I just searched for “Nova reddit teaching in Japan” and this was the first comment of the first post on a google result. And it is typical — a lot of people say to take jobs at Nova or Borderlink just to get your visa and then switch.
OK, elephant in the room time: is it not true that other employers don’t want to hire people who didn’t finish their contract?
In fact, this seems to have been a sticking point for me in an interview in the past. Seems to have been…
So is it not true? What’s the deal? I just don’t get this sentiment.
15 comments
This is shit advice. Be a professional and finish your contract (there are exceptions of course; abuse, etc.).
I’d question these people’s character who do this.
Just don’t take a job with them in the first place. There are plenty of other stepping stone jobs that aren’t Hell to stay with for an entire year.
People repeat the “Work there for 3 months then find a new job” line for the upticks. They didn’t actually do it themselves.
There are a lot of online posers who will say stuff like this, but have no experience in actually doing so.
The only people that can actually get away with this are either super lucky ‘right time, right place’ people, or professionals with other legit qualifications that are in high demand.
For everyone else, the only job openings available for eikaiwa three months after April are usually equally as bad as the company they are attempting to leave… that’s why they have positions open in the first place, because people are always bailing.
I’ve worked with Nova for two years. One of my colleagues for nine and another pre and post 2008 bankruptcy. We know the company is ass, we know it’s underhanded tricks. However, our day to day work life is fine. It’s not difficult. There’s no career progression, but if you can work on your Japanese to high competency, you can escape.
I think people say that because they are either too dumb to know (or too nice to say) that these ESL chain companies ARE ALL THE SAME.
So sure, why not take a job at NovaInteracAeonGabawhatever, and then move on to BerlizFreecomKidsDuowhatever.
It honestly makes no difference.
First, **if** people are hiring 2-3 months into your contract, they’re probably in a difficult spot and don’t care that much about your situation at your last job. They just want to fill the position ASAP.
Second, most people who move on do so at the end of the school year. Come here in April, work on making yourself more marketable (because there are already plenty of people who think they have a better chance just because they’re here), **then** find something for the next year.
I have a friend from the UK who lives in Tokyo. He was originally hired as a part-time Economics professor at one of the best universities in Japan. He also had a part-time job at one of the big chain eikaiwas to supplement his income. A year ago he got promoted to head teacher at his branch, so he quit job at the university. It can’t be all that bad if you quit a university job for an eikaiwa job.
I haven’t worked as an ALT or Eikaiwa, but I always got job at private international schools. I always fulfilled my one year contract, even though the company I worked for wasn’t all that good.
Worked at a four letter Eikawa company and quit after 6 months for a different job. They don’t care about you, and if it’s once or twice you’re jumping ship should be fun.
You deserve respect
Most of them won’t care. And if you were really worried about it coming up, you could simply leave the 3 month stint off your resume. Just tell them you have a valid visa, and they won’t care until the end of the process to even look at it.
> OK, elephant in the room time: is it not true that other employers don’t want to hire people who didn’t finish their contract?
Usually not when they’ve come out with Nova as it’s pretty clear what their plan is.
The people that say that are high on hopium and truly believe getting a visa, any visa, will open the doors to success. What they fail to realize is almost all the people that come to play the pretend teacher game leave Japan permanently in two years. Literally less than 5% of the people that take those jobs remain in Japan longer than 24 months.
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The real elephant here is the fact that those jobs are a scam and barely anyone is successful in getting out. Having a visa will not increase your chances of getting a “better” job, it will only limit your choices.
I feel sorry for you if you dont finish your contract, I use Heart Corp and I even had the courtesy to give my notification of none renewal (and they tried hard to keep me) and I finished my contract with them. Here in Japan they do care about your consistancy to finish the contract but if you keep breaking contract after contract none will want to hire you.
I’d always recommend finishing your contract.
In my case, I could only get my flight reimbursement if I completed my contract. Also, I wanted my contract completion bonus.
When I was in training for my next job, I kept taking the newbies out to eat because we were all staying in the same hotel and I was the only one not stressed about money since I knew I had about 3k extra coming in my last paycheck.
Can’t say about recently but years ago the outdoor adventure companies would tell their “new hires” to get hired by Nova et al, get the visa, never show up and go straight to work for them.