Member of the Internet Link Exchange
There are essentially six ways:
1. Structured programs interview and hire teachers in the U.S. and arrange everything necessary to get there and work. They will take care of the visa, travel arrangements, housing, training, and other unforseen details. This ca n be a very safe and rewarding way to get a teaching job. The downside though, is that you would often be traveling with a group of Americans and have a pre-arranged social structure of Americans when you get there. This may not be desirable for someone whose motivation to go to Japan is to immerse themselves in the language and culture. Other programs arrange for you to live with a family there while teaching. This is good for cultural immersion and learning the language, but can be extremely stressf ul for someone used to having space, privacy, and personal freedom.
2. Newspaper advertisements are the most common way that freelance teachers get their jobs. Once you reach Japan, you will need to buy a newspaper (most easily found at train stations). The Japan Times in English has emp loyment ads in their Monday morning edition. This is the only day that the ads are published, and the paper is often not available after about 11am. It is very important to get the paper very early and answer the ads immediately (often they will say som ething like "call Monday 8am-12pm"). It is not uncommon for all the interview spots to be filled in the first couple hours after the paper comes out Monday morning. It is generally the jobs in the bigger cities (such as Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, etc...) t hat go so quickly. Jobs in the smaller rural towns are much more available, but the distance and isolation often make them less desirable. Many of the ads will have very specific parameters about who they will hire. The school may need to balance male an d female teachers, may teach specifically American English, and may want teachers of a certain age group. If any of these specifications are in the ad and you don't fit them, don't bother to respond.
3. Finding a job through friends that are already living and teaching in Japan is the ideal way. Often this will enable you to get the travel, living arrangements, and visa set up ahead of time--saving lots of time, energy , and money. The school will sometimes want to interview you over the phone, have photos mailed, or possibly verify your college degree. Not everyone has friends already in Japan to get this kind of lead, but if you know people, take advantage of any opp ortunities they can provide!
4. If you are in Japan looking for a job, and the newspaper is not getting you any leads, another good plan is to approach English schools directly. The best reference for this is to get an English phone book of the area you wan t to teach in. It is also good to get an English Tokyo phone book since the big chain schools usually have offices in Tokyo. English phone books are relatively easy to find. Simply look in a Japanese phone book and there will be at least one English pag e with phone numbers of local phone company offices. Call them (hopefully getting someone that speaks English) and ask for directions to the nearest office. You can go there and get an English phone book for free. Then look in the yellow pages, and sta rt calling for information!
5. Japan has a few information centers for foreigners that can be helpful. If you are there as a US military dependant, each base has an employment office with nearly all of the above mentioned resources. There are also a few pri vate information centers, such as the Kimi Information Center in Tokyo. Kimi offers copying services for resumes, they make business cards, have a weekly advertisement publication, have a message taking system for job-seekers that are not reachable where they are staying, will send and recieve faxes, and have typewriters. All of these service cost a modest fee, but can be invaluable for a foreigner. There are other similar facilities in other cities as well.
6. Recently I have been receiving a lot of email from people suggesting other sites on the Internet that specifically have job connections. I am in the process of surfing for the best sites and will list them here soon. If you know of a good site that has jobs, please drop me an email and let me know!
...Continue to next topic: Travel and visas
...Back to Main page/Table of contents