I was looking at the job board and I have to say I’m disappointed and second-guessing japan.
For example, Altia requires you to go to an in-person interview, previous exp, and have conversational level Japanese. Then on top of that they only pay 250k which is barely a step above Walmart.
Going the other way, boarderlink is only paying about 200k and I don’t think they provide an apartment
I really would love to do japan but they really need to do a bit better before the education system turns into the mess of the USA college system.
I’m Just venting, of course. I know things probably will get just a bit better if the country opens up but it’s still just a bit disappointed to see. It’s just at the point that im thinking about normal teaching or Korea, especially since I’m not seeing any let-up to the lockdown thing and considering how long it might take to get a job off skype (with my lack of 10 years of esl exp and fluent Japanese level hehe)
16 comments
Why do you want to teach in Japan? If money is your thing, I heard China is the place to be for teaching English.
Those aren’t teaching jobs, they are rent a foreigner jobs. Real teaching jobs require real teaching qualifications and can’t be found on the scam job boards like GaijinPot or jobs in japan.
The reason the pay is low and the jobs are shit is because everybody wants to go to the land of anime and kawaii girls.
You can’t have your cake and eat it. Suck it up or choose a less desirable country with better pay. I know ESL teachers are raking it in Middle East (Dubai, Qatar…etc)
Looking at literacy and numeracy levels, and the ability of adults in Japan to organize their own lives and help those around them, Japanese education is doing fine. Not perfect, but a long way from the ‘mess of the USA college system’ and not even heading in that direction.
Jobs are here. You just need more effort to find them.
International Schools need licenses and experience but pay high. You can find those jobs on international school recruiting sites such as ISS and Teach Horizons. It’s best and easiest to be recruited from Overseas. Although they sometimes recruit from in country, it’ll still be via those websites.
Then there are private schools. They pay a fair wage but usually need or benefit from you having licenses. On top of that, they require fluent Japanese and will require you to work hard. But they’ll probably also help you get a Japanese teachers license either temporary (school restricted) or special (prefecture restricted). The latter can be upgraded to full if you can complete the college courses. From what I’ve seen, you can only be recruited from in country and jobs are from connections, recruiters, and Japanese job boards, sometimes English ones such as JALT.
There are universities but I haven’t done any research into that path. There’s plenty of info on the sub.
So for the school system, either get recruited to an international school or get your foot into Japan and transition to private schools.
Make sure you want to be a teacher though, because no matter what path you do you’ll probably need to spend thousands of dollars to get qualified unless you are extremely lucky. Don’t just do it because “Teaching is all you can do in Japan”, because it is unfair to students.
If you are depressed already, just from the postings, being here will depress you more.
You can’t expect high pay and housing with every job. You getting a free or cheap apartment in the US with jobs?
Teaching ought to be a career or at the least, a job, without expectations of free housing and life made easy.
Plenty of agencies hiring at about 200,000-225,000 start. Take a look at Eikaiwa like GABA, AEON, ECC, the horrible NOVA, Shane. If you want to be here, then bite the bullet and apply and interview (most do have online interview if hiring from overseas) and get your own place. You can find places for 1 person from 50,000-75,000 depending on area. Sharehouses can be even cheaper.
Those high paying jobs? They go to people who have been teaching in Japan for 4-8 years: the ones who got used to the working system, have proven that they wont flee home after 6 months due to being homesick, the ones that built connections and a network, and more experience.
It’s good you realize those jobs pay low. They pay less and less because people see those jobs as spending money while vacationing or wife hunting before going home.
Posting the job at the sites mentionned above also costs more and more. These jobs know they are revolving doors so these extra HR costs come out of your salary instead of trying to retain staff who are just going to go home after they are satisfied from the “Japan” theme park.
　
the amount of education required is above wallmart but the level of training and experience required is about the same. Invest in an educational background if you want to teach or do IT in Tokyo if your only reason for coming here is to experience Japan. This will also give you something to do if you go back.
These companies are all basically entry level positions expecting to hire someone who stay in the country for 1-2 years and then go back. There was a huge supply of people that wanted to work in Japan, so they had no incentive to give a higher salary. The kind of person who would get this job is easily replaced by another.
1 thing to take into account is WHERE the school is located. If one of these schools is in Tokyo or another big city, yeah no way in hell you should take this job. If it’s in rural Japan, I’d recommend it because your cost of living is a lot lower. To give you an idea, I was working as an elementary school teacher for $45,000 a year in the states. Got a job working for 250,000 yen a month in Japan. That’s actually a big salary cut but at the end of every month I was banking more money in Japan because cost of living was much lower. If you live in a place like tokyo, that won’t be the case.
If your interest is really to teach in Japan long term, after getting a job like one of those posted, study up on Japanese, take the JLPT (language proficiency test) and then apply for a better job such as being directly hired by a city or working at an elite private school.
If you just want to enjoy a new experience for a year or two, it’s not bad to work for one of these kinds of companies, in a rural area and go to Tokyo or Kyoto on weekends/holidays for a nice experience
FYI like all job postings, the requirements are really their ideal candidate. You don’t need all of the skills. I didn’t have any experience or Japanese skill and was rejected by Altia, but accepted by Interac. After a year, Altia hired me (still not conversational in Japanese, but got the basics down). Pay can vary between company and city, and will more likely be 230-240k at Altia, probably less with other companies. It is pretty low and just depends on your goals if it’s worth it.
Hi, I want to show up in a country with no marketable skills or desirable qualities that make me valuable to a company, and I want to get paid a shitload to do it. But of course, it’s everyone else’s fault that I’m not competitive.
That pay is attractive to 1-year tourists or people from countries like The Philippines. Those people’s English levels and “teaching skills” are good enough for most schools these days that just wanna throw up a foreigner and “let’s English.”
To be fair, the English teaching system is a mess in Japan anyway in public schools, and wages and employee benefits are getting worse rather than better. You’re way better off teaching in China if you want a lot of money. Companies can always get another foreigner to fill in these jobs as there’s always so many weebs/people with yellow fever wanting to fill up those spots.
The only decent teaching jobs in Japan are Direct hire jobs and jobs teaching at colleges and Universities.
There’s a reason why the English proficiency here is so bad.
P.S. before this gets downvoted, it’s the harsh truth about teaching in Japan.
To second what has basically been said already, you’ll need to be in Japan and have some experience under your belt to move on to a better position. Networking is key.
Most of the time you need to grind your way up here. I came already quite well qualified and with some decent experience and it was still difficult initially. It gradually improved and I started doing fairly well around the 3/4 year in Japan point.
What you’re saying is correct – it’s not a great place for teaching. Only if you want to stay long term and can commit to doing an MA or whatnot. 9/10 the people posting who say their job is good have been working the market for a few years at least.
I’ve taught in Korea and if you want or need to save money right off the bat it’s hand down the better choice. Back 10 years we were paying off our student loans in a year or two in Korea and having fun at the same time. The demand is such there that they include flights and accommodation as part of the package and they will usually help you out in all manner of ways to help you settle down. In Japan, you need to be more independent right away and you often do not get your hand held. An example – in Korea, for all my jobs my bossea took care of the visa to the point where they drove me to immigration and back and handled the transactions for me. I was actually shocked when I came here and was told I would need to go to immigration on my own to fix my visa.
These days, you also have the chance of the China market which looks quite profitable at the minute, and with low barrier to entry for the decent positions.
Your gut feeling is right. Don’t bother coming here if you don’t want to struggle for a few years financially.
Just my two cents…Personally I’m very apathetic towards dispatch companies… But there are two ways you can look at it..
1-You can use the dispatch company as an easier way into Japan. Since most of the better paying English jobs only higher locally. Therefore you can use the dispatch company to get you into Japan, and then start looking for a different job once you are there. (Many probably wouldn’t approve of this option, but it is one.)
2 – You can build up a year of experience through the dispatch company and then switch to a better paying job.
Either way, if you want the better paying jobs. You’ll need experience and you’ll need to be in Japan.
if you’re considering normal teaching, i’m aware that EPIK pays more based on how much experience you have, if you wanted to gain more experience teaching and then apply.
edit: they also offer severance pay