Will my current employer be contacted during the application process?

I haven’t been able to find any information on this by looking through FAQ’s.

Details:

I was originally planning on applying for JET after graduation in 2024, but due to family circumstances I had to postpone my application to help take care of my younger brother until he graduates from high school in Spring of 2025.

With that in mind, I found full-time employment as a journalist at a local newspaper and have worked there for a year now. I was lucky; they had been trying to fill an opening for three months and hired me immediately. The pay isn’t much, but my family helps pay for the apartment I share with my brother, and it’s rewarding, meaningful work. I don’t think I’m cut out for it as a career though.

I still fully intend to apply to JET ASAP, and since my family would no longer be helping to pay for the apartment by brother and I currently live in after he graduates, I wouldn’ t be able to afford to stay regardless.

My concern is whether or not the JET program will contact my current employers as part of the application process, and if so when it would happen. I intend to inform my boss of my plans well ahead of my official two weeks notice so that they can begin searching for a replacement.*

I don’t think it’ll be a huge kerfuffle, but I certainly don’t want their first news about me leaving to be someone else calling them. It’ll already be an awkward conversation, and since this is my first time at a “real job” I don’t have much experience navigating this issue.

Any information or advice would be helpful!

*(I know this opens up the possibility of them finding a replacement and firing me early. I don’t expect that to happen, and either way I don’t consider leaving with only two weeks notice to be an option.)

EDIT: Thanks y’all, got some very helpful advice! Hopefully people who have similar concerns find the responses useful.