I am thinking of moving from English teaching to being a recruiter. I know this is a cliche thing to do in Japan but the pay for being an English teacher is just to small and I feel I will be able to learn some skills and earn more if I were to be a recruiter.
If you have made the jump from English teaching to recruiter please tell me your experience.
Here are some specific things I would like to know:
Did you regret it?
Are you earning a lot more now?
What skills did you learn while being a recruiter that you can’t learn if you are an English teacher?
If you quit being a recruiter then why did you quit?
Did you work at a big or small company?
7 comments
Not a recruiter but have seen a few friends and acquaintances go that route. If you can do it you can work enough learn about hiring and hr stuff in Japan then transition to talent acquisition or HR at a company.
Was never a recruiter but some of my friends are. Main complaints are quota or commission based bonuses.
Pay could be anywhere from 4M to 8M the latter if you are really really good like top 5% good.
I did that exact thing. Moved from English teacher to recruiter. Did it for 2 years. I made placements but I was never really good at it. Like many others, I washed out of the industry, but I was able to pivot to sales related roles. Recruiting is really just a sales role when you break it down.
I don’t regret my decision at all, it taught me the basics of sales and I’ve been growing my career ever since. That being said, if I could do it all over again, I’d probably apply directly to entry level sales jobs as opposed to recruiting.
What is your motivation for changing careers besides money? What are you actually interested in?
My recruiter experience:
My sales skills are close to zero, I have no business working as a recruiter and no experience.
Got a cold-call asking me to come in for to interview for a recruiter position:”Sure why not! interview experience, they are asking me!”
Weirdly passive aggressive and my worst interview ever as the interviewer realized I had no business being a recruiter and the question route started to go “Uhh why did you apply for this position, again?”
Give it a try. Definitely a step up from English teaching and if you are good at it you can make good money. If you are not good at it you should at least learn something and most importantly learn which industries are hiring and what type of roles etc. which is useful if you need to pivot again.
I made the switch three years ago and it was the best thing I ever did. I can work remotely from anywhere, wear whatever I want if I do go to the office, have coworkers from all over the globe, company events and international trips, etc.
Your salary will probably start off same or a bit lower than English teaching for the first year but if you put in the work and are a quick learner you can definitely make 5-8M 2nd year then 10M+ 3rd year and if you’re really good even 20-30M. It sounds pretty outrageous but you should give it a try because the English teaching jobs will always be available.
Good things aside, the job isn’t for everyone. It’s a lot of time on the computer, cold calling, phone calls, etc. I think most successful recruiters are always “on the clock” too checking emails and the like. Research about companies as the culture, pay structure, etc. varies a lot.