Is direct hire really all it’s cracked up to be?

15 comments

1. Not personally interested in being an assistant teacher as of current, but from what I’ve heard and seen, being a direct hire is a lot better. I don’t know about being hired for at most 3 years, but money is really important for me and my friends.

   I’ve had friends who were direct hire and friends who worked for dispatch companies. The ones who weren’t directly hired had difficulties saving up despite budgeting as much as they could and not going out often. Also having their summer and winter salary cut was really hard on them because the point of vacation was to travel.

   It depends on your goal. Some people are happy being paid not as much due to the work hours. Others want more financial stability due to other obligations. For me, I’m just a rather ambitious person in terms of salary and upward mobility, but I won’t eliminate the idea of being an ALT for 1-2 years when I become a mom and need to stay home more often. However, it’d also be because of my husband’s job that pays well that I’m able to afford taking a hit on my salary.

2. This the first time i heard of a 3 years limit. But direct hire is very much ESID, every BOE has their own rules and is subject to change as their top brass gets moved around.

   Direct hire ALTs are usually on a yearly contract similar to other ALTs. Some do have permanent positions or can be after 5 years.

   Pay tend to be much higher than dispatch ALTs, even on the low end it’s usually around JET wage. On the extreme high end, they may get paid as much as a regular teacher with yearly raises.

   It’s also unlikely any ALTs(dispatch, JET or direct) are allowed work side gigs either. ALTs are under instructors visa which limits the work they’re allowed to do. They also usually need permission from immigration to do side gigs, which sometimes means they need written permission from their CO to submit to immigration. There are some that do side gigs with permission but they’re not the norm.

3. Some municipalities absolutely do allow side gigs—ALT is for the most part 非常 or part time/non full duties regardless of what they say in English so it is particularly mean to ban side jobs.

   Some municipalities allow ALTs to reapply after the three or however many years, too.

4. Direct hire at a private school here.
   Much better pay than BOE direct hire jobs.

5. The BoE I currently work for allows for yearly renewals on contracts for as long as we want. The only other ALT has been here for at least 5+ years. And side gigs are also allowed as well. As many have said, every situation is different.

6. As another person replied already, ESID.

   I think it’s important to find out some specific things during the interview phase:

   1. What is the salary and workload. Direct hire isn’t always better. There are some absolute shit paying direct hire positions and some that will work you to death.

   2. Is there a salary cap after a certain age/years of experience? (From my time interviewing in the past, many schools, public and private direct hires, capped salaries at around 350k/mo.)

   3. Very important. Is there potential to become a permanent employee and if so, is that salary uncapped? Some mention this possibility right in the job ad, and others you’ll have to ask in the interview.

   I don’t think I’ve ever met a direct hire public school alt that wasn’t at a capped salary. Some private schools do put a foreign teacher/alt uncapped (same as Japanese staff) if they are hired permanently. That’s pretty much one of the “winning the English teaching in Japan game” positions, along with successful Eikaiwa owner and uni prof.

   I wouldn’t waste time working a direct hire if there was no opportunity for permanent hire and uncapped salary. Imagine spending 3-5 years of your life at a job and they say “see ya”. What did you really accomplish there? It’s just wasting time imo. I think working dispatch is better in this regard because you can gain a large variety of experiences teaching different grades/classes/courses/subjects/networking/etc. to land the worthwhile positions. There are decent paying dispatch positions that are accessible with a couple of years ALT experience.

   This is just my own personal opinion from my experiences.

7. Dispatch, you’re getting what? 200,00-250-,000 yen a month? That’s terrible. Direct Hire you get 300,000-350,000. Still not high but it is better

   You’re also wrong about “indefinite” contract as dispatch. Dispatch companies lose their contracts all the time. People who have worked for dispatch company for over 5 years have been laid off. You do not have “indefinite” terms and are at the whim of the BoE year by year,

   Some direct hire ALTs make you leave after three years but some keep renewing your contracts forever

   There is no good point to working for an ALT dispatch company. You’re making less than $20,000 a year and do not have stability/career opportunities.

8. I actually prefer working dispatch over direct hire. Mind you, I’m with one of the good companies that pays top end with full salary during summer and other holidays, as well as full insurance.

   The amount of free time I get is a huge boon. I’ve been able to do things that would be impossible in a regular full time direct hire position.

   I also work on the side. It’s pretty easy to get around the permission to work if you’re doing freelance work and getting paid in cash. With the work I do, I actually make more than a direct hire. Biggest bonus is because expectations are lower for dispatch workers, I can get most of my side job work and prep work done during school days!

   I believe I’ve managed to min/max dispatch ALT work haha

9. Junior-senior high school (6year program)teacher here.

   From what I’ve seen, direct hire as a member of the English department is the best in terms of benefits and salary. Yearly raise, 3 bonuses a year, 20 paid days off that can roll over to a total of 40, 20 sick days on the same system, extra pay for classes after school and during vacation, winter heating bonus for four months (Hokkaido), retirement/ severance pay, good insurance and pension benefits (私学共済), housing allowance, family allowance, seniority system, basically can’t be fired, etc. that’s off the top of my head.

   Not bragging, just telling it like it is. Of course the job entails more than just teaching English but it’s not bad once you get used to it.

   Apply for the job as any other teacher would. In other words, you’ll need Japanese ability or be willing to learn in most cases.

   You’re not going to be much use to the school of you can’t prepare the students for 大学受験. You need to know the system and what kind of questions universities have in their entrance exams.

   Also, if you can’t learn Japanese over the course of several years, it creates doubt about your ability/effectiveness as a teacher here.

   Opportunities are quite limited if you are only the “speaking” teacher.

10. A friend of mine is less of an ALT and more of a full fledged teacher for and English department at a private school. Insanely lucky connection for him to land that job, the pay is like 360,000 a month, full benefits, and he gets paid full even for summer and winter breaks.

11. Why would direct hire limit employees to 3 years? I have never experienced this…

12. It all depends on the school.. I used to work directly at a high school with no limits on anything..

13. Realistically where can these direct hire jobs be found. I’m moving to a new job this April anyway so I’m not bothered about it at the moment but if I wanted to go back into teaching in public schools I’d really wanna go direct hire but I’ve no idea where they can be found.

14. I was an ALT in a private school, direct hire, for 8 years. Was on between 340,000-380,000 (raises over the years).

    Before that I was an ALT for a few difference dispatch companies for a few years; Shane Language Services, SaganSpeak, Heart.

    The direct hire was WAY WAY better. Full insurance, great schedule, massive amounts of freedom to be creative in the classes, better quality students, better facilities, better co-workers, etc. It was really good.

    I left eventually, to leave Japan and move on with my life, but I really liked working there and learned a lot. I have some great memories from that time of my life. Dispatch, on the other hand, was grim and tense, the whole time. No security, treated like dirt, crap wage, etc.

    If you can get into a private school direct hire, do it. I got mine through a connection, so was really lucky.

15. Dispatch companies do indeed suck. You are making less money because the dispatch company is effectively getting a portion of your salary per month. Also the schools you work at are unable to try and scoop you up directly. I’ll give you an example. There was this private school that I was looking to work at a few years ago. They were really happy that I contacted them directly as they currently have two ALTs via a dispatch company. They mentioned that they would prefer to hire them directly, but are unable to. In the end the money wasn’t enough, so I passed, but it was a good offer nonetheless.

    So are direct ALT positions all that good? Pretty much.

    Now there are a few different types of positions, lets get to it!

    1) Private school ALT gigs. These are generally seen as the cream of the crop. Why?
    a) You will only be going to ONE school.
    b) There is a possibility that the school will help sponsor your temporary teachers license and you will be able to teach solo.
    c) More money (usually).

    2) Public school ALT direct hire (BOE)
    a) In some cases more stable as you are working for a city, not a school.
    b) You may have to do yearly interviews and or have a max number of years you could work.
    c) Significantly longer vacations than private school.
    d) Salary is stagnant.
    e) You will have to go to various different schools, JHS/ES mixed.

    So which is better? Well if you want to become a “real” teacher, definitely the private HS is the way. However, you will be worked like a mule as you will be expected to work just like your Japanese co-workers.

    Personally, I prefer the direct ALT BOE position. Way more freedom, cuts down all the bullshit of the extra work you have to do (outside the classroom). Also breaks tend to be a lot longer.