ECC recruitment session

5 comments

1. **Don’t**
   • Be a tool towards others. This include trying to one-up other people. There’s always a bigger fish.
   • Mock Japanese people or behaviors or speech patterns or bow or do any of that cringey stuff people seem to think will help them out.
   • Indicate you have plans to spend less than a full contract year with the company.
   • Brag about if you’ve been to Japan or think it will buy you any leverage in getting the gig.
   • Use Japanese. If you understand or speak it, pretend you don’t.
   • Be arrogant.
   • Act like a weeb.
   • Ask dumb questions.
   • Show up looking like a slob.
   • Be or act overtly religious.
   • Be culturally ignorant.
   • Make any mention on where you want to live beyond one of the three regions. Wait until you get to the training session in Japan to bargain.
   • Have tattoos or piercings.
   • Talk about pronouns, social issues, health issues, or anything like that. The people running the native side of ECC in Japan are **very very** LGBT-friendly, but they’re not always in the foreign recruitment sessions and the company is run by a board of 200 year old Japanese men. There’s way more flexibility once you get to Japan, but you need to make it there first.

   **Do**
   • Read every single question on the grammar test three times and check your answers.
   • Sell yourself on positive attitudes towards diversity and acceptance.
   • Keep your phone in your bag.
   • Bring a notebook and write questions/ ideas/ notes during the presentation and demos. It’ll make it easier to remember stuff and it looks like you’re prepared and care about the interview.
   • Network with other recruits in the interview group.
   • Make a Discord server or something to stay in touch. Sometimes interviewees end up in different training groups so it’s extremely helpful to be in touch with someone already on the ground before you arrive.
   • Smile and be humble.
   • Try to align yourself with cultural norms in Japan. Dress conservatively, be polite, follow the rules. Again, there’s way more flexibility once you’re actually in Japan, but you have to pass the interview first.
   • Give genuine answers about why you want to live in Japan.

   **During the demo:**
   • Be active and engaging. They know you’re new to this, so show them you can get outside your comfort zone.
   • Use a very specific set of instructional language and minimize your speaking time. For example, instead of describing what you want your mock students to do, find a way to visually represent it through shortened language, gestures, flashcards, or modeling:
   ~~”Okay, now i want you to look at the cards and tell me what this is”~~ → “What’s this?!” (Holding up and pointing to the card)
   • Avoid pointing *at* people and instead use an open hand.
   • Keep it active.
   • Show them how you would incorporate English into every activity from an entrance procedure to incidental use like reactions in the class.

2. [deleted]

3. You don’t have to worry about it too much, as long as you’re a pleasant person to be around, you look nice, and you do good on the grammar test, you’ll most likely be hired.

   People like to compare these **entry-level** ~~dispatch~~ companies (ECC, Interac, AEON, etc) and say which is better, but the truth is **they all hire very liberally.** If you look at ECC’s application form on their website then you see that they, like all the other entry-level ~~dispatch~~ companies, **don’t require you to have any skill in education** (because, again, it’s entry-level). The pay isn’t much more than the others last I checked, though you work 35 hours a week.

   Because it’s entry-level, they aren’t expecting you to be a good teacher. Not even JET does that. They expect you to have native-level English and a good personality.

   ​

   I’ll reiterate what will give you better chances of passing the interview:

   * Native-level English
   * A pleasant personality
   * A good smile
   * Well groomed (go get a haircut within a week before the interview)
   * A pulse

   ​

   To put you more at ease, it’s not impossible for every single person in your interview group to be offered a job. I hear **the acceptance rate for these entry-level jobs is in the ballpark of 80%**, though this number is from before covid.

   ​

   Edit: Some people might have confusion because they read online that ECC is actually super hard to get into. This was true a *years* ago before they changed their contract.

   Edit 2: I forgot ECC isn’t dispatch, but it’s still entry-level. Everything else is true.

4. Hey OP, I checked my ECC profile page and on the application status it says “invited to hiring event” or something similar, but I never got anything by email or phone stating I was invited. How did you get your invitation?

5. Hi! I had my recruitment session with ECC through zoom, as it was during major COVID times, but my advice is to definitely dress business professional, have a smile on your face, project your voice, and as others said show that you are energetic and can be engaging to students.

   When you have your individual presentation make sure to call on “students” (the other applicants) for questions and if they get it right do a big “Yes!! Good job *their name*” and add in a thumbs up or even a high five. Remembering the names of the people makes a difference, trust me! They really just want you to be enthusiastic and fun.

   When I had my individual presentation I had to teach musical instruments. I went about this by sounding out the word and adding in the motion for whatever instrument it was. The recruiter will be doing a demo of how they want you to teach the lesson so take notes on what they do. I promise it is not too hard!

   If you have any questions feel free to message me!