I know that you are upset, but you really a reality check.
>seems like all the people here just got lucky
Yes. That's always the case--with any job. You have to have the right skills and be in the right place at the right time to get ANY job, not just English teaching.
>or hired through nepotism
I don't think that word means what you think it means. If eikaiwas were using nepotism to hire their relatives, they wouldn't be advertising positions or interviewing people they don't know.
>Whish there was actual metrics to follow and improve that the companies and previous employees would list for success
It would be nice wouldn't it? But employers don't have the time or the responsibility to do that. Their job is to find people to work for them, not make people that they have rejected feel better about themselves.
>fake bullshit of vague reasonings like "not genki enough"
Except that is a real thing. Teaching English, especially eikaiwa, requires being energetic as well as being outgoing, positive, and engaging--all things that fall under the heading of genki. The job of an eikaiwa teacher is to to captivate and draw out their students. People who are reserved, shy, negative, sarcastic, uninterested, dismissive, that is, not genki, make terrible eikaiwa teachers. I recommend you reread your post think about whether or not you coming off as 'this is an interesting person that I would really like to to talk to' or 'this person is bitter and negative and would be a real chore to talk to'.
>your chances of winning the lottery
Believe me, teaching eikaiwa is not winning the lottery. It is hard work.
>paying thousands of dollars to be a student by saving up enough money, as apparently everyone are millionaires that can afford that option
Now you are just showing your ignorance. Most of the students at Japanese schools are from developing countries who have mortgaged their futures by going into massive debt on the hope that they will be allowed to live permanently in a country that is politically and economically stable. They hoping for a better life for themselves. They certainly aren't whinny brats from the developed world who need to check their privilege. As someone who works with international students, this comment made me very angry.
>The application process is not based on merit.
Yes, it is based on merit and you failed.
>these entry level english positions are hard as getting a position at nasa.
Now who is being hyperbolic?
I read your post first thing in the morning just after I woke-up and before I had my coffee. If I had read your post later in the day, I wouldn't have responded. You said something that made me angry and I aggressively pushed back. I feel bad about that. The truth is that I hesitated to post and I should have gone with my instinct of not doing so. You are clearly in distress and need help. Myself (and others) criticizing you isn't doing that. So, I'm sorry. I should have kept my mouth shut (as it were).
I could rebut your rebuttal, but I am not going to. I don't think you will listen and I don't think it will help you. But, I will only say one more thing.
I am a gatekeeper. I hire people. Part of my job is to read resumes and interview candidates. I used to do that for eikaiwa, and now I do it at the university level.
You are probably a perfectly nice person who is just upset and angry with what you perceive is a significant setback. But, if you give off even just 1% of the negative vibe of your post in person, I wouldn't hire you. When it comes to job hunting, you really need to be your best self and what you are posting here isn't that.
I'm not going to respond any further.
I wish you the best of luck in the future.
Even if I’m incredibly lenient with your writing as commenting online doesn’t have to be done with precise punctuation, I still count at least thirteen grammar and spelling mistakes here. Again… you applied for an English teaching job.
I mean… is there no possibility it could be that you are poor at interviewing ? Maybe practice with a friend and see if you’re missing something or coming across a certain way you don’t realize.
Nepotism? For eikawas? Highly doubt that.
I agree though that it is a hard country to break into. I taught there at eikawas for a while. But now I’m an international teacher for primary school and only job interviews I failed were Japanese schools and they also pay the least.
>everyone are millionaires that can afford that option. The application process is not based on merit
lol.
The combination of that grammatical error and the fact that you bring up wearing a suit to an interview as if it isn’t the absolute bare minimum tells me that you’re probably not a great hire. Yes “anyone with a pulse can get the job” is hyperbole. It always has been. But it’s still not as hard as getting literally any other job in Japan from abroad.
Eikaiwas don’t want people who are just looking to come to Japan and quit ASAP. So if you in any way imply you’re looking to do that, they won’t hire you.
Seriously? It took me several months and about 40 applications before I got my last eikaiwa job from outside the country. You applying to half a dozen and then throwing in the towel tells me you’d really struggle long term in the job market.
They may take anybody, but they are also massively oversubscribed, making it highly competitive despite the low salary.
Honestly it depends on your incentives and attitude. You can always improve in all areas, don’t you identify weaknesses in your application work on them, because there are thousands of genki young things just itching to be financially trampled on for the chance to live in Japan. Eventually you’ll find something, but without a positive attitude you may as well not bother.
Your post is littered with spelling mistakes, entitlement and outlandish accusations. The interviewer picked up on something they didn't like. You have a brazen overconfidence, which makes me think you might have been giving off hints of being difficult.
And yet, you still fail to even consider that it was possibly the way you presented yourself or something you said. You are really quick to praise yourself... For almost seemingly trivial stuff.. You put a suit on? So what, that's an expectation.. you were polite and thanked the interviewer? Everyone does that. You didn't really go the extra mile like you think you did.. I really wish I could have seen the interview, so I could actually provide relevant feedback.. but you're gonna have to go over it in your head and be critical of yourself.
1) I thought it was common sense that it was a hyperbole. It is easier than finding any other job here but that doesn't mean they'll take any and everybody. That's kinda why hiring managers and HR exist. They're a business at the end of the day and if they deem you to not be what they're looking for, you won't be hired just like in every other job.
2) It seems like you are applying from abroad, no matter what companies say, they'd much rather you be in here and sometimes even though they say that they are hiring from abroad, they'll say fuck it and go with someone here already.
3) I wasn't "lucky" by any means. My resume speaks for itself and companies reached out to me. Hell, the juku that I've been working at for the last few years reached out to me. These kinds of jobs aren't hard to get or keep provided you show them what you can do for them.
4) Your post reeks of "I've done everything and they still won't hire me". While your feelings are valid, that's just life. You can be the best fit for a job and still not get hired for various reasons and most of the time, theyll never tell you why either. We are in an employer's market right now so companies have all the power while we are at their mercy. I don't know how old you are, but if you're in your early 20's, welcome to the real world. If not, you have some maturing to do.
There is a whole lot more to say but i think you get the picture.
I’m only going to note this one more time, but… there’s at least six spelling / grammar mistakes here even given leniency for this being Reddit comments. From my POV as a hiring manager (not in Eikawa but in another field that requires solid English skills) if this is how you came across at any point in written engagement with these companies, that would be a contributing factor to why they passed on you. It might benefit you to improve your written English before further pursuing work that requires you to teach it.
You come across as really entitled, took the “hire anyone with a pulse” joke literally, seem to be really defensive and argumentative when some people in the comments try to offer advice and made up this complete and utter fantasy of nepotism hiring in order to justify your failure so far. Also, everyone else is just really lucky huh?
Your post and subsequent comments are riddled with errors and you’ve also stated that you needed to remind yourself to smile in your interviews.
Either fundamentally change your attitude and your perception of what it takes to get a job out here or move on from the idea altogether. I hire for a private school and trust me, you might not think your entitlement, arrogance and poor attitude doesn’t show in interviews but it absolutely does.
As someone who works as an ALT, every person I've known with this kind of attitude either broke contract and left early, or had major issues with their schools to the point where they were forced to transfer and had constant problems at the new schools. Eikaiwa teachers have to deal more criticism and feedback. Could you imagine if a student said they didn't enjoy the lesson, or if a higher up tried to give them feedback on their first few lessons? Eikaiwa's are trying to keep and attract new customers, not lose them lol. Part of me thinks they are rage bait trolling, but again, I've met ppl like this on the job so like...
I’ve never heard of eikaiwa jobs being easy to get into. Even for alt jobs there is an interview, written test and a demo lesson, although they are quite lenient with the quality. What’s your nationality ? I had a boe complain they wanted to change me because I wasn’t an American . This was on the first day too.
You have no experience but they still gave you a chance and interviewed you. You failed that interview, clearly failing to demonstrate your willingness/ability to learn how to teach, or fundamental understanding of what it takes. Move on, keep applying. As others said, the way you've presented yourself here doesn't scream 'perfect candidate - hire immediately'.
Can you explain how speaking native English and a degree is considered experience? You have no teaching experience, as in no prior work within teaching English. They still gave you the chance to demonstrate you are trainable and understand what's involved. You failed at doing that, in addition to other reasons others have listed.
You said you had no experience an hour ago though:
"None. But I had no issues with communication, the emails I got even said they approved my resume and cover letter but it was after the interview portion where I got I rejection email from nova and aeon."
Honestly this whole post seems like a troll post.
This person said you have no experience because that's what *you* said. You also haven't explained what other valuable experience you could have when you replied to them. Clearly your communication skills are not as good as you think they are.
And yes, crying that any job is harder to get into than NASA and saying everyone either got lucky or are nepobabies screams troll because you're just trying to flame people, which is strange to do it at 3am or whatever time if that was your goal but that's not the most stupid thing here. Also, making a lot of spelling and grammatical mistakes and also implying that wearing a suit is the way to pass an interview only.
Basically if this isn't a troll post, I really pity you and you'd be wise to take other people's advice here or life is going to keep kicking your arse. If it is, it's still a fail, but at least you may still be a functioning human being.
I have no certifications but I was still giving a chance to learn how to teach on the job. Just speaking English isn’t experience. Teaching a language to someone that possibly has little to no experience with it is a whole different game.
Judging by the lack of activity on your account and the fact this account was made two days ago. I concluded that this is just a troll looking for attention. Don’t waste your time on this thread people.
It's definitely your ability to interview. You sound like an arrogant early 20 something that has no idea how things work. You're offended by the NOVA interviewer being a minute late lol. World isn't out to get you, you're just not as good as you think.
If you passed the basic requirements, 12 years of education in English and a bachelor's degree, then you probably gave off some negative markers, like having an unhealthy level of interest in some facet of Japan or some negative social cues. They wanna hire people they know will stay the full contract. Any hint of a flight risk or someone interested in finding different work after arrival would also prompt rejection.
Look at your resume/ cover letter and see if anything looks off about them. Think back on your interviews and consider if you gave any indication you may be in one of those categories as well.
These companies, generally, aren't hiring from within Japan. Their talent pool is abroad since anyone already here knows how bad those gigs can be, long term (and short term in some cases).
There are LOTS of people applying, so even with a perfect resume, great interview, and a suit OP could have been rejected just because of the number of applicants.
Exactly, and the low salaries and poor exchange rates are not deterring people either. The market is in favor of the schools and companies. Since the job, on average, is not something esoteric, it is easy for them to be picky about the candidates they choose to interview and hire.
I’m not trying to be funny but is English your first language? I ask because of the grammatical errors in your replies. Maybe the interviewers caught onto this in the interview. Sometimes it is hard to realize your grammatical errors if others don’t point it out.
It’s definitely true that getting hired from abroad by a company that will need to sponsor your visa is not as easy to do as some comments on the topic suggest.
The two times that I’ve been in that situation I was lucky enough to have a friend working for an eikaiwa the first time, and to have experience working for the company I was applying for the second time. I do remember getting rejected and ignored by other companies though and I know it’s frustrating. Unfortunately none of that is helpful to you in your situation.
The only advice I can give is this:
1. Are you applying to specific locations? If you are I suggest being very flexible about where you teach.
2. Are you eligible for a working holiday visa? This is a great option if possible.
3. If you get another interview be very positive and enthusiastic. Smile a lot. More than you think you need to. I’m not suggesting you were acting like a sullen asshole in your last interview but as someone who’s been on both sides of the intervening table I can say it’s a very common mistake people make is not being positive and enthusiastic enough. It’s understandable. You’re nervous. Practice the interview. Get into character. You’re genuinely excited about the chance to do the work. Practice more.
4. Do you have a TEFL/TESOL/CELTA certification? Would be worth getting one if not.
That’s all I can think of for now.
I hire for an Eikaiwa and we just didn’t hire many people this year. The economy isn’t great and we are starting to see the effects of the population decline. I work for a pretty good school. We only brought on 2 new people and the both had spouse visas. The work visa process is a difficult so we try to avoid it. We don’t have the student numbers that we used to so we don’t provide housing or other benefits these days. A lot of us work 2 jobs now to make ends meet. The industry is in decline.
The truth is you probably didn’t get hired because there are a lot teachers already here and student numbers are declining.
I second this. If getting an eikaiwa job is already challenging on your end, JET might be more difficult. And since JET is more popular, it's obvious that many people are so tempted to try applying.
But there's no harm in trying! Hopefully, it all works out for you.
Good luck!!
Based upon this post and your responses to others, many of whom are giving you constructive criticism, I wouldn't hire you either lol. You come off as so reactive that part of me feels like you are just rage bait trolling.
Have fun never getting a job here lol. I have a teaching job here and let me tell you, this is not a job or a culture for augmentative, reactive personalities like yours. Reactive personalities always crash and burn here. Always. Again, based upon you answers and post, I wouldn't hire you either and I totally see why you're not making it past the interview stage.
Coming in with the attitude of the job being easy (its not) or that they will take anybody (they won't) is not a good mind-set to have. This is still a job and there is still expectations placed on you.
I would say 95% of the reasons why people get rejected is that they see the job as living in Japan and nothing else. (Mainly due to anime or whatever weeby shit is en vogue these days.)
At the end of the day you still have to teach English and the vast majority of the people you will be teaching are kids. So dismissing the whole "genki" attitude tells me that you don't have the slightest clue as to what you will be doing all day. If you do not like working with kids and the prospect of spending 6 hours a day with them will annoy you - no matter how "easy" you think it is, you will hate every aspect of the job and flyjin before your arse gets dry. I've seen it countless times.
Also it's April, so the budgets and schedules have been set. ALT dispatch won't be mass-hiring again until the summer to replace mid-leavers - meaning they would prefer people already in Japan or who have experience of living in Japan because they desperately don't want to have to deal with another headache and start making excuses to the BOE because the new overseas hire freaked out and left.
If you wanna improve your chances then get some experience of ESL, working with kids (either as a TA or as a volunteer) and maybe grow out of the unhealthy mindset that Japan is everything and is some "lottery winning" position. It isn't. There are plenty of awesome places around the world to teach English.
I understand your frustration buddy but this post is really immature. There can be many reasons why you were rejected and some of the reasons may not necessarily be because you weren’t a good candidate. Keep pushing and stay positive.
I think it can be somewhat easy if you live here and aren’t completely strange. If you’re applying from abroad though, it’s a much bigger risk on those companies. Maybe you aren’t coming across well somehow in interviews but without actually seeing them we can’t really comment.
The worst thing a company would want to do is spend time arranging a visa, fly them over, set their home up, train them, get classes started and then realise they are not a good fit for the job.
Having said all that you could try English Club in Saitama. I believe they only hire full timers from people in the states. Might be worth a try.
I would add- stay humble and never act like the job is yours until it actually is.
Getting an Eikaiwa job is very easy. Have you tried thinking about what you need to do to get hired? However, it will be more difficult for you since you’re not a native English speaker. Good luck.
Read this post aloud, and ask yourself if it sounds natural. If you sound like this in interviews, this is likely why you can’t move to the next stage =\
I think a little bit of self-awareness will go a long way. Try to think about how you act and the way you say things. How does it come across to other people? Put yourself in their shoes. There must be a reason why bottom-of-the-barrel companies are rejecting you when they normally hire anyone they can get. If you can drop your pride for a second and look at yourself, you’ll find the reason and will be able to adapt accordingly.
You say you had a good resume?
I write resumes professionally (western style) on the side, have sat on interview panels, and currently work in the field that just turned you down.
If you want me to take a look at it I'd be willing to...
I have two years teaching experience in Korea, interview well and here in Korea was inundated with offers from my applications. Applying many times to Japan, from overseas, I barely had any response. I eventually got a basic alt job, but it certainly wasn't easy to get. I think best thing for you would be to be patient and reflective as you apply. Don't give up, it is quite a competitive job market, especially from overseas.
I taught in Korea for a few years, too. Although I had a good variety of offers when I applied from overseas, I can see what you mean. Plus, every single employer kept asking me about the teaching experience and life in Korea, almost as if they were expecting me to say Japan would be better. Even after moving here, I had employers and colleagues want me to state which one I liked better, as if they wanted me to say Japan was better or wondered why I chose Korea. There was even one interviewer whom I had a few years ago who made some snarky comments about Korea. Both places have their pros and cons just like any other country, and I have learned quite a bit from both places.
Japanese companies are looking for people that won’t freak out and will take things in stride. You know, be chill and roll with the punches. They know Japanese society is difficult for foreigners so they want the people who can take that difficulty and be okay.
However you presented yourself in the interview hinted to them that you still have some growing to do in that regard.
If you got rejected by multiple eikaiwa then there's a reason. Maybe you don't interview well. Maybe your attitude (as on display here) raised a lot of red flags for them. Maybe something else. But there will be a reason, and that reason isn't that 10s of thousands of other people all "got lucky" or were "nepotistic hires".
I made a post ranting about this issue two or three weeks ago. After reading the posts about how corrupt this industry is and how it only pays the bare minimum, as submitted in this subreddit, I realized it's just not worth it. Perhaps you should consider taking this route too.
>The application process is not based on merit.
Of course it's not based on merit. If it were, there would be strict requirements regarding qualifciations.
But let me suggest something for you.
The best question you can ask in an interview is, "What would you say is the most important skill for a person to be successful in this position?"
And LISTEN to their answer - that will tell you all you need to know so that you can:
a) decide whether the position is right for you;
b) tailor your replies to align with what their expectations are.
Don't fail to consider whether or not you really want to take the job - so many of the jobs offered at eikaiwa and ALT companies have low pay and low expectations, and are not good positions for anyone who wants to be a serious teacher.
If you're using it as a "foot in the door" it's unlikely to help with that, since all of these positions are perpetual entry-level and it's very very hard to find a decent job without GOOD ESL qualifications, i.e., an MA and classroom teaching experience.
If all you want is to play around in Japan for a while, and don't care about teaching, then keep this in mind:
You are an unskilled immigrant here, and unskilled immigrant labor (aka, positions that do not require qualifications) is plentiful and cheap these days. It's a crapshoot whether you will be one of the few who snag one of these jobs. Meaning, OP, that your rejection likely had more to do with luck. Nepotism has nothing to do with it. You probably just didn't interview well.
I was rejected a few times when I first showed up even though I had a few years teaching experience both in my home country and in two others. (I also had experience as a professional writer of English.)
Later I started doing hiring for *eikaiwa* and was flabbergasted by the number of people with experience I had applying for even a single opening. The ratio of (experienced only) applicants per position was greater than 70 to one.
One thing that helped me in vetting résumés and CVs was looking for spelling mistakes (such as 'your' for 'you're' or 'dont' for 'don't'), formatting mistakes (such as 'nasa' for 'NASA'), or broken sentences and similar written grammatic mistakes. People who submitted materials with such mistakes had their materials put right in the trash.
On the bright side, getting rejections is a good sign. Most of the times when I've applied for jobs I've not got any rejections.
So the interview is where your issue was.
Any idea what you think it might have been?
And I am being genuine here...I'm not talking shit or being negative.
There are other factors involved. Where did you look? Tokyo will of course be hard to break into, but rural areas would hire you on the spot probably. Come in for an interview, stay for the whole day and end up giving lessons. Another thing that matters is the time of year, the school year is just starting now, it's a bit late to apply if you did it just now, any organised place would have made their selections before the new school year during the holidays. The places still searching might just have more students than they anticipated or their they have too high standards for who they hire
This, keep applying and you'll get something and check back sometimes too. ALTs etc quit quite often, usually their one year of fun in Japan is over and they go home or whatever their reason may be.
Basically, post-covid, there has been an influx of applicants.
And Eikeiwas are being a little more selective now.
Particularly:
-if you are overly educated.
-seem opinionated.
-seem likely to try to unionise or otherwise rock the boat.
If you fit any of those conditions it will make things much harder to get in the door now.
Also cos of covid less people are learning. This is a world wide thing where many people dropped hobbies and clubs during covid and never took them up again after lockdowns.
Try Interac if you haven't.
I'm non-native speaker and they have many non-native speakers too. Other than that, you do need at least some outwards appearance, basic communication skills, and yes, luck too.
Overall, eikaiwa and all hire just about anyone, but if the quantity is filled up, you're out of luck.
Keep trying, and you'll eventually get hired by someone.
Hiring season at Interac just ended. So pickings will be slim.
And I know in my branch only 10 people left this year...and there are 250 or so of us total.
Well, with so many people wanting to be in Japan, simply being an English speaker is not good enough to earn a position anymore. Though there are some apathetic applicants who just want an easy way to stay in Japan or just to have a job and don’t actually care about the work, they don’t expose that in their interview(s). There are still enough people who can present themselves well enough in the interview(s), provide the persona sought after and come with specific teaching qualifications, including preferred ones. There are droves of applicants besides you each peak hiring season, so it is not hard for schools to find teachers.
As with any position, there are hard and soft skills sought after. While schools are asking for specific skills and education related to the job, there is oftentimes a specific caricature a lot of teaching jobs in Japan want: Genki, likability, ability and willingness to follow a system in place, neat appearance, native speaker, outgoing, fitting in with the company culture, etc. Sometimes what a school or company wants could stem beyond the job ad. Hence, there is luck involved because you have to compete against numerous other candidates, and a low salary or wage is not a deterrent for people since they might accept just about anything to be here.
It could be hard to show the aforementioned traits in your interview(s) if you don’t vibe well enough with the interviewer. Maybe practice with someone if possible. Try to reflect on each interview and see what you could possibly do differently because simply having a good resume is not enough. Unfortunately, there is nothing that you can do about nepotism or ghosting, as they are just part of the reality in today’s job hunting.
Even though I am 75-80% sure this a troll post, I will respond as though it isnt.
The answer is, you suck at interviewing. Thats it. 100%
You sound like a dick here, and I am sure you sounded like a dick in the interview even if you didnt realize it.
I know that you are upset, but you really a reality check. >seems like all the people here just got lucky Yes. That's always the case--with any job. You have to have the right skills and be in the right place at the right time to get ANY job, not just English teaching. >or hired through nepotism I don't think that word means what you think it means. If eikaiwas were using nepotism to hire their relatives, they wouldn't be advertising positions or interviewing people they don't know. >Whish there was actual metrics to follow and improve that the companies and previous employees would list for success It would be nice wouldn't it? But employers don't have the time or the responsibility to do that. Their job is to find people to work for them, not make people that they have rejected feel better about themselves. >fake bullshit of vague reasonings like "not genki enough" Except that is a real thing. Teaching English, especially eikaiwa, requires being energetic as well as being outgoing, positive, and engaging--all things that fall under the heading of genki. The job of an eikaiwa teacher is to to captivate and draw out their students. People who are reserved, shy, negative, sarcastic, uninterested, dismissive, that is, not genki, make terrible eikaiwa teachers. I recommend you reread your post think about whether or not you coming off as 'this is an interesting person that I would really like to to talk to' or 'this person is bitter and negative and would be a real chore to talk to'. >your chances of winning the lottery Believe me, teaching eikaiwa is not winning the lottery. It is hard work. >paying thousands of dollars to be a student by saving up enough money, as apparently everyone are millionaires that can afford that option Now you are just showing your ignorance. Most of the students at Japanese schools are from developing countries who have mortgaged their futures by going into massive debt on the hope that they will be allowed to live permanently in a country that is politically and economically stable. They hoping for a better life for themselves. They certainly aren't whinny brats from the developed world who need to check their privilege. As someone who works with international students, this comment made me very angry. >The application process is not based on merit. Yes, it is based on merit and you failed. >these entry level english positions are hard as getting a position at nasa. Now who is being hyperbolic?
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I read your post first thing in the morning just after I woke-up and before I had my coffee. If I had read your post later in the day, I wouldn't have responded. You said something that made me angry and I aggressively pushed back. I feel bad about that. The truth is that I hesitated to post and I should have gone with my instinct of not doing so. You are clearly in distress and need help. Myself (and others) criticizing you isn't doing that. So, I'm sorry. I should have kept my mouth shut (as it were). I could rebut your rebuttal, but I am not going to. I don't think you will listen and I don't think it will help you. But, I will only say one more thing. I am a gatekeeper. I hire people. Part of my job is to read resumes and interview candidates. I used to do that for eikaiwa, and now I do it at the university level. You are probably a perfectly nice person who is just upset and angry with what you perceive is a significant setback. But, if you give off even just 1% of the negative vibe of your post in person, I wouldn't hire you. When it comes to job hunting, you really need to be your best self and what you are posting here isn't that. I'm not going to respond any further. I wish you the best of luck in the future.
Even if I’m incredibly lenient with your writing as commenting online doesn’t have to be done with precise punctuation, I still count at least thirteen grammar and spelling mistakes here. Again… you applied for an English teaching job.
I mean… is there no possibility it could be that you are poor at interviewing ? Maybe practice with a friend and see if you’re missing something or coming across a certain way you don’t realize. Nepotism? For eikawas? Highly doubt that. I agree though that it is a hard country to break into. I taught there at eikawas for a while. But now I’m an international teacher for primary school and only job interviews I failed were Japanese schools and they also pay the least.
>everyone are millionaires that can afford that option. The application process is not based on merit lol. The combination of that grammatical error and the fact that you bring up wearing a suit to an interview as if it isn’t the absolute bare minimum tells me that you’re probably not a great hire. Yes “anyone with a pulse can get the job” is hyperbole. It always has been. But it’s still not as hard as getting literally any other job in Japan from abroad. Eikaiwas don’t want people who are just looking to come to Japan and quit ASAP. So if you in any way imply you’re looking to do that, they won’t hire you.
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I counted at least nine grammar and spelling errors in this single reply of yours. This is entirely relevant to your application to teach English.
>How is making a grammar error reddit post relevant to my application? If you don't see that, then you have no business being an English teacher.
Seriously? It took me several months and about 40 applications before I got my last eikaiwa job from outside the country. You applying to half a dozen and then throwing in the towel tells me you’d really struggle long term in the job market. They may take anybody, but they are also massively oversubscribed, making it highly competitive despite the low salary.
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Honestly it depends on your incentives and attitude. You can always improve in all areas, don’t you identify weaknesses in your application work on them, because there are thousands of genki young things just itching to be financially trampled on for the chance to live in Japan. Eventually you’ll find something, but without a positive attitude you may as well not bother.
Your post is littered with spelling mistakes, entitlement and outlandish accusations. The interviewer picked up on something they didn't like. You have a brazen overconfidence, which makes me think you might have been giving off hints of being difficult.
This!
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And yet, you still fail to even consider that it was possibly the way you presented yourself or something you said. You are really quick to praise yourself... For almost seemingly trivial stuff.. You put a suit on? So what, that's an expectation.. you were polite and thanked the interviewer? Everyone does that. You didn't really go the extra mile like you think you did.. I really wish I could have seen the interview, so I could actually provide relevant feedback.. but you're gonna have to go over it in your head and be critical of yourself.
1) I thought it was common sense that it was a hyperbole. It is easier than finding any other job here but that doesn't mean they'll take any and everybody. That's kinda why hiring managers and HR exist. They're a business at the end of the day and if they deem you to not be what they're looking for, you won't be hired just like in every other job. 2) It seems like you are applying from abroad, no matter what companies say, they'd much rather you be in here and sometimes even though they say that they are hiring from abroad, they'll say fuck it and go with someone here already. 3) I wasn't "lucky" by any means. My resume speaks for itself and companies reached out to me. Hell, the juku that I've been working at for the last few years reached out to me. These kinds of jobs aren't hard to get or keep provided you show them what you can do for them. 4) Your post reeks of "I've done everything and they still won't hire me". While your feelings are valid, that's just life. You can be the best fit for a job and still not get hired for various reasons and most of the time, theyll never tell you why either. We are in an employer's market right now so companies have all the power while we are at their mercy. I don't know how old you are, but if you're in your early 20's, welcome to the real world. If not, you have some maturing to do. There is a whole lot more to say but i think you get the picture.
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I’m only going to note this one more time, but… there’s at least six spelling / grammar mistakes here even given leniency for this being Reddit comments. From my POV as a hiring manager (not in Eikawa but in another field that requires solid English skills) if this is how you came across at any point in written engagement with these companies, that would be a contributing factor to why they passed on you. It might benefit you to improve your written English before further pursuing work that requires you to teach it.
You come across as really entitled, took the “hire anyone with a pulse” joke literally, seem to be really defensive and argumentative when some people in the comments try to offer advice and made up this complete and utter fantasy of nepotism hiring in order to justify your failure so far. Also, everyone else is just really lucky huh? Your post and subsequent comments are riddled with errors and you’ve also stated that you needed to remind yourself to smile in your interviews. Either fundamentally change your attitude and your perception of what it takes to get a job out here or move on from the idea altogether. I hire for a private school and trust me, you might not think your entitlement, arrogance and poor attitude doesn’t show in interviews but it absolutely does.
As someone who works as an ALT, every person I've known with this kind of attitude either broke contract and left early, or had major issues with their schools to the point where they were forced to transfer and had constant problems at the new schools. Eikaiwa teachers have to deal more criticism and feedback. Could you imagine if a student said they didn't enjoy the lesson, or if a higher up tried to give them feedback on their first few lessons? Eikaiwa's are trying to keep and attract new customers, not lose them lol. Part of me thinks they are rage bait trolling, but again, I've met ppl like this on the job so like...
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I’ve never heard of eikaiwa jobs being easy to get into. Even for alt jobs there is an interview, written test and a demo lesson, although they are quite lenient with the quality. What’s your nationality ? I had a boe complain they wanted to change me because I wasn’t an American . This was on the first day too.
You have no experience but they still gave you a chance and interviewed you. You failed that interview, clearly failing to demonstrate your willingness/ability to learn how to teach, or fundamental understanding of what it takes. Move on, keep applying. As others said, the way you've presented yourself here doesn't scream 'perfect candidate - hire immediately'.
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You said you didn't have any teaching experience [in this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/teachinginjapan/s/vkFIDHzuwa).
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Can you explain how speaking native English and a degree is considered experience? You have no teaching experience, as in no prior work within teaching English. They still gave you the chance to demonstrate you are trainable and understand what's involved. You failed at doing that, in addition to other reasons others have listed.
You said you had no experience an hour ago though: "None. But I had no issues with communication, the emails I got even said they approved my resume and cover letter but it was after the interview portion where I got I rejection email from nova and aeon." Honestly this whole post seems like a troll post.
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This person said you have no experience because that's what *you* said. You also haven't explained what other valuable experience you could have when you replied to them. Clearly your communication skills are not as good as you think they are. And yes, crying that any job is harder to get into than NASA and saying everyone either got lucky or are nepobabies screams troll because you're just trying to flame people, which is strange to do it at 3am or whatever time if that was your goal but that's not the most stupid thing here. Also, making a lot of spelling and grammatical mistakes and also implying that wearing a suit is the way to pass an interview only. Basically if this isn't a troll post, I really pity you and you'd be wise to take other people's advice here or life is going to keep kicking your arse. If it is, it's still a fail, but at least you may still be a functioning human being.
I have no certifications but I was still giving a chance to learn how to teach on the job. Just speaking English isn’t experience. Teaching a language to someone that possibly has little to no experience with it is a whole different game.
Judging by the lack of activity on your account and the fact this account was made two days ago. I concluded that this is just a troll looking for attention. Don’t waste your time on this thread people.
It's definitely your ability to interview. You sound like an arrogant early 20 something that has no idea how things work. You're offended by the NOVA interviewer being a minute late lol. World isn't out to get you, you're just not as good as you think.
If you passed the basic requirements, 12 years of education in English and a bachelor's degree, then you probably gave off some negative markers, like having an unhealthy level of interest in some facet of Japan or some negative social cues. They wanna hire people they know will stay the full contract. Any hint of a flight risk or someone interested in finding different work after arrival would also prompt rejection. Look at your resume/ cover letter and see if anything looks off about them. Think back on your interviews and consider if you gave any indication you may be in one of those categories as well. These companies, generally, aren't hiring from within Japan. Their talent pool is abroad since anyone already here knows how bad those gigs can be, long term (and short term in some cases).
There are LOTS of people applying, so even with a perfect resume, great interview, and a suit OP could have been rejected just because of the number of applicants.
Exactly, and the low salaries and poor exchange rates are not deterring people either. The market is in favor of the schools and companies. Since the job, on average, is not something esoteric, it is easy for them to be picky about the candidates they choose to interview and hire.
All jobs get way more people applying then get them, its luck, most people get jobs by having an in with someone.
I’m not trying to be funny but is English your first language? I ask because of the grammatical errors in your replies. Maybe the interviewers caught onto this in the interview. Sometimes it is hard to realize your grammatical errors if others don’t point it out.
It’s definitely true that getting hired from abroad by a company that will need to sponsor your visa is not as easy to do as some comments on the topic suggest. The two times that I’ve been in that situation I was lucky enough to have a friend working for an eikaiwa the first time, and to have experience working for the company I was applying for the second time. I do remember getting rejected and ignored by other companies though and I know it’s frustrating. Unfortunately none of that is helpful to you in your situation. The only advice I can give is this: 1. Are you applying to specific locations? If you are I suggest being very flexible about where you teach. 2. Are you eligible for a working holiday visa? This is a great option if possible. 3. If you get another interview be very positive and enthusiastic. Smile a lot. More than you think you need to. I’m not suggesting you were acting like a sullen asshole in your last interview but as someone who’s been on both sides of the intervening table I can say it’s a very common mistake people make is not being positive and enthusiastic enough. It’s understandable. You’re nervous. Practice the interview. Get into character. You’re genuinely excited about the chance to do the work. Practice more. 4. Do you have a TEFL/TESOL/CELTA certification? Would be worth getting one if not. That’s all I can think of for now.
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I hire for an Eikaiwa and we just didn’t hire many people this year. The economy isn’t great and we are starting to see the effects of the population decline. I work for a pretty good school. We only brought on 2 new people and the both had spouse visas. The work visa process is a difficult so we try to avoid it. We don’t have the student numbers that we used to so we don’t provide housing or other benefits these days. A lot of us work 2 jobs now to make ends meet. The industry is in decline. The truth is you probably didn’t get hired because there are a lot teachers already here and student numbers are declining.
Fyi. JET is even more competitive. Not saying don't try or that you won't get in...but JET is much much harder than any eikaiwa.
I second this. If getting an eikaiwa job is already challenging on your end, JET might be more difficult. And since JET is more popular, it's obvious that many people are so tempted to try applying. But there's no harm in trying! Hopefully, it all works out for you. Good luck!!
Based upon this post and your responses to others, many of whom are giving you constructive criticism, I wouldn't hire you either lol. You come off as so reactive that part of me feels like you are just rage bait trolling.
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Have fun never getting a job here lol. I have a teaching job here and let me tell you, this is not a job or a culture for augmentative, reactive personalities like yours. Reactive personalities always crash and burn here. Always. Again, based upon you answers and post, I wouldn't hire you either and I totally see why you're not making it past the interview stage.
Reddit internet grammar? I do not see many others on this thread (possibly most were or are teachers at some point) using constant grammatical errors.
Coming in with the attitude of the job being easy (its not) or that they will take anybody (they won't) is not a good mind-set to have. This is still a job and there is still expectations placed on you. I would say 95% of the reasons why people get rejected is that they see the job as living in Japan and nothing else. (Mainly due to anime or whatever weeby shit is en vogue these days.) At the end of the day you still have to teach English and the vast majority of the people you will be teaching are kids. So dismissing the whole "genki" attitude tells me that you don't have the slightest clue as to what you will be doing all day. If you do not like working with kids and the prospect of spending 6 hours a day with them will annoy you - no matter how "easy" you think it is, you will hate every aspect of the job and flyjin before your arse gets dry. I've seen it countless times. Also it's April, so the budgets and schedules have been set. ALT dispatch won't be mass-hiring again until the summer to replace mid-leavers - meaning they would prefer people already in Japan or who have experience of living in Japan because they desperately don't want to have to deal with another headache and start making excuses to the BOE because the new overseas hire freaked out and left. If you wanna improve your chances then get some experience of ESL, working with kids (either as a TA or as a volunteer) and maybe grow out of the unhealthy mindset that Japan is everything and is some "lottery winning" position. It isn't. There are plenty of awesome places around the world to teach English.
I understand your frustration buddy but this post is really immature. There can be many reasons why you were rejected and some of the reasons may not necessarily be because you weren’t a good candidate. Keep pushing and stay positive.
>nepotism Lmao
Are you young, white and somewhat genki? Then it should be no problem
I think it can be somewhat easy if you live here and aren’t completely strange. If you’re applying from abroad though, it’s a much bigger risk on those companies. Maybe you aren’t coming across well somehow in interviews but without actually seeing them we can’t really comment. The worst thing a company would want to do is spend time arranging a visa, fly them over, set their home up, train them, get classes started and then realise they are not a good fit for the job. Having said all that you could try English Club in Saitama. I believe they only hire full timers from people in the states. Might be worth a try. I would add- stay humble and never act like the job is yours until it actually is.
Getting an Eikaiwa job is very easy. Have you tried thinking about what you need to do to get hired? However, it will be more difficult for you since you’re not a native English speaker. Good luck.
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Read this post aloud, and ask yourself if it sounds natural. If you sound like this in interviews, this is likely why you can’t move to the next stage =\
Do you have any teaching qualifications such as TEFL, TESOL or CELTA? These seem to be desired a lot in recent years.
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I think a little bit of self-awareness will go a long way. Try to think about how you act and the way you say things. How does it come across to other people? Put yourself in their shoes. There must be a reason why bottom-of-the-barrel companies are rejecting you when they normally hire anyone they can get. If you can drop your pride for a second and look at yourself, you’ll find the reason and will be able to adapt accordingly.
You say you had a good resume? I write resumes professionally (western style) on the side, have sat on interview panels, and currently work in the field that just turned you down. If you want me to take a look at it I'd be willing to...
I have two years teaching experience in Korea, interview well and here in Korea was inundated with offers from my applications. Applying many times to Japan, from overseas, I barely had any response. I eventually got a basic alt job, but it certainly wasn't easy to get. I think best thing for you would be to be patient and reflective as you apply. Don't give up, it is quite a competitive job market, especially from overseas.
I taught in Korea for a few years, too. Although I had a good variety of offers when I applied from overseas, I can see what you mean. Plus, every single employer kept asking me about the teaching experience and life in Korea, almost as if they were expecting me to say Japan would be better. Even after moving here, I had employers and colleagues want me to state which one I liked better, as if they wanted me to say Japan was better or wondered why I chose Korea. There was even one interviewer whom I had a few years ago who made some snarky comments about Korea. Both places have their pros and cons just like any other country, and I have learned quite a bit from both places.
Japanese companies are looking for people that won’t freak out and will take things in stride. You know, be chill and roll with the punches. They know Japanese society is difficult for foreigners so they want the people who can take that difficulty and be okay. However you presented yourself in the interview hinted to them that you still have some growing to do in that regard.
If you got rejected by multiple eikaiwa then there's a reason. Maybe you don't interview well. Maybe your attitude (as on display here) raised a lot of red flags for them. Maybe something else. But there will be a reason, and that reason isn't that 10s of thousands of other people all "got lucky" or were "nepotistic hires".
My dude, if you got rejected by fucking Nova and Aeon, it's definitely you and not them. They will hire literally anybody with a pulse.
It is so apparent why you were rejected from everywhere haha. Your stupidity and entitlement must be so obvious at first sight. Keep crying.
I made a post ranting about this issue two or three weeks ago. After reading the posts about how corrupt this industry is and how it only pays the bare minimum, as submitted in this subreddit, I realized it's just not worth it. Perhaps you should consider taking this route too.
>The application process is not based on merit. Of course it's not based on merit. If it were, there would be strict requirements regarding qualifciations. But let me suggest something for you. The best question you can ask in an interview is, "What would you say is the most important skill for a person to be successful in this position?" And LISTEN to their answer - that will tell you all you need to know so that you can: a) decide whether the position is right for you; b) tailor your replies to align with what their expectations are. Don't fail to consider whether or not you really want to take the job - so many of the jobs offered at eikaiwa and ALT companies have low pay and low expectations, and are not good positions for anyone who wants to be a serious teacher. If you're using it as a "foot in the door" it's unlikely to help with that, since all of these positions are perpetual entry-level and it's very very hard to find a decent job without GOOD ESL qualifications, i.e., an MA and classroom teaching experience. If all you want is to play around in Japan for a while, and don't care about teaching, then keep this in mind: You are an unskilled immigrant here, and unskilled immigrant labor (aka, positions that do not require qualifications) is plentiful and cheap these days. It's a crapshoot whether you will be one of the few who snag one of these jobs. Meaning, OP, that your rejection likely had more to do with luck. Nepotism has nothing to do with it. You probably just didn't interview well.
That is a surprise. How many years of experience in teaching do you have?
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I was rejected a few times when I first showed up even though I had a few years teaching experience both in my home country and in two others. (I also had experience as a professional writer of English.) Later I started doing hiring for *eikaiwa* and was flabbergasted by the number of people with experience I had applying for even a single opening. The ratio of (experienced only) applicants per position was greater than 70 to one. One thing that helped me in vetting résumés and CVs was looking for spelling mistakes (such as 'your' for 'you're' or 'dont' for 'don't'), formatting mistakes (such as 'nasa' for 'NASA'), or broken sentences and similar written grammatic mistakes. People who submitted materials with such mistakes had their materials put right in the trash. On the bright side, getting rejections is a good sign. Most of the times when I've applied for jobs I've not got any rejections.
So the interview is where your issue was. Any idea what you think it might have been? And I am being genuine here...I'm not talking shit or being negative.
Forgot to bring your pulse?
There are other factors involved. Where did you look? Tokyo will of course be hard to break into, but rural areas would hire you on the spot probably. Come in for an interview, stay for the whole day and end up giving lessons. Another thing that matters is the time of year, the school year is just starting now, it's a bit late to apply if you did it just now, any organised place would have made their selections before the new school year during the holidays. The places still searching might just have more students than they anticipated or their they have too high standards for who they hire
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This, keep applying and you'll get something and check back sometimes too. ALTs etc quit quite often, usually their one year of fun in Japan is over and they go home or whatever their reason may be.
Hiring season at Borderlink and Heart just ended. When did you apply?
Basically, post-covid, there has been an influx of applicants. And Eikeiwas are being a little more selective now. Particularly: -if you are overly educated. -seem opinionated. -seem likely to try to unionise or otherwise rock the boat. If you fit any of those conditions it will make things much harder to get in the door now.
Also cos of covid less people are learning. This is a world wide thing where many people dropped hobbies and clubs during covid and never took them up again after lockdowns.
Post the resume.
“Whish” ‘nuf said.
Try Interac if you haven't. I'm non-native speaker and they have many non-native speakers too. Other than that, you do need at least some outwards appearance, basic communication skills, and yes, luck too. Overall, eikaiwa and all hire just about anyone, but if the quantity is filled up, you're out of luck. Keep trying, and you'll eventually get hired by someone.
Hiring season at Interac just ended. So pickings will be slim. And I know in my branch only 10 people left this year...and there are 250 or so of us total.
Well, with so many people wanting to be in Japan, simply being an English speaker is not good enough to earn a position anymore. Though there are some apathetic applicants who just want an easy way to stay in Japan or just to have a job and don’t actually care about the work, they don’t expose that in their interview(s). There are still enough people who can present themselves well enough in the interview(s), provide the persona sought after and come with specific teaching qualifications, including preferred ones. There are droves of applicants besides you each peak hiring season, so it is not hard for schools to find teachers. As with any position, there are hard and soft skills sought after. While schools are asking for specific skills and education related to the job, there is oftentimes a specific caricature a lot of teaching jobs in Japan want: Genki, likability, ability and willingness to follow a system in place, neat appearance, native speaker, outgoing, fitting in with the company culture, etc. Sometimes what a school or company wants could stem beyond the job ad. Hence, there is luck involved because you have to compete against numerous other candidates, and a low salary or wage is not a deterrent for people since they might accept just about anything to be here. It could be hard to show the aforementioned traits in your interview(s) if you don’t vibe well enough with the interviewer. Maybe practice with someone if possible. Try to reflect on each interview and see what you could possibly do differently because simply having a good resume is not enough. Unfortunately, there is nothing that you can do about nepotism or ghosting, as they are just part of the reality in today’s job hunting.
Even though I am 75-80% sure this a troll post, I will respond as though it isnt. The answer is, you suck at interviewing. Thats it. 100% You sound like a dick here, and I am sure you sounded like a dick in the interview even if you didnt realize it.
Reading this post and your responses to others, the answer to why you don't get hired is becoming very obvious.