G.Education Nova

[Taurus]

I really wouldn't mind being stationed somewhere remote, actually, but like I say, I'm not banking on JET.

Although I have just received notice that they want to interview me, so fingers crossed...

[MaMiMuMeMo]

That's nice to hear
Best of luck!

[chorismos]

4. FOR BILINGUAL JOBS
4.1 www.careercross.com/en
4.2 www.daijob.com/en/
Hope this helps a bit.

Very much appreciate these links especially Daijob.com- have plodded through countless Google searches and unhelpful generic jobsites to try to get something that relevant and useful for Bilingual/cross-industry/geography options. Might even go to their career fair, I'm barely at JLPT-2 and the Economy is wobbly to say the least but there does seem to be some hiring going on. Ditto above for the background context you put together on Eikawa etc.

[gerald_ford]

Is Nova still around? I thought they went bankrupt a couple years ago. I was certain I read that on the news once.

[Taurus]

Is Nova still around? I thought they went bankrupt a couple years ago. I was certain I read that on the news once.

They did go bankrupt, but many of their assets were bought by this company G.Education, which has retained the Nova brand.

[Belton]

I have no personal experience. However a friend of mine works for Aeon and seems very happy there. (pay isn't great but that seems to be just how it is in eikaiwa)

Aeon are holding Interviews in London this February, Application deadline is 9th Feb

http://www.aeonet.com/aeon_index.php

ECC recruit from the UK as well.


If you do find a fairytale position don't keep it to yourself!
I think I'm going to have to wait on Lotto or Premium Bonds before I can relocate.

Best of Luck

[Taurus]

Yeah, I hope to attend that recruitment event. I'm a *little* bit put off by the tube ads for Aeon, though, because the guy in them looks well creepy. Also, it's around the time of my JET interview, which is in Dublin, so it's all going to be a bit hectic...

[MaMiMuMeMo]

so desu ne...

1.Just a warning I saw on another EFL forum about jobs in asia.
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=14967

2. Japan certainly hasn't been immune to the financial crisis. A few of you have mentioned job fairs (incl. Nova) which I am surpised about having read the following thread;

[url]http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=68551

Also, in the gaijin pot forums I read;

Nova thread;
http://forum.gaijinpot.com/showthread.php?t=66273[url]
One guy posted:

Basically: I, along with numerous others, applied for and accepted a job with G-Com back in September, and twiddled my thumbs in Osaka waiting for the working visa to come through. A couple of weeks ago, having finally got the visa, G-Com emailed us all and said that actually they had no vacancies in any branch for the foreseeable future and they would have to cancel our sponsorships. The company is having to downsize due to the slumping economy (G-Com already being a downsized NOVA and probably up to its satanic horns in debt) and thusly shafted us lot waiting to start working for them.


Food for thought!

chorismos, glad Daijob was a useful site.
[/url]

[Taurus]

One guy posted:

Basically: I, along with numerous others, applied for and accepted a job with G-Com back in September, and twiddled my thumbs in Osaka waiting for the working visa to come through. A couple of weeks ago, having finally got the visa, G-Com emailed us all and said that actually they had no vacancies in any branch for the foreseeable future and they would have to cancel our sponsorships. The company is having to downsize due to the slumping economy (G-Com already being a downsized NOVA and probably up to its satanic horns in debt) and thusly shafted us lot waiting to start working for them.


Food for thought!

That is indeed food for thought! I guess that means I can't count on my job offer from Nova. Have you heard any similar horror stories about Gaba? They've just sent me a 'letter of offer'...

[MaMiMuMeMo]

GABA.
I haven't worked for them, but a friend of mine did. I've read many negatve things about them in forums.

On the plus side, the schools are nicely outfitted and look very professional. Apparently one school was featured in Vogue.
Perhaps it has a more upmarket appeal? The prices are certainly higher. Apparently students will pay about 8,ooo yen per 40/50 minute lesson. That's a lot of dough, especially considering an instructor would be hard pressed to find a student paying that much money for a private lesson at home or Starbucks!
Despite the premium pricing, the money doesn't trickle down to the instructors. Wages aren't generally higher than other eikaiwa.

Instructors are in 'belts' which is a ranking system. When you first start, you get 1,400 per lesson. (remember, they get paid about 8,000yen) Once you have more experience, you may 'belt up' and do additional training (unpaid of course) for a slight pay rise. There have been reports that the company is limiting this though.
Schedule
It is nice to set your own schedule, BUT you are NOT guaranteed that your classes will fill. If your classes don't fill you DON'T get paid. I imagine this is especially frustrating if you open a schedule for the whole day, and students sign in for the first couple of classes and the last ones. That's a lot of time sitting around not getting paid.
BTW. they DO NOT pay for your travel expenses. Most eikawas do.

Some other places to get info :

1.
Let's Japan
http://www.letsjapan.org/forum/viewtopi ... A#p1069269[/url]

2.The General Union
http://gaba.generalunion.org/[/url]

GABA contracts offer:
- NO paid holidays.
- NO unemployment insurance.
- NO health and pension insurance.
- NO set salary.
- NO job security.
- NO right to challenge unfair dismissals.
- NO right to negotiate with your employer as an equal.

Some GABA insights from contributors on Dave'sESL cafe:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=67582[url][/url][url]

Goodluck. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...[/url]

[Taurus]

Yeah, that's the gist of the information I found out about Gaba too. I think, though, for the moment, that I will accept their offer, because I hope that when I'm over there I might be in a stronger position to find an English-teaching job elsewhere. And I will continue to apply for positions from over here. Fingers crossed!

[Taurus]

Does anybody know anything about AEON and GEOS for Children? The two of them are having an interview day at the same time at the end of February in London. I've currently confirmed with AEON, but I was wondering if GEOS for Children would be the better choice...

[Taurus]

Yikes. So there's an Aeon recruitment event in London this weekend and they've got 100 people turning up instead of the 50 they were expecting. Which is bad news after my JET interview went pretty badly last week. (I can't say I said or did anything especially wrong, but I didn't do anything especially amazing either, and the panel of interviewers seemed really bored and uninterested - presumably because my interview was right at the end of the day. Oh, and one of them gave me the clear impression that she didn't think I was Irish enough.)

Anybody got any other tips for getting a job (any job!) in Japan?

[Belton]

For what it's worth I stumbled across this site today.
http://www.altdirectory.net/
You can make up your own mind about him. Basically he's gathering and selling information on the Boards of Education that hire ALTs directly.
and a link out from that site goes to a similar paid listing for Hokkaido.

You should have worn your Fáinne to the JET interview! 笑

[Taurus]

You should have worn your Fáinne to the JET interview! 笑

If I knew any Irish beyond dúnaim an doras!

Hmm. Maybe that's why she thought I wasn't Irish enough...