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Strategy to find an ESL job?

CyrusK

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29 May 2015
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Hey, was just hoping for some pointers,

I have a bachelor's degree (Media Arts) and a minor in Japanese language, and i'm from the USA. I've often thought about how it would be cool to teach in Japan. I have some questions for anyone who's done it:

What type of teaching certificate do you suggest? I am considering the CELTA, but in most places it's almost $2,000, which is a huge bite.

Do you know if you have to be inside your country of residence to apply? I'm currently a traveler / nomad, and I know some English teaching jobs require going back to the USA to be able to apply.

i'd be willing to go anywhere in Japan, pretty much. What are the odds of even getting such a job?

Thanks for your help - CK
 
CELTA is the number one accepted cert in the world most of the time. (Most teaching situations in Japan, however, don't even require a cert, so get one if you are getting into a competitive area of EFL (not ESL, get that straight) or if you plan to teach long-term).

For most positions here, you can apply from anywhere in the world. If you want to join the JET programme, you have to interview in your home country. If you actually want to interview for most other jobs here, it's best to be here (or explain to potential employers that you will soon be here), although a handful of places will do something like a Skype interview. Not many, though.

I have a bachelor's degree (Media Arts) and a minor in Japanese language, and i'm from the USA.

i'd be willing to go anywhere in Japan, pretty much. What are the odds of even getting such a job?
You are as minimally qualified as most applicants, including having a nationality that is widely accepted. To really give you an answer, I need to explore some questions first.

1. When do you want to work?
2. What kind of EFL teaching do you want to do?
3. How soon could you be here for any sort of interview?
4. Do you have access to Skype on the road?
5. How are you currently looking for openings?
6. Do you have a resume in your backpack (presumably on disk or cloud) that you can readily send?

Most teaching jobs begin in April. Eikaiwas, too, although eikaiwas are known to keep their eyes open year round. However, there is no promise of any openings, and competition is fierce for all teaching jobs here.

Big eikaiwas have the money to station recruiters in select cities abroad, but you have to deal with their interviewing schedules and locations plus pay for hotels there yourself. That could mean 1-3 days.

JET is a government sponsored program to put ALTs into public schools, mostly in the countryside, so declaring that you are willing to work "anywhere" is a plus. A lot of JET ALT wannabes hope for bigger cities instead. I believe JET has expanded its application process from once to twice a year, but the big surge for them is still late in the calendar year (with interviews in Feb/March, notification in May/June, and work actually starting in July/Aug; the new scheduling also places people here earlier in the year, but I don't know the details, so you should check).

There are also dispatch agencies that hire and place ALTs. Openings are often announced late in the calendar year, and interviews take place early in the year before placement in April. These employers offer far less support to the ALTs than JET, and many/most are considered less than desireable for a variety of reasons.

Go to the ESL Cafe discussion group and ask people in the Japan section for more on this. I'm no longer there.

Last question, to assess where you are coming from mentally:
I've often thought about how it would be cool to teach in Japan.
What do you know and what do you think you know that gives you this feeling?
 
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Thanks for the really awesome reply.

1. When do you want to work?
2. What kind of EFL teaching do you want to do?
3. How soon could you be here for any sort of interview?
4. Do you have access to Skype on the road?
5. How are you currently looking for openings?
6. Do you have a resume in your backpack (presumably on disk or cloud) that you can readily send?

Last question, to assess where you are coming from mentally:
What do you know and what do you think you know that gives you this feeling?

1: Anytime from this coming winter and beyond (so that'd be December).
2: I'd like to teach adults. Business English I've heard is one option and I'd be good at that, but just working at a language school seems good to me.
3: It's a bit of a gamble to buy the ticket to Japan if something isn't lined up ahead of time. I feel it's wiser to ensure a reasonable chance I have a job before putting in the huge expenses to fly out there and live for a while and end up penniless. My lifestyle is otherwise fairly open-ended right now, and if there was a strong possibility I could book it for (as I said before) this Winter and fly straight out.
4: Yup I have Skype access
5: I've been told to check out Gaijin Cafe so that's my resource at the moment.
6: Resume is always available.

As for why: I studied Japanese language and culture in college. I'm 28 now and feel I should have been out there long before. I've been to many other places except the place I originally desired to go (Japan). I lived in Thailand for a long time as a photo journalist. Heck, I've even been to North Korea, but still haven't been to Japan...
 
1. December will have practically zero job opportunities. It's the deadest time of year.
2. What age adults do you want to teach? There are really only groups: those in business English (and frankly, you don't qualify to teach them), or anyone in eikaiwa older than 21. You don't get to choose your students in eikaiwa, so if you get a room with junior high kids, or businessmen, or housewives, or retirees, or a mix of all of them, that's what you get to play with.
3. Yes, it's a gamble to come here with no job in hand, but you have limited options.
A. Go home and get hired via the major players, few though they may be.
B. Stay where you are flitting around the world and pray that someone reputable will do a Skype interview and take you virtually sight unseen. (Remember that you will have no sight of them, either. Beware!)
C. Come here at a decent time, line up interviews beforehand and immediately after you land, and pound the pavement like practically everyone else, despite the competition. About 30 percent or more of jobs nowadays require that you are physically present before they will take applications.​
4. Ok.
5. Never heard of Gaijin Cafe. Did you mean the ESL Cafe that I mentioned?
6. Is the resume spotless and error-free?

Thanks for the reply, but I'm going to be a little harsh here. You have not answered my question about why you think it would be "cool" to teach in Japan. In addition, all you have said is that you long to be here, which is a completely empty statement. Please clear up both of these points. (Do it here before you get on Skype and are asked the same questions by an employer. Consider it practice.)
 
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