Altia Central

8 comments

1. Not to put you off of applying, but I think it’s pretty hard to get a job right now with dispatch companies since it’s April and the school year starts in March. I didn’t get any replies from them anyway. So you might need to wait until the next school year or at least later in the year for the smaller fall intake anyway. Who knows though, maybe you’ll have more luck than me! Good luck

2. I left Altia Central over a year ago, so take what I have to say with a rather large handful of salt, so to speak.

   First, if you have little in the way of savings, don’t even think of trying to come over to Japan. I assume you’re in the US, and yes, it is INCREDIBLY difficult to leave, no matter how much you might want to (if not in the US, ignore this). Full disclosure: I didn’t come to Japan with Altia, but the gist for coming over with any dispatch company is about the same: in addition to your plane ticket, you’re going to need between 3 and 5K USD to come over. You’re going to end up paying for almost everything out of pocket to just get started: food, phone, bed and any other furnishings. You’ll likely have a semi-furnished apartment, which just means you’ll have a fridge, probably a TV, and maybe a microwave. There’ll also usually be a spot to put your futon. But your futon and all utensils- you have to buy those separately. On top of that, you won’t be getting paid for a month, due to how the system works (you receive your pay after the month it’s actually for). And they’re going to take rent out of your paycheck, too.

   For support… they’ll at least send a supervisor who understands Japanese to get your bank account set up. In addition, they MIGHT send you with a supervisor to get a phone- at least when I was with them, they didn’t provide you a phone- you had to buy and set it up yourself. Granted, I had already been in Japan for a year and actively studying Japanese (still am!), so I managed to make it. Also, it’s up to you to find any local supermarkets or other places to buy things- again, they might send a supervisor with you on an initial run, but don’t count on them providing more support.

   Surviving on the pay is 100% up to where you live and what you do- they have some rural places where the cost of living is cheap, but it’s also extremely boring with little to do other than hit the local izakaya (Japanese-style bar that also serves decent food). Granted, The majority of their placements are usually within an hour by train to Nagoya, but that can add up fast if you go often. I think some other places are also close to large cities, but again… travel gets pricey. For the record, their pay (unless they’ve changed it, which is unlikely) is around 240,000 Yen- that’s less than 2k USD a month these days.

   Which leads into days off- this is a major ESID. On one hand, you’re almost always guaranteed to get weekends off, because school is also off. And generally, all national holidays as well as school holidays are also off. That said, you may get a school that wants you to come in on a Saturday or Sunday for an school event like Sports Day or such. On top of this… schools are out during the last part of July and most of August for their summer vacation. Altia used to give you the whole month off with full pay (one of the last companies to keep doing so), but a friend of mine who currently works for Altia told me that although you’re getting paid the same, they want you to do various summer activities for the schools. AKA, you’ll be lucky to have more than a week or two of August off, and certainly not July. On top of this, by Japanese law they HAVE to give you 10 other paid days off- but the game they play is, they select five of those days for you- this might be how you get a day or two off in July or otherwise near the holidays. As for the other five… well, I personally saved them up (you can roll your unused days off over for a year), and had them all get blown on me when I was in isolation for Covid during a 10-day period. So I don’t actually know how well you can request time off.

   As for non-driving ALTs. Basically yes, you have to find alternate means of transport to get to school. I was lucky enough that I was in a decent-sized city (Gifu City) with plenty of bus routes. But you may have to take a taxi or even bike if public transportation isn’t so handy. And even if you should drive… Altia is very picky about how much they let you drive with a company vehicle: you have to submit your route to school, and also send them a mileage reading every month, because you have two options- either you ONLY drive to your schools and back (maybe to the store as well), or you get an “extra” plan- and by extra, I mean they’ll let you drive up to about 30 or so extra kilometers, and then I’m guessing they starting taking money out of your paycheck for anything beyond that. I can’t actually give you any facts on this; just know they’re very strict about it due to incidents in the past involving car insurance.

   Which leads to my last warning about Altia Central: they’re good… until they’re not. Because many of their locations are close to the main offices, this means they can try to keep a closer eye on you than other companies might. Yes, they’re very micromanaging. On top of this, they’re like every other dispatch company: because having a contract is how they stay in business, if anything happens that might cause their contract renewal to be in danger, they’ll throw you under the bus in a blink of an eye without remorse.

   The last thing to mention is that most of the hiring has been completed- the school year has actually already started for junior high school. But according to their website, they’re still taking applications… but I expect those are mostly only going to be for in-country applicants. So while you can apply, don’t expect to even have a chance until August, after summer break- some ALTs have been known to just up and leave during that time. Oh, and consider this: there have been a few posts recently saying they got the offer from Altia, even went through all the paperwork to get in… only to be told last-minute that their position no longer exists. Altia used to be decent, but it’s clearly gone downhill, such that you can’t even be guaranteed you’ll even have a job with with after going through the whole process.

3. Interest in JET and “teaching” in Japan has never been higher from what my friend on the recruiting end of the spectrum has told me, so i wouldnt hold out for that luxury JET gig.

   ALTing is pretty similar across the country. You work 830-1630, you get weekends and national holidays off. You get school holidays off too, Just dont expect your company to let you take more than a day or so off during term time so you can travel etc.

   Moneywise, depending on whther you get a 12 month contract, or one of those awful 8-9 month contracts you will have enough to live a pretty basic life. Highly advise you start looking for part time work as soon as you land if you have an expensive hobby, or plan on travelling anywhere. A good way to do this is through helping out at events (halloween, xmas, summer camp) with local Eikaiwa companies (small privately owned, not big corporations).

4. Never, ever move abroad without significant enough savings that you can afford to be unemployed for a few months and/or to be able to leave again.

   Dispatch companies will take care of everything for you, from housing to bank accounts. But while this makes it easy for you to come here, it also makes you 100% dependent on them.

   If you want to leave your job, you can’t – because that would mean getting kicked out of your apartment. And without enough money to put down AT LEAST two months’ rent, one month key money, one month deposit, and around ¥30-50,000 guarantor free, you won’t be able to get your own apartment.

   You also won’t have enough money for a plane ticket home.

   What are you going to do if you hate it here, or if your company fucks you over in some way, which is very likely to happen considering how all dispatch companies operate?

   Have you read ANY of the other posts in this forum where people are talking about the myriad of ways dispatch companies abuse their employees? Do you understand that dispatch companies all make money by exploiting their employees and treating them like cattle?

   Again – never move abroad without significant savings. You’ll find yourself stuck and unable to do a damn thing about it.

5. JET Here: Warning OP, even with JET, you will need some form of savings or at least about $3000-$5000 saved up before you come here. The reason is because JETs doesnt pay for everything like ppl think. Housing is luck of the draw. Some COs provide it for free or very low cost, some don’t and make you sublease with a company. Mine was the ladder. I had no predecessor either. So, I had to buy fridge, stove, and a bunch of other stuff, plus had to have enough for food and transport. You also don’t get your first full salary until a month later. So please, if you’re gonna try for JET again (as well as any other places), get a job and start saving up for next year. Coming over here with little to no money is a bad idea, no matter how badly you want to move here.

6. Teaching in Japan Im sorry to say is like a job but it’s not because it’s almost impossible to actually even minimally “have a life” and save any money at all.

   It’s literally like indentured servitude. Not even exaggerating.

   And the fact is this is becoming more the case (salaries declining, hidden fees increasing, despite inflation going up and the Yen going way down!) now it has gotten so bad they have had to resort to exploiting third world, second-language English countries like the Philippines, Caribbean, and other random countries around the world so that they can keep finding people they can take advantage of.

   While I would say that is good if the candidates are actually as enthusiastic as the native speakers, the reality is that they are for the most part coming here for social and economic reasons, not for cultural or edifying reasons, only to learn they cant make a life here in Japan long term, and they will never meet a Japanese spouse who will make it possible for them.

7. >How much money did you bring over to help you get started? (I’m worried cause I’m currently unemployed with little savings 😅)

   Then ALT is not for you. The system is designed to be a gap year activity for upper middle class or rich kids. It is not a path to residency and it will not be a “stepping stone”. 99% of ALTs last less than two years. Why? They run out of money and nobody wants to hire a person that came to Japan to stand in the corner of a classroom.

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   >3. Is the pay enough to survive over there?

   No and it’s designed that way.

8. If you do even get accepted by JET, be aware that you might even end up on an island like my friend did. His experience in JPN was quite lonesome because he was practically stuck on that island as ferry fees were too high. I think they might have been about like a $120 roundtrip just to get off the island. (Not sure about a resident discount like they do sometimes for islanders) It was horrible for him as he didn’t get to travel much of japan. I felt very bad for him.

   If you go w altia, the staff can be pricks lol especially if you perform poorly at your job or offend J staff in some form (they will call altia about your behavior). They take ALTing more seriously than other dispatch companies, but the Japanese working with you tend to not take its ALTs seriously (as educators, even if you have an actual degree in education or relative). Even for actual teachers eager to help JETs hired by ALTIA, the reality can be very gloomy at times.

   It happened to one of my friends at altia this year who actually taught in their home country for many years and was so disappointed in how much they could contribute to the Japanese classes. They did their best outside of class, but they wanted to help in teaching too. They left the company for more involvement and responsibilities elsewhere.