Hello in case anyone is enrolling in a TEFL course like I was and for example it is ITA and they have an option to add on “Guaranteed Direct Placement in Japan”, I just wanted to provide what my experience was actually like using this program so you can consider before paying for that extra on top of the tefl program. My overall experience with the actual tefl program was good but I don’t think direct placement with Travel Bud and XploreAsia is really worth it as an add on.
I only found out AFTER paying the first half of the fee that it’s actually only “guaranteed” placement if you go with one specific company that they work with called Interac. Granted, Interac does have surprisingly good reviews but you are required to be a “driver” and drive around to different schools. As someone moving to Japan for the first time, this was not at all what I wanted to do and if I had known beforehand I probably would not have paid for the service. I only found out in my first meeting with the Xplore team and it took almost the rest of our like hour long meeting of me continuing to question what they were telling me that this was my only option for them to finally be like okay actually there are some non driving options they just aren’t guaranteed jobs. We went over some of my preferences and they also tried to tell me I had no say in where in Japan I might end up and I might end up in a rural location even though I didn’t really care where I specifically ended up I just wanted it to be at least a city so I could have more access to public transportation since I don’t plan to drive at least right away.
After that meeting they basically just sent me job links to apply to myself and even though we had gone over my experience and preferences it didn’t really seem like any of that was factored in and I sincerely doubt some of the schools they offered me were actually like “vetted”. And I have received a job offer but a lot of the supposed support is not really happening.
So unless you are interested in Interac specifically you are probably better off just applying to the major companies directly and not paying this group a lot of money to send you the links to do so.
The major ones that might actually be worth it seem to be:
Interac
Borderlink
Altia
Berlitz
Nova
And then you can search GaijinPot just be careful and research those ones beforehand and know they probably will want to see more actual previous teaching experience specifically with kids
#tefl #teachinginjapan #tefljapan #travelbud #xploreasia #directplacement
5 comments
None of this is connected to teaching or TEFL really, all of the companies that do this are ALT/Eikaiwa companies that exist to make money both from schools and from the staff they hire from overseas with the promise of a job that far more serious/would require way more qualifications that what you will actually be signed on for. They’re essentially all non-education middlemen taking advantage of people that want to travel to and work in Japan that don’t know the work they will be doing is essentially tutoring and TA’ing with no advancement.
It sounds like you found some companies that are middlemen to the middlemen.
Seems like you got scammed out of 1000 bucks.
Imagine paying 1000 bucks for the privelage of working at interac…
Nah, imma be real honest and say this was OPs fault. There’s over a decade’s worth of info on this subject and a simple google search would have answered all of your questions. I have no idea why u would pay $1000 for a TEFL course when there are alternatives for less than $200. Especially when schools view them all the same.
You can literally get a Coursera subscription for like $250/year, and get the Arizona State University’s (ASU) official TESOL certification in less than 6 months if you’re gung-ho about it; ASU will literally send you a certificate from their university. You can also earn tons of other certifications with it as well.