I am trying to get a position at a kindergarten in Japan. I’ve had at least five interviews where I got to the final selection, but I have never gotten a job offer. I felt like all of the interviews were great. I even did a good mock class while having Covid.
I’ve been teaching in Korea at a kindergarten for almost two years
I have a TESOL
Degree
Good reference from my current head teacher
What am I doing wrong?
13 comments
You might be overqualified 😅
You are competing with people living here already.
If you’re not in Japan, you’re going to have a massive disadvantage. Is there any particular reason you want to change from Korea to Japan? Technically, you can save slightly more in Korea for basic ESL jobs
As someone who went from Korea to Japan (and is now going back to Korea…) why exactly are you wanting to move? Pay is way lower in Japan and it’s an overall more frustrating place to live. I speak Japanese almost fluently vs nearly no Korean, and still chose to go back to Korea because of the quality of life differences.
That being said, what kind of kindergartens are you interviewing with? Are they big chains, or smaller businesses? That can have a big impact on why they might not be selecting you.
(Edit: fixed typo)
There is just a lot of competition right now. So many people trying to be in Japan asap since covid restrictions ended. Lots of people applying both from in Japan and overseas. Usually it isnt this competitive
My school (kindergarten in Osaka) is actually looking for full time teacher. DM me!
Have you considered applying to other teaching positions for the meantime? And then transition back to kindergarten later. You’ll easily have a better shot at getting a position at a kindergarten once already living in Japan.
Hummm… it took me a while to enter in Japan as an Engineer. I needed a company willing to sponsor my visa. And even after I find one, the visa was granted after 20 months, since I’m Brazilian.
You said that you are doing some interviews with smaller kindergartens. These small schools are official, but they are not going to go through the trouble of the visa process. Although people love Japan and of course it has a lot of good qualities, most of the Japanese companies are not willing to go through the complex process of bringing a foreigner to Japan.
No matter how good the interview is, they will think, zannen… she is good but has no working visa yet. Since the main objective is offer the “English teaching service” at the unit (the parents don’t speak the language, so they have not how to assess if the kids are learning or not, so whatever), it does not really matter who is going to teach. They want the native speaker around there to bring some degree of credibility to the school.
If you have a college degree in any field, you can apply for a position with big English teaching schools here in Japan. They have a proper department to deal with the visa issuing part of the process. And if you are an American or British, the visa does not take a long time to be granted. Of course if your is working with kids, when you get the visa and enters the country, you can apply for a kindergarten Job, since the visa here is not linked to the company that sponsored you necessarily, but you’ll have to be working in a school that is willing to assist you when it is time for you to renew your visa.
Keep in mind that the bureaucracy here in Japan is a pain… So, be prepared to provide endless lists of documents and comings and gos to the immigration/embassy/consulate office. There is also a chance that they will not allow you to apply for the visa directly from Korea. Some people tried in the past to come as tourist to Japan, find a school here willing to sponsor the visa, then go to Thailand or Korea to get the visa, I don’t know if it still possible.
Well, I hope I could shed some light on the matter.
It’s not hiring season yet?
Apply to Interac or Joytalk. They take abroad people
Just move there on a tourist visa and apply for jobs. Worked for me (pre-Covid)
I have been in and out of Japan for many years working at kindergartens here. I have been able to get jobs while overseas, so it isn’t impossible. I think many companies prefer candidates already with working visas, over overseas candidates.
Many companies start to look for candidates before March. I got a couple of my jobs days before the school year started. Sometimes schools couldn’t find good candidates, or candidates didn’t like the location because it wasn’t a major city, or candidates accepted the job but took another job offer instead.
At least you are getting interviews from overseas. I was in Taiwan once and applying for jobs while I was living there. I asked for Skype or Zoom interviews because I was many hours away from the school, but all of them said they only did in-person interviews. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money using the bullet train just for one interview when I know many people got jobs in Taiwan without even stepping foot in Taiwan, so I gave up and applied for a job in Japan. I got the job the next day on a Skype video interview, which is still the company I work for.
They are prioritizing the people who already has a valid work visa and living in Japan already