After spending 8 years in the teaching field, I’m at a point where I’m eager to explore opportunities beyond education and make use of my academic background. To provide some context, right after university, I pursued my master’s degree in management without prior corporate experience, thinking it would give me time to figure things out while earning another degree.
Fast forward, I entered the teaching field as an ALT as I couldn’t get a job in my fields of interest with no experience. Over the years, I’ve grown into the role and am currently a lead teacher at an international school. This role has thrown me into all sorts of things including staff training, translation, meeting and event coordination, and overall school management support.
I’m convinced I’ve got skills that can be used elsewhere, but again I’m encountering challenges in transitioning with no corporate experience. Has anyone here made the move from teaching to a completely different gig? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts, tips, or stories on how you managed to do it. I’ve been applying on LinkedIn, indeed, and joined multiple Japanese recruitment sites so far with no luck.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
5 comments
It will vastly depends on your Japanese skills
If you have good oral/written Japanese skills you will be able to find jobs in many fields like import/export, international business, project management, IT support.. without much struggle
If you don’t have good Japanese skills however it is gonna be much more harder as you don’t hold a technical background in an in-demand field
The only skill you’ve listed is “management” and I gotta ask: management of what? Otherwise, it sounds like you’re making use of your academic background in management right now.
What industry are you interested in? What is your academic background? That will change how you need to prepare drastically.
Basically, there’s not enough information in this post to come up with a good reply.
Consult companies on international business culture / company culture / etc.
I already had a cooking license and several years of experience in my home country before switching from ALT to chef so it may not be the same. What certifications are you able to get for whatever field you’re looking for?
A lot of companies have Learning & Development Managers to oversee training activities. We have a director level colleague who transferred from teaching into a service related industry many years back