JET ALT vs Ohayou-sensei

[Emoni]

Right now I'm sizing things up. I am applying for graduate school, JET, and also looking at other options.

Today I got my first look at the Ohayou-sensei newsletter. I was surprised by how decent some of the positions seemed. Of course, this is based off of just first hand impressions. Right now I'm biding my time waiting maybe 8-10 more months in the US to let JET and a graduate school and mombusho scholarship shot go through... but I can't help but wonder if this is just a pointless waste of time if feasible and decent jobs exist in Japan that rival JET (almost).

So here are the positives and negatives as I see it with JET vs. Some of the jobs I see on Ohayou-sensei. Please let me know if I'm misinterpreting anything.

JET

Good:
Plane Ticket Paid for
Almost always subsidized living assistance
Full time position
Health insurance subsidized sometimes
Introductory position, usually not overworked.
Higher than average introductory salary around $36,000 a year.
Government program, opens you up to other opportunities.

Bad:
Random living spots and conditions...
No idea where or what type of school you are going too
Loooong application process


NON-JET job:

Good:
General choice of living region
Much faster application process
Specifics on position prior to leaving
Larger variety of jobs available

Bad:
Lower salary. About $31,000 a year
NOT subsidized usually
Rarely the plane ticket is covered... if not never
More experience required
More difficult to get the position and experience often required.


That's the way I see it from here... with no experience firsthand with either. I'm very curious on input comparing both situation and very open to everyone's opinions.

Thank you.

[Harvey]

I'm a strong advocate of JET. I was in Japan a long time, 6 years, and out of all the English teaching gigs I saw people doing (I wasn't teaching English myself), the JETs seemed the happiest, and also seemed to get the most out of the Japan experience.

[Glenski]

Emoni,
Your evaluation of JET is a bit off.

Almost always subsidized living assistance
Nope. Sometimes, yes, but not almost always.

Health insurance subsidized sometimes
Nope. Always.

Government program, opens you up to other opportunities.
Well, yes, any job here does that. Doesn't have to be a government-sponsored one.

As for non-JET jobs:

General choice of living region
Yes, but if you go with the employers who hire the most teachers (the big 4 eikaiwas), you have little choice.

Specifics on position prior to leaving
You get these with JET, too. Just what specifics are you talking about, though?

More experience required
More difficult to get the position and experience often required.
Where did you get this? Eikaiwas usually require a bachelor's degree in anything, and nothing more.

Harvey,
You must've seen some rare JETs. Most that I see do nothing but complain about the down time and many other things.

[Emoni]

Thank you very much, both of you. I really appreciate the input and clarification. I'm planning on waiting for the results of the JET application, even though it would be 8 months before the next group would leave. It just seems much more secure and stable than any other options, IE job postings on ohayou-sensei or the other eikawa's.