As a person working at an eikaiwa, I see many people ask for advice about schools, companies, and so on. The response is always
“Good for a year or foot in then leave and move on to something better after a year”
But, where exactly are you moving on to? When I browse job boards there’s hardly ever anything better than my current place. In fact, since you go back to starting salary 95% are worse.
Where are people finding these better options if I want to stay in education and not move to Tokyo?
22 comments
If they stay in teaching, they likely get better jobs, direct hire, through word-of-mouth and connections they have built. Such as dispatch ALT builds connections, and gets a direct hire at a private high school as L1. These arent usually posted positions, but shared privately or seen on the schools website, but not posted on recruiting boards.
Others might stay with a dispatch but move into their office, writing texts and teaching materials, and scheduling those that are dispatch.
Others completely leave teaching and move into recruiting.
When they say move on to something better, they mean leave English teaching.
It’s also implied that you have a skill and some knowledge of Japanese.
If you’re only searching English teaching job boards, you’re only going to move laterally, at best.
I worked at an eikaiwa for 4.5 years, took Japanese lessons on my days off and now work as a translator for a consultancy firm. I found the job on a jobs board (possible GaijinPot), and I had to work on my Japanese CV and interview skills A LOT to get that job.
Essentially, if you want to get out of the drudgery of ALTing or Eikaiwa work and stay in Japan you’re going to have to be pretty fluent in Japanese (Direct hires from Boards of Education require this AFAIK) and ofc you’ll have to be really proactive in your job searches.
Good luck!
People who want to stay in education can get an MA or doctoral degree in an area related to teaching while learning Japanese. Connections will help, but they’re not worth anything if you’re not qualified to do the work you wish to do: most career-suitable jobs in formal education, at least, have clearly defined fulfillment criteria.
I worked at an eikawa for two years. Moved on to a direct hire ALT job. They did not advertise the position and only recruited by word of mouth. Some former eikaiwa colleagues of mine were working there and told me about the position. Working as an ALT gave me lots of time to study Japanese and do an MA by distance. Getting an MA helped me get my foot into university teaching.
Moved to Microsoft and do IT infrastructure administration.
“something better” usually means returning to your home country.
Other than that, without being fluent in Japanese and living in Tokyo, there’s not really much choice for foreigners
I didn’t stay in teaching…I applied for special permission to work at a physical job/construction. Pay can be pretty good and wayyyyy less stressful plus I can work on my Japanese for free 🔥.
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I decided becoming fluent in Japanese wouldn’t be very advantageous without focusing on another skill set. There are already 125 million people fluent in Japanese here.
Case in point; My eikaiwa had a lead teacher who was fluent, and here he was just doing a little paperwork for a small team in someone else’s company while still teaching eikaiwa lessons.
Improving your language ability alone wouldn’t be enough. I would aim to bring something to Japan they don’t already have in abundance. Eg. Some IT skills or go back to your country and become a fully qualified teacher (Going to US/UK for a teaching licence is very tricky for a Japanese citizen therefore it’s a marketable skill here).
Hope that helps!
Even if you stay in the eikaiwa world, you can sometimes get more than the starting salary if you’re decent at it. Don’t expect to make the big money, because it’s mostly unskilled labor, but remember that salary negotiation is possible at many places.
Roughly four paths to better conditions teaching English:
1. ALT direct hire with BOE or private school (needs teaching experience, Japanese ability, connections, luck)
2. Part-time uni then full-time uni (needs MA/PhD, publications, Japanese ability, connections, luck)
3. International school (needs teaching license from home country, teaching experience, luck)
4. Work for yourself/open school (needs teaching ability, marketing/accounting/business skills, money?/Japanese business partner?, hard work)
I’ve done three of these, they were all better than entry level ALT ^-^
>”Good for a year or foot in then leave and move on to something better after a year”
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One of the biggest myths in Japan. Less than 1% manage to transition to different work. 80% leave Japan within two years 95%+ are gone within five years.
Gonna check this in the future
“Good for a year or foot in then leave and move on to something better after a year”
I’ve used phrases similar to that. “Moving on to something better” shouldn’t be read as “a better job teaching English in Japan” since there are very limited options for upward advancement in that field (not zero, but not many). For most people the “something better” is likely to be something better back home.
In my case, I started off as an Eikaiwa teacher here over 20 years ago. Now I’m living in Japan and am over a decade into a career that has nothing to do with teaching English, so I did ultimately find something much better.
In between those gigs though I spent 7 years in grad school and some time working in my new field back home. So at least when I say there are better things out there, I don’t mean its something you are likely to jump directly into from an Eikaiwa job, which really only prepares you for other Eikaiwa jobs.
I think most people just go home. I’m planning on it at least. Just can’t make a real career out of this
Worked at an eikaiwa for a year then applied for a job in curriculum development for the same company. Got the and have really enjoyed it.
I worked at an Eikaiwa for about a year and a half, before moving to Tokyo and taking an IT position. I’m a bit of an outlier, as I already had ~6 years of experience in Systems Administration before moving. I probably could have left it a bit sooner, but was stubbornly trying to stay out of Tokyo, as I liked my city. Getting up to conversational JP was also very helpful. I know you want to stay in Education and not go to Tokyo, just my 2 cents.
I am older and like teaching English. I plan to stay in this field until I die. Seriously, not all people are young and teaching English. However, if I was younger, I would look for a higher paying job that has career advancement. Although I like teaching English, it is a low-paid job with no benefits. I am happy to have a job that pays at my age. I also have much free time and not much stress. I think you should do what makes you happy and earn money no matter what it is, as long as it is legal. If you like teaching English, then by all means try to earn a graduate degree and teach at universities. I heard the pay is better although the competition is stiff to gain such a position. Or, you can start your own school if you know how to market yourself and your business. I know some people who have done this although it is not easy either to do. If you really like teaching, you will find a way to stay in it and survive.
I went from teaching at Eikaiwas for 6 years to a year at an international school (I got lucky, they didn’t require a teaching license like most international schools might. They saw that I have a bachelor of education and and 6 years of exp teaching kids), to finally the best job I’ve ever had: at an English/Japanese kindergarten/daycare. So I’ve stayed in education this whole time but I have to say i feel like if I hadn’t taught a year at the international school, the kindergarten I currently work at wouldn’t have even interviewed me. I got lucky twice.
What I really want to be is a housewife lol but since it’s unrealistic I’ll stick to being a kindergarten teacher.
If you’re thinking of becoming an ALT, as some others have noted, working as a direct hire (e.g. for a board of education or school directly) is preferable to working for a dispatch company. I worked as a direct hire ALT for several years and the job was not posted to job boards.
A Redditor over at r/ALTinginJapan compiled a list of Boards of Ed that do direct hire:
[https://amp.reddit.com/r/ALTinginJapan/comments/k11c6i/thanksgiving_collectively_working_together_to/](https://amp.reddit.com/r/ALTinginJapan/comments/k11c6i/thanksgiving_collectively_working_together_to/)
The post is a couple of years old now, but may be a good starting point in your search.
Edit: Just realized this post is a year old. Not sure why it popped up in my home feed today. Anyway, good luck to all!