For those of you who entered the country as an ALT and haven’t left yet. Did you stay an ALT or try to find a higher paying job as soon as possible?

15 comments

1. Not all ALT jobs are the same. Some direct hire ones pay well enough and allow for outside work which can add up decently if you get good contacts. Responsibilities can differ as well. Sometimes you are just a tape recorder sometimes you are basically running everything with the school kinda working around the law. Stuff like just putting a teacher in that just kinda sits in the back, or split the class with JTE but have a door open. I would say the majority of high school and elementary classes I taught were this way. JHS was a lot more of an ALT role.

2. We have a Legend English Teacher on these forums who did it since the 90s, and is now semi-retired. The trick for him was, he was paid decently for what all his efforts were worth, and back in those times there were less responsibilities that came with the job, it focused primarily on exposure to language, and foreign bodies. Mext was less of a blockhead back then, and English learning was fun.

   Now, the pay is no better than combini, and the responsibilities are egregious, especially if you land on the ever-present T1 mine. Heck, I’d prefer to work at a combini if that option was available.

3. I was definitely pay check to pay check when i was an ALT but i was also paying a loan back to my ALT company and i was terrible with money. Generally speaking the entry-level pay here is not good. I came
   Here over 10 years ago and it’s still exactly the same.

   Regarding my experience I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately you wont know if it will be the same for you until after you’ve taken a job and started it.

   As you’ve said ALT work is good for getting into Japan. If you enjoy the work there’s absolutely no reason why you cant find something better like a direct hire position.

4. ALT positions vary based on location – and how much you can save depends on you.

   Do you need to live in Tokyo or nearby? You’re probably not going to have a good time on the salary you’ll have.

   Are you okay living in the countryside? You should do better there, but the isolation can get to people.

   This is why you see so many varying stories – because people are different. ALT work – at least dispatch ALT work – is not for the long haul, though, the salary will get to you after a while.

5. I was an ALT and then got direct hired because of connections with other teachers that I made in my terrible ALT job. I actually have enough money to support my wife and children, save money, and pay loans. The pay increases every year and multiple bonuses a year. I have a friend who switches jobs every couple years to improve his situation and pay. We are basically paid the same now. There are good jobs out there, but it’s very rare. Having good qualifications is just as important as connections. Always try to be friendly with others because you never know when someone might be able to help you. I had a fellow ALT who did the same job as me, but was very dark. He liked to look down at other ALTs and was kind of a dick and snob. He always “deleted” friends when they moved away. He is still at that crappy job. Never burn bridges. Never.

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7. Unless you speak Japanese very well “getting in” is going to be worth fuck all once you realize you’ll really only be able to move laterally across ALT / Eikaiwa work.

   That being said, it’s impossible to know what your ALT situation is going to be like because there’s absolutely no standardization across the industry. And unless you have time to negotiate with a dispatch company (who aren’t as desperate for people, given the re-opening of Japan, and don’t need to appease prospective hires), or go for a direct hire position (which many BOE’s prefer to hire from within the country), you will have little to no say in *where* you end up or *what* level you’ll be teaching. It’s a crap shoot.

   Now is a *horrendously bad* time to come to Japan for ALT work. Frankly, the bad time to come here started ~15 years ago and has only gotten worse every year. But nobody realized it right away because, you know, frogs boiling in a pot and all.

8. When I was an ALT the starting salary was 230,000 and the pay was cut during summer vacation. However, it was relatively easy to pick up evening work and sometimes weekends to supplement it which helped.

   Basically, you can definitely survive on it. Many people do. Also, plenty of Japanese people are on low salaries and survive.

   I haven’t lived in Korea for over a decade but that was definitely an easier life than when I was an ALT.

9. I came on Working Holiday with the intent to teach English, thinking my English level was native-like enough to do so. Most companies, both Eikaiwa and ALT companies, took a look at my passport (English as a foreign language) and discarded my application.

   Then at a stroke of luck an ALT company signed me out of desperation to a rural position. After four years as an ALT I became the instructor manager of that company.
   When that company went bankrupt I was accepted into a different ALT company again as an ALT based on my five years of experience.
   Every year I requested a promotion and on my third I became part time instructor manager, the year after that full time, to finally be accepted as 正社員 on my fourth year with the company.

10. I know a guy who hustles and is an ALT. He has done it for 3 years. I don’t think he feels stuck at all.

    Dave Troopin on YouTube talks about finding a school and getting a job without a middle man.

11. I’m in year 5 of being an ALT in Japan with Interac. There are some bumps here and there, but I’ve been pretty lucky with my experience mostly. Managers are kinda clueless, but I don’t think I’ve had any that are actively hostile towards us. I think only one or two of them actually understand the realities of the job.

    I’d like to move on to something better, and the only thing standing in my way is myself and my inability to buckle down and study Japanese or some in demand skill that would make up for my lack of knowledge. I live with my GF (Japanese), and we get by alright on our two salaries, which are about equal (she probably makes more cause of bonuses).

    I’m glad I did the ALT thing, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.

12. A different job came looking for me, but if that opportunity hadn’t arisen I probably would have started looking for another job soon enough. I managed 6 months as an ALT and 2 of those were summer holidays. It was so boring, and the pay was crappy. I actually had to borrow some money off my parents towards the end of the summer vacation, which was unpaid.

    I know people that sound similar to yourself who have lived a relatively happy single life as an ALT for years, but it really wasn’t for me. As soon as you decide you want to couple up, or get into pretty much any hobby I think money would get pretty tight pretty quickly.

13. Never been an alt but I worked at an eikaiwa for years before upgrading to my job now. I am a direct hired T1.. basically teaching esl and have my own classroom. I’m at a private school. My job is kind of rare in Japan. But let me just say jobs like mine are still out there!

    If you have the qualifications and experience you can find my type of job with bonuses, high monthly pay and housing allowance. You just need to make connections and network and move to a smaller city or prefecture.

14. It’s not as easy as you think.

    The problem with some of these high paying job is they don’t last. I worked a decently high paying job but they would only hire me for a maximum of five years (because the law is that companies are required to hire someone on permanently after 5 years, and less and less companies want to do that). So you get thrown right back to square one.

    Of course, the aim to get a higher paying job is always a goal, but more importantly, it’s mostly just trying not to get stuck in bad work environments. Bad management. Things such as being paid on time, being allowed to use your paid days whenever you please, not having to go through a million hoops to get information. These become much more in the forefront when looking for ALT jobs because there’s just simply so many shit schools and companies out there.

    I’ve worked two different ALT dispatch jobs pinching pennies, with a trade off of having lots of vacation days. Then I took on a high paying job for 5 years and went right back to square one for one less paying job. Not pinching pennies, but nowhere as cushy as the last.

15. I was an alt living on my own for the first 3 years in Japan and I had no problem whatsoever financially. Was able to fly back to the uk in summer and winter no problem to visit my family. I was leading most of the lessons at ES and enjoying it. Now I work at JHS I am pretty much a tape recorder but I can go home at 3:30 without thinking about what I have to teach tomorrow since I just have to turn up with my red pen and that’s it. I think nowadays you will be more limited to what you can do in the lesson compared to the ole days.