Job Advice

[maninjapan]

I's that time of year again and am looking for some advice about what to do.

Currently I am doing some English teaching for some private schools in and around the Kanagawa area.

However, seeing as the market is quite stagnant, I am looking at something else to do.

I have a degree in Computers (a 2.1 but admittedly low), and three years teaching experience. My Japanese isn't, a level 3 on the tests but looking at jobs it's either English teaching or I need to be fluent in Japanese.

Any ideas on where to look apart from careercross.com?

regards

Rob

[james]

Any ideas on where to look apart from careercross.com?

you could try gaijinpot.com ..

[CrankyBastard]

These people sometimes have interesting job ops.

http://www.japanesejobs.com/

[IkemenTommy]

You're fucked.
No j/k. Try hitting up those career fairs they have at various locations like the International Forum in Yurakucho. They seem to have one every other month for whatever market segment.. IT, engineering, sales, etc. I scored mine there

[n2a2n2o2]

[quote="IkemenTommy"]You're fucked.
No j/k. Try hitting up those career fairs they have at various locations like the International Forum in Yurakucho. They seem to have one every other month for whatever market segment.. IT, engineering, sales, etc. I scored mine there ]
hahaha..thats right, if your japanese is basic youve got like 3 job offers needs to be like business or fluent to compete. You wanna make money, work at hotels for like wedding services, good money, little brain requirement, and if ur luck meet some cool ppl. thnx for the Yurakucho fair advice.

[Hokuto-shinken]

[color="YellowGreen"]In Osaka City there are lots of teachers needed, too many. I think that teachers are becoming much wiser and realising that they don`t have to go to eikaiwa`s like NOVA and GEOS anymore.

Maybe you would be better off looking for an IT job, but they can be much harder to find.

Good luck [/color]

[Mulboyne]

This kind of question comes up reasonably often and the answers generally say that teaching is the only real option if you have no Japanese or specialist skills. I don't think that is wrong but it is still worth pointing out that people do plenty of jobs outside teaching without having decent Japanese or a stack of qualifications. Most people in Japan fitting that bill are sent over by their company, organization or government but there others who have found work in Japan. The official term for these people often seems to be "lucky bastards" but there are steps you can take to put yourself in play. Mostly this comes down to networking like crazy. Not only do people have to know you to think about offering you a job, you also have to know what kinds of jobs people do. On the one hand, it helps you get an idea of what kind of job you might like but it also gives you an opportunity to find out about a particular field. That will stand you in good stead when you go for an interview.

English teaching is an industry that specifically uses foreigners to satisfy a local demand. There aren't many large scale enterprises like that but there are companies and services primarily aimed at foreigners who live in Japan or who are interested in Japan and these companies employ people without requiring Japanese skills. They aren't always wonderful career routes but you make of them what you will and I think it is worth mentioning that these kind of options do still exist. For entrepeneurial types, setting up your own company is also an option.

Compared to landing a teaching gig, these openings are not easy ones to find but they are around.