Interac vs AEON, when do I sign a contract?

20 comments

1. AEON is more likely to be a position in a city, but with Interac there’s a good chance you get a car. That’s my two cents.

2. Cancelling after you signed an employment contract has no legal repurcussions, like AEON won’t be successful in suing you, but on the (unlikely) chance someone at AEON tells Interac that you did so, it could ruin your image at Interac.

3. AEON is better than Interac.

   You can always get the Intercrap job later if you mess up bad at AEON.

   AEON pays better, Intercrap pays birdseed.

   As a teacher with a healthy self-esteem, you want to give your time (light of day) to companies that offer better benefits, and shun greedy sociopath companies.

4. I’m sure you have your reasons but AEON is far superior to Interac. Interac regularly screws over their workers, not telling them until a week before the end of the school year that they won’t renew, leaving the employee scrambling to find a job to start in 2 weeks. They regularly lose school contracts. The list goes on. Interac is dispatch for ALTs in schools though if that is your jam.

   On the other hand, AEON is an Eikaiwa, so its not in regular schools. However, their general treatment of workers is better. They are stable and don’t have to worry about contracts with outside agents as they have their own customers and students. They are rated #1 for both in-person Eikaiwa and online lessons. A plus point is that a teacher can teach a wide variety of students from adults down to university to high school or if willing, elementary.

   I’d say take the AEON, come over, get settled. Maybe you dig the varied student base of AEON. Maybe not, but then you will have the desired “must reside in Japan” that many jobs require.

5. AEON’s interview process was full of red flags. I went with Interac and never regretted it. If you have multiple reasons why you don’t want to work for AEON, I’d recommend simply turning down AEON and waiting for Interac’s offer.

6. I’m guessing most people here will tell you AEON is a better choice. I’ve done both and let me tell you, my school and managers were very demanding at AEON. Money be damned, I had an amazing time with Interac simply because ALT work is way less demanding, way more vacation time and way less responsibility. If that’s what you’re stressing about, don’t bother with AEON. The stress immediately starts from initial training with daily demo lessons to your first day at work where you will almost certainly be teaching 6-8 classes a day vs the 3 or 4 I did in Interac while chilling.

   Edit: Spelling

7. I chose Interac over AEON because you will likely be placed in a mall. You will also have to sell books and talk to parents. At least with Interac you get to work in a school and experience the education system. You’ll be working in a classroom which imo it just sounds a lot better to me than AEON.

8. Interac depends a lot on the branch you are with. I really enjoyed interac for a year as my first teaching job. Don’t let people talk you out of it, because they had a bad experience.

   Neither is a great job but for what you stated interac can be superior. The schedule for a lot of us is just much better.

9. I’ve worked for both, hated both by the time I left, for different reasons.

   Aeon was the more professional company, and working in a school with co-workers who interacted with you made working in Japan a lot friendlier. Aeon has ridiculous selling and as a company, the talk of money is relentless and tiresome. Your managers will always be three times as stressed as you.

   Interac is shambles, held together with scotch tape, and have horrible training. In the school, you will have a few friendly teachers to work with, but most will see you as a contracted outsider, so the atmosphere is substantially less personal. The good thing of Interac is they have better hours, and you are free to moonlight. Interac is ideal if you are studying for further qualifications, Japanese proficiency, or starting a home business. Sitting in on the Japanese teacher’s lessons and watching them explain English using Japanese was very professionally helpful to me, but not something Interac wants us to do (Japanese is forbidden to be spoken by foreigners in class). In every other way, it’s depressing.

   I’m still a teacher, and working in both places helped get down the basics, but I needed actual training after working at both places to realize the massive black hole they are in terms of education. They are to teaching as McDonalds is to cuisine.

10. Take an ALT position if you want an easier time in Japan and also if you just want to just stay for a few years in Japan.

    Only issue I have with dispatch companies is that they do tend to favour certain ALTs over others, I know of a few ALTs who live in the same area and have different working conditions, one has to drive between two schools a day and do six lessons daily and finish quite late in the afternoon while another only stays at one school all day, does 3-4 lessons daily and gets to go home before 4pm.

    But like others have said you do get more holidays and there’s less stress in Interac but it definitely depends on your branch and BOE.

11. Why not write a polite email to Aeon, thanking them for getting back to you and explain your situation (ie: you are waiting for a final response from Interac) and ask for some time before making a final decision and signing a contract?

    I’ve been in a similar position before and usually the companies are very nice and understanding if you explain yourself politely. It’s important to be honest because education is a small world and usually someone knows someone, etc.

    Honesty is always appreciated and if they get mad at you for being honest about your situation, then they are not the company for you. Good luck!

    Edit: final paragraph

12. You’re not gonna get a job offer at Interac until at least January at the very earliest. By that time they will have found out their BOE contracts and would have started hearing back from people as to whether they are gonna recontract for the following school year or not.

    We’re almost into December. As soon as Christmas hits, the school year from a teaching perspective is pretty much done. January placements are incredible rare and normally the subs take over any positions for the last three months depending on the needs of the school.

    You have to be realistic here. They’re hiring you on the basis of an April start date. If you don’t hear back by Christmas, then start looking at other jobs.

13. I’d probably pick aeon for the pay alone. Interc’s salary is even less now with shakai hoken. You’ll feel like you’re scraping by compared to the extra 5/8 man extra you’ll make working at aeon.

14. I understand you’re asking when will AEON ask you to sign a contract? After you accept the offer. You’ll be given a start date. Maybe you already have a start date. I also understand you’re asking will Aeon’s job offer have any contractual authority that could pose a problem in the future if you accept an offer from Interac. No, you can safely quit your contract and start a new job.

    You also seem to be asking what happens if two companies apply for a COE for the same candidate. Neither company will ask for a COE until you accept the post. If you accept AEON post, you get the visa and start work, you won’t need a COE from Interac. If you do happen to get both, then you take the COE for whichever employer you accepted the position from. The COE is just a bit of paperwork to make the visa application process a little smoother.

15. I had a great experience at AEON. I will say it depends A LOT on the school you are placed at though. I think I was lucky. Kansai area, smaller school. Oddly enough, I now work for the parent company that owns Interac (LM Group). Haha.

    Whatever happens I wish you the best.

16. Just take Aeon and do it for half a year and then if you want to change to ALT while in Japan , it’ll be quick and easy.

17. Interac is easier, Aeon pays better. Depending on if you’re in a hotshot school managers can he demanding I guess, but kyuushuu and western japan aeon aren’t too bad. If students don’t buy they don’t buy, they won’t fire you or pay you different. If its a location you like I think you should take the guaranteed position and look for better paying alt work while you are actually here if you don’t want to wait on a backlist.

18. Interac pays less , but eikaiwas are absolutely brutal. The hours are ridiculous and the environment is always toxic. Also, you’ll find yourself completely burnt out after a month of working 50 hours a week.

    With interac, the pay is lower, but my management was great, my schools were fantastic, and I taught maybe 4 classes a day at 40 minutes each. I usually worked from maybe 8:40 to 2pm m-f.
    Eikaiwa is always 7-8 classes a day at 1 hour each.

19. I did Interac. For a year, it was fine. Easy and the pay kept the lights on and funded my exploration of Japan. Anything more than a year would be tough

20. I’d say aeon just because it’s easy to get a contract renewal and the pay is pretty good. Interac has a lot of BS such as losing school contracts and lying to teachers.

    My buddy worked for them and they told him he didn’t need to sign up for the national pension. That biting him in the ass later when got a full time job and had to pay back several years worth of pension payments. He kept telling me “but interac told me I didn’t need to sign up for it!”

    With aeon it can be easy, great, or super stressful depending on the school. I worked at a big money maker school so we had a lot of pressure to keep making money which meant constantly selling and pressure to keep students.

    My friend worked at a more relaxed branch and said they had part timers who can in to do sales and never had to sell anything.