NOVA – Need help choosing please

10 comments

1. I’m leaving NOVA but generally my experience with them has not been nowhere near as negative as what a lot of people say. I say that in no way defending the company for shoddy business practices, but just to give some background.

   I usually make 260,000 but that is because I teach 9 lessons a day (that “overtime” I just see as a better use of my time than two breaks), if you’re working 40 lessons a week (8 per day) your pay will probably average between 230,000-240,000¥. Travel is reimbursed.

   Holidays is still 10 for new people. I only took a couple one day holidays myself, preferring to cash in the unused holidays at the end of the 1 year contract, but I had no trouble with getting them. I gave about a months notice each time.

   No crazy bosses yelling at you through cameras, but you can still run into them. That’s all luck of the draw. I feel I’ve been quite lucky with my experience.

   Some areas are/were offering sign up bonuses because they are in desperate need for those areas, so it might be worth seeing if they still are offering them, if it fits the area you want to be in.

   I hope it gets better for you!

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3. Nova treats their teachers good as far as management goes. Everyone is very friendly and typically performs in a professional manner. That being said the pay is not great (around 240-260 depending on contract type) and the hours are rough at times. Typical schedule is 8 lessons a day 1:30 to 9:30. You can usually negotiate for two days off in a row but getting any weekends off is very rare. You get a 10 min break between each lesson but during that time there are tasks to be done so it’s more like a 3-4 min break.

   The teaching style is formula based and there is no lesson prep. You will often be responsible for knowing and teaching up to 10 different types of classes for different age ranges, online classes and special packages. The training is sub par and you will be expected to learn as you go sink or swim.

4. With over a decade of experience and the inability of companies to get new teachers from overseas (almost every eikaiwa and dispatch company is hiring), surely you can do better than NOVA.

5. What is the difference between an employee and contractor ?? Which one is better ? what are the pluses and minuses ?

6. 1) It depends. In places like Osaka or Tokyo where rent isn’t affordable on any entry-level expat salary it definitely isn’t worth it. If you are living in a smaller city though it isn’t bad. Expect to make about 210,000-230,000 a month if you’re an employee, and 230,000-240,000 if you’re independent. It also depends on how good well you can sell yourself since that’s what brings in students. Ultimately the salary isn’t great (especially if you teach a lot of kids), but it isn’t total dogshit either. NOVA also always pays on-time now, and if you’re an independent contractor you get double your paycheck the month you re-sign your contract. And yes, they do reimburse monthly travel funds, however if you move within Japan they won’t cover your moving expenses.

   2) If you’re an employee you get about 5-6 days off for Obon, 3 days off for GW, and 12-14 days off for New Years. As an employee you also get an additional ten holiday days you can use any time. If you’re an independent contractor you get the same amount the holiday breaks off, but you don’t get any holidays (or sick days). Definitely think carefully about this, I was an independent contractor my first year-and-a-half, then switched to employee. As an IC you get paid more, but as an employee you get more time off.

   3) NOVA is stress galore, there is no dodging that. But there are a few things that determine how stressful it’ll be. The big one is your manager. NOVA managers typically have been with the company per-bankruptcy, and for their loyalty were given managerial roles after the restructuring. Because of this for a lot of managers NOVA is their religion and they tend to take company policy very seriously. My former manager wasn’t a bad guy, but he treated the job like we were the fucking Red Cross or something. Everyone dreaded seeing him because he constantly brought up whatever we did that he didn’t like and generally told us how to do things he couldn’t even do (i.e. kinder, which we’ll get to). I imagine most of the managers are like that to some degree; I’ve heard some real horror stories. If your manager doesn’t like you your life will be a living hell.

   Beyond that there is the other elephant in the room: kinder. Kinder lessons are kids lessons for children age 2 to 6, and they are terrible. Everything about them is wrong, and they are fundamentally broken. NOVA has tried several times to fix them with new books and curriculums, but it doesn’t work because you can’t teach kids that young in the way NOVA wants you to. It is 40 minutes of babysitting, which isn’t bad if you have a good group. But if you have any kids with issues it will be like torture. I had a three year-old in one class who literally would not do the lesson without his mom. If she wasn’t there he would get into fetal position and cry. My branch and I did everything we could to fix it and help him adjust, but he just wasn’t ready developmentally (even my manager failed, then he blamed me for it). You never get used to kinder and it can become overwhelming in the wrong environment. That being said I am also trained to teach older kids and kids that young I don’t have a lot of experience with. But odds are you’ll experience something similar if you are there long enough, I think everyone does.

   NOVA is probably the bottom of the barrel, but it is also a kind of incompetency one can rely on. It’s like an acquired taste, and if you can learn to live with it it honestly isn’t bad. I made a lot of friends there who I still talk to, and many of my former students I still contact from time to time to see how they are doing. The best way to survive NOVA is to not think about it while you’re there. Go in and teach and give it your all and you’ll be fine.

7. Can anyone comment on what the online interview is like please ?

8. I worked for Nova for a year and a half and I would like to tell you about my experience. Nova is a good place to begin to start your journey into Japan and to give you the BootCamp experience of teaching. The interview is stress-free and they offer an apartment that is usually in a convenient location and there is no moving-in fee and key money. As well as this, Nova will usually put you in the area you desire as there are always positions available there. What I mean by the bootcamp experience is that you get to gain experience teaching all ages and teaching Eiken, TOEIC, and Business English. Because of this, you will have acquired a range of skills that you can use for your next teaching job.

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   Now the not-so-good part, Nova truly epitomizes being the Mcdonalds of English teaching. The resources you get are cheap, pay is low and a lot of courses are just a cash grab (e.g. Kinder, Kinder +, live station, travel English) and you always have to be ‘on’ either teaching or using your “10-minute break” doing notes or lobby service to parents. there is no downtime to do anything else except for your breaktime. I found this to be mentally exhausting. There is no time to prepare for anything, you will feel overworked at the end of the day.

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   The foreign managers are a mixed bag. Personally, my manager was quite a nice guy and had a hands-off approach to managing. However, others can be cold and micromanage tiny details in your lessons and seem to take the Nova approach to lessons a bit too seriously. Nova is a big company in Japan however I think the reality is that foreign managers are not trained well to be managers and are just people with a Japanese spouse who stayed at the company a bit too long. I think this is the same for most English teaching companies in Japan.

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   The Japanese staff was also a mixed bag however there was more bad than good. A lot were generally cold and rude to the foreign staff. The young staff was usually girls interested in improving their English who are straight out of university. This means their work experience in other companies was limited so they had a narrow view of what the work environment should be. They believed the Nova way of doing business is normal. There are some who can think for themselves and be friendly and it will make your experience manageable if you work in one of these branches. I do think the Japanese staff is warned not to be too friendly or close to the foreign staff.

   Now down to important things.

   Pay – I was on the Employment contract and I received around 210,000 yen a month (including travel expenses) this is not good for the amount of work you do. I get paid more as an ALT and have better hours and less work. There is a winter bonus of around 20,000 yen for employment contract employees. But you don’t get paid for winter break so it doesn’t even matter since you still lose money.

   Holiday – 10 days holiday after 6 months. You will probably end up using these during the winter and obon breaks because you are not paid for them.

   Working environment – every situation is different but generally, the Nova day is fast-paced and stressful. Some people like being ‘on’ all the time but I didn’t. Jumping from a hectic kinder class to an adult class then to a naughty kids class 8 times a toll takes a toll on you mentally. If you add a bad manager and bad Japanese staff then this will really turn your job into hell.

   Would I recommend Nova? Yes, but only for 1 year.

   Mistakes I made.

   DO NOT TAKE THE APARTMENT! find a share house or do some research before. Do not take this easy route like I did because when you want to change jobs it will be difficult for you and will end up costing you more money.

   – AVOID CENTRAL TOKYO NOVA BRANCHES! these branches usually have career-minded staff who are there to advance. The most unfriendly staff and managers were located at these branches.

   -DO NOT TAKE THE INDEPENDENT CONTRACT! I didn’t take this because you had to pay for training and to use Nova materials. There is also no holiday or winter bonus.

9. I lived in west bumfuck nowhere when I was with Nova 2 years ago. It was pretty great. All of my training mates went to big cities and said it sucked.

   I always got two days off because there was only one classroom in the area, so if it was closed, there weren’t any classes. The salary was decent, but I’m a single introvert that only spent money on food and videogames.

   Looking at what you wrote, I think it’s probably not a good fit. Nova really pits the teachers against each other and after a while it beats you down. Plus, the Japanese staff make you feel like a burden and you have to hand out tissues if your student no shows or cancels.

10. Hi there, I’ve been offered a place at Nova and I am set to leave in July. I was just wondering what people thought about working here. I’m a little bit nervous as I’ve heard some bad reviews too. Any advice would be appreciated.

    Thanks