I applied for a full-time position at a vocational college in Japan. The college has been secretive about the salary thus far, so I want to check in with this forum to ensure that I am getting a fair offer. From what I have researched about university salaries in Japan thus far, my expected salary range per month for this position would be at least 350,000-450,000, with 370,000-400,000 being the range I am considering most likely. However, I wanted to check in with this forum to see if this estimate is fair or if I should ask for more or less.
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EDIT: Thanks for the responses everyone, and apologies for highballing my estimates. I don’t want to sound like a diva by demanding too much, but I also want to make sure I am getting a fair offer. Your comments helped put things better into perspective, so thanks for that!
4 comments
Vocational schools aren’t as high as Universities. They are probably the equivalent of the first two years of community College in the USA. I’d guess more in the 320,000 to 350,000 range.
My friend gets 5 million yen per year including bonus. It’s probably the most famous or infamous 専門学校 for English in Japan
The salary range for full-time contract lectures at universities is 4M to 6M per year. And that is for someone with at least a master’s degree, experience and publications.
Remember that the Ministry of Education doesn’t have the same requirements to teach at a senmon gakko as a university. Graduate degrees and experience are preferred, but not required, publications are never required, as such salaries are lower–often much lower. A senmon gakko is not going to pay the same salaries that universities in their area are because they don’t have to. They are not competing for the same people.
I think anything above 4M total annual would be a good offer, but honestly, I think you should be expecting less than that. Either way, please make sure to update this post with the offer from the school so that other people in your situation in the future can benefit from your experience.
Good luck!
(BTW, a monthly breakdown of salaries is not very useful for comparing, because many universities have allowances for things like dependents and pay bonuses so total salary is often more than just the monthly base x12. If the senmon gakko does the same you need to ask about total compensation, don’t just multiply the monthly base x12. I’ve seen many people turn down a good job offer, or even quit a job after only a month, because they didn’t understand how remuneration actually works.)
I went to a vocational college for two years as a design student. Once I graduated, I still stayed close to some of my teachers. The pay is not very good. Granted most of my teachers were not full-time, and only paid for the morning or afternoon classes they taught. But it ended up basically being around ¥4000 for one class (3~4 hours).
I don’t know the salaries of the full-time faculty, but I could guess it wouldn’t even likely be close to 300,000 when starting out. More likely to be in the 220,000~270,000 range from what I saw when job hunting previously. There is a lot of overtime, and weekend work for open campuses, student support, etc.
The salary ranges I quote above are not for English teachers, so it could be higher in your situation.