I decided not to sign on for another year, but as we approach the expiration date of my contract I’m wishing I had opted for another year. I am in pretty good standings with my BOE so there shouldn’t be any problems, but I believe their are some hiccups on the CLAIR side of things. Does any one have any experience or advice regarding this situation?
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No. They are strict on the deadline. CLAIR has likely already assigned someone new to your contract.
I was able to backtrack last year but this was only because of Covid. Now that the boarder is open, I don’t think you can do this now
You could try asking your supervisor or the perfectual advisor but in reality there’s almost no chance of changing anything. On the other hand, you could do regular job searching within country if that interests you.
Not sure about this, but others are saying it’s too late. I’d ask anyway. Nothing to lose.
Really lame situation, for sure. Definitely tough that they ask us whether we want to recontract so far in advance. It does make sense, given the need to assign others to fill the spots. But it still sucks having to make that decision more than half a year ahead of time.
Yea that all sounds about right. I am currently job searching, but on the off chance I could stay as is a little longer, I may as well give it a shot. Thank you for the advice! I’ll reach out to my PA.
At this point the only option would be for your BOE to pull out of the JET Program and take you on as a private hire, which I doubt they’d be willing to do. Placements for incoming folks are expected to drop in the next couple weeks, so CLAIR’s more than likely already figured out who you’re replacement is. Your office will likely be getting information about your replacement soon
All you can do is ask and no harm in that. But be aware by this point it might well be too late.
Would it be better to just say yes when they ask so far in advance and just break the contract if you change your mind? I think, reasonably, that’s a smarter way to do things because it’s an inconvenience either way but at least breaking contract is easier than trying to stay on contract after you said no to another year. Any thoughts?
You can ask but seeing as they are literally about to send out placements to 2022 JETs, your replacement has probably already been selected. This post is why I plan to recontract and then just break it if I need to.
When I was on JET, I knew an ALT who had decided not to recontract but changed their mind in May or June? They reached out to the local BOE and it just so happened that another ALT who had recontracted had to return home, so there was an internal switch and everyone got what they wanted. It’s not impossible so try asking!
If you’re a city BoE, you’re probably shit out of luck at this point.
Your successor has probably already been chosen if not notified that they’re coming to your town – but maybe if you’re in a bigger place there might be a lot of incoming ALTs and one of them might drop out.
If you’re prefectural, you’ll need to move quickly because the school is probably going to have to communicate that that they’d be happy for you to stay to people at the prefectural BoE. Even if everyone’s happy and doesn’t give you a hard time for already saying you’ll leave, you’re still going to have to hope someone drops out.
Prefectural placements probably won’t be a for a little while, but you need to get on this.
Pretty unlikely this late into the game. It’s highly likely that they already have a replacement lined up and are planning on your departure. You can definitely still ask your CO about it. However, it doesn’t exactly look the best on you as it makes you look undecisive and brings the question of if you’ll just break contract in a few months if you change your mind again. But, it really doesn’t hurt to ask. Worst thing is they say no and you go home.
Might aswell just go private. Their are plenty of positions all over Japan, but none will pay as well as JET. good luck.
Doesn’t hurt to ask, but more than likely they already lined up your replacement. If you’re lucky though, they might move people around and make room for you in the budget/team.
What do you mean “good standings with my BOE so there shouldn’t be any problems”? Have they explicitly said it is okay? Because at this point there is most likely a successor for you already chosen, so actually it probably would be problematic for the BoE (logistically speaking).
Anyway, likely they will ask you soon about plans to return home. Just mention you’re actually planning to stay in Japan, then drop a hint that if something were to come up you would be able to fill in/willing to stay. No harm in them being aware of it.
At the risk of sounding very blunt, no. I’ve heard of some BOEs being a little lenient with your decision if you change your mind maybe within a few weeks of submitting the paper work, but since it was all due 4 months ago, sorry to say this but you’re stuck with your decision. Only other way is if you were somehow able to convince them to privately hire you.
Following up on this, I did ask and I am now recontracted for another year.
It never hurts to ask.