of ESL teachers actually living in "rural" areas, I don't see what the big deal is. The countryside has looked absolutely beautiful from what I've seen.

I grew up in a small suburb in the middle of a desert valley, where basically the most exiting place to go while I was growing up was the Target they put in the community shopping center. I've never lived in a big city and I've never really had the desire to.

I suppose my question is this: Is this overwhelming preference for placement in the city just that? A preference? Or is the Japanese countryside really full of insurmountable challenges for anyone from even a remotely modern town or city?