In English teaching? I seriously doubt it. They wouldn’t bother going though the motions of outside hiring if they had an internal candidate already in mind. In my experience, Japanese companies don’t bother without outside hiring at all, unless they have a position that can’t be filled by current staff. That’s how it is here.
But would they keep interviewing if they thought they had already found the right person? Probably, yes – because they’ve made the appointments, and may as well check to see if any other candidates are stronger than the one they already have in mind.
I could see how that might come off as wasting your time, because it is. However, you should try to see each interview as an opportunity to practice interview skills and further hone your resume. After all, if they already have a candidate in mind that is stronger than you, then maybe you need to up your game. 🙂
The first time I’ve personally felt like this happened fairly recently for me.
I had an interview for a full time contract university lecturer position. My interview was the first one of the day (they were interviewing candidates all on one day). I had a regular interview, and demo lesson. It took about 30 minutes. I felt like it went pretty well.
By the time I got home (around 90 minutes after the interview), I had already got an email telling me that they had gone with a different candidate.
I was really surprised about how quickly they had come to a decision. To me, it seems like they probably already had someone earmarked for the position.
To be fair, this is the only time I’ve ever felt like that so i don’t think it’s commonplace.
I saw this first hand at my last full time teaching job. I was working for a dispatch company that dispatched me full time to a Japanese company. We had a good relationship with an HR person there who was eventually replaced. New HR person brings in obvious nepotism hire to replace me, but goes through the motions of getting bids from different eikaiwa companies.
It’s probably less common in English teaching, but I doubt it doesn’t happen at all.
I regularly interview people for jobs at a large organisation. I’ve never had the feeling that there’s an intention of hiring people. In fact… I’m certain that people get hired every time.
People are an asset. English teaching’s just going through a stage where EVERYBODY who’s been locked out for the past few years now wants to teach English. Surprise surprise, not everybody can do it.
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In English teaching? I seriously doubt it. They wouldn’t bother going though the motions of outside hiring if they had an internal candidate already in mind. In my experience, Japanese companies don’t bother without outside hiring at all, unless they have a position that can’t be filled by current staff. That’s how it is here.
But would they keep interviewing if they thought they had already found the right person? Probably, yes – because they’ve made the appointments, and may as well check to see if any other candidates are stronger than the one they already have in mind.
I could see how that might come off as wasting your time, because it is. However, you should try to see each interview as an opportunity to practice interview skills and further hone your resume. After all, if they already have a candidate in mind that is stronger than you, then maybe you need to up your game. 🙂
The first time I’ve personally felt like this happened fairly recently for me.
I had an interview for a full time contract university lecturer position. My interview was the first one of the day (they were interviewing candidates all on one day). I had a regular interview, and demo lesson. It took about 30 minutes. I felt like it went pretty well.
By the time I got home (around 90 minutes after the interview), I had already got an email telling me that they had gone with a different candidate.
I was really surprised about how quickly they had come to a decision. To me, it seems like they probably already had someone earmarked for the position.
To be fair, this is the only time I’ve ever felt like that so i don’t think it’s commonplace.
I saw this first hand at my last full time teaching job. I was working for a dispatch company that dispatched me full time to a Japanese company. We had a good relationship with an HR person there who was eventually replaced. New HR person brings in obvious nepotism hire to replace me, but goes through the motions of getting bids from different eikaiwa companies.
It’s probably less common in English teaching, but I doubt it doesn’t happen at all.
I regularly interview people for jobs at a large organisation. I’ve never had the feeling that there’s an intention of hiring people. In fact… I’m certain that people get hired every time.
People are an asset. English teaching’s just going through a stage where EVERYBODY who’s been locked out for the past few years now wants to teach English. Surprise surprise, not everybody can do it.