Hello,
I’ve been living in Japan as an ALT since March and having a pretty good experience with my work situation so far. I’m on a 1 year contract. My plan from the beginning was to take this gig for a year to grind the language, adjust to the culture and look for permanent jobs if I liked living here.
I just recently found a position I think would suit me very well and have an interview lined up. It’s the Japanese branch of an American company I worked for previously and had great success at in the US. It’s a business environment and total different industry from teaching.
I plan to let them know the specifics of my contract situation in the interview, but I’m unsure if they would be willing/able to simply wait for my contract to expire next March.
If I receive an offer and they need me to come relatively quickly, should I be concerned about potentially not finishing the contract? The contract states they want at least 60 days notice and an ‘unavoidable reason’. I’m sure I could give some decent notice at least. I doubt leaving for a better opportunity qualifies as a good reason, but I couldn’t see myself turning down a much better long term opportunity for myself for the sake of loyalty. I understand ALT are very replaceable.
Has anyone here had a similar experience? What are the biggest areas of concern/things to be aware of when making a change like this? What questions should I ask the potential employer? How much of a challenge is it to switch everything (residence card, license, my # card etc) over to a new prefecture?
Sorry for the book. I didn’t expect things to develop this quickly but now I just want to make sure I’m prepared to transition and don’t forget anything super important in case things go well in the next few days. I appreciate any advice 🙏
3 comments
Don’t let the ALT job get in the way of an actual career, just give as much notice as possible. If it’s not 60 days, then bad luck for them – they can just replace you with anyone who can fog up a mirror. And you don’t need an “unavoidable reason”.
>**Has anyone here had a similar experience?** What are the biggest areas of concern/things to be aware of when making a change like this? What questions should I ask the potential employer? How much of a challenge is it to switch everything (residence card, license, my # card etc) over to a new prefecture?
Yeah I started out as an ALT in the countryside and received an offer from a “normal” company in Tokyo. Switching visa is probably the most (potentially) annoying thing since you’ll be on an instructor visa right now but you’ll likely need a specialist humanities/engineer (basically like an all-round) visa if it’s a generic-ish business role.
My new employer took care of the visa stuff for me (through a legal firm that did it all at the company’s expense) so I have no idea how hard/not hard it is to do it yourself.
Other than that, changing over residence stuff etc is pretty easy. A little annoying to fill out the paperwork but assuming your Japanese is good enough, it’s nothing I would classify as “difficult”.
Overall, if it’s a large American company with a relatively large presence in Japan, hopefully they will have a proper HR/admin department that can help with/knows about visa and other admin-esque stuff.
Do it! Don’t tell them anything about the contract unless they directly ask. It’s a free market and you’re able to seek a better job at any time
I had a friend that ended his ALT contract early and returned home to start a new job. He just lied and said his father was sick to save face lol (wasn’t true). But really that’s almost more than you need to give. Live your best life