Teaching jobs in Japan are getting harder to come by. Using TEFL placement programs are one of the fastest ways to get your first job teaching in Japan.
By John paxton
Japan nuclear crisis: Fears mount over radioactive waste in food ...
Fears are mounting among Japanese health authorities that food and milk from areas surrounding the Fukushima nuclear plant could be ...
TEFL placement programs can be the high road to finding a job quickly. Those who have just graduated or are looking for a career change often think,
" I’d love to see another country but I don’t have any teaching experience…I guess I’ll look for something else." And so they stop looking right there and go back into a field that they’re "more qualified" in.
Still there are others who go beyond this step, begin to research teaching abroad and then run into the equally daunting roadblocks of choosing a path to getting qualified . Along the way, they come across a host of horror stories from unlucky teachers - horror stories of all shapes and colors abound on the web.
TEFL Horror Stories and Getting Your First Job
In fact with just a few minutes of search you can find stories of teachers who fly across the world to find that the job they were promised simply doesn’t exist. (This happens when language institutes, who do the hiring, over hire. They anticipate a certain drop-out rate that doesn’t pan-out. The ESL teacher gets stuck in a new country with no job.)
Other common horror stories include employers "misinforming" the teacher on actual contact hours, vacation days or flat out not paying their teachers for months. This kind of stuff happens all over Asia - including Japan. (Note the most recent example of this was Nova corporation and its financial implosion.)
Skip the Job Search With Placement Programs
Some teachers use a work around of a TEFL placement program. How this works is the TEFL provider who knows and has a solid working relation with thousands of employers helps you with the placement. (The TEFL provider offers this perk when you enroll in their program.) This saves the ESL teacher from getting caught in the nightmarish stuff previously mentioned because the provider works with the most reputable companies they can find.
Or put another way, they don’t do business with companies that mistreat their teaching staff. Maintaining contacts with good companies and overseeing them i.e. quality control, is how they survive. Make no mistake these guys do this stuff for a living. That’s how they ‘re able to throw in perks like finding teachers jobs, picking them up at the airport, and offering orientation and support throughout their contract. In general, these services are quite cheap. Both i-to-i and ICAL offer this for free.
The Limits of Placement Programs
One important note about placement programs is that they can’t guarantee you a job. What they can do is get you connected with potential employers. From that point on it’s pretty much up to you to do your best in the interview and clinch the job.
Still with the TEFL qualifications you get through their programs combined with the fact that these jobs aren’t advertised on sites or in the paper, this gives you a distinct advantage over those who compared to you are under-qualified and simply don’t know about the job opening. So basically, by using a placement program to do the grunt work for you, you’ll be leveraging their contacts and experience to bust into the ESL field and get hired.
Placement Companies Shine When Time is Short
Using TEFL placement agencies is especially useful when finding a job quickly is a concern. Because their client lists are long, they can get you through their course and into a job in about the same time it takes to find a job on your own. This comes in handy in spring when competition for placement heats up.
For the first time teacher who believes he or she might need a little hand holding on their first foray into teaching in Japan or want more of a sure thing, a combined TEFL certificate along with their placement programs can help wring the risk out of making the big jump.
After all teaching overseas is suppose to be a fun adventure and not an object of regret. ONe company that does a good job at this is i-to-i. They’ve been in the business forever, have solid reputations and place hundreds of candidates throughout Japan every year.
http://www.all-about-teaching-english-in-japan.com/tefl.html
" I’d love to see another country but I don’t have any teaching experience…I guess I’ll look for something else." And so they stop looking right there and go back into a field that they’re "more qualified" in.
Still there are others who go beyond this step, begin to research teaching abroad and then run into the equally daunting roadblocks of choosing a path to getting qualified . Along the way, they come across a host of horror stories from unlucky teachers - horror stories of all shapes and colors abound on the web.
TEFL Horror Stories and Getting Your First Job
In fact with just a few minutes of search you can find stories of teachers who fly across the world to find that the job they were promised simply doesn’t exist. (This happens when language institutes, who do the hiring, over hire. They anticipate a certain drop-out rate that doesn’t pan-out. The ESL teacher gets stuck in a new country with no job.)
Other common horror stories include employers "misinforming" the teacher on actual contact hours, vacation days or flat out not paying their teachers for months. This kind of stuff happens all over Asia - including Japan. (Note the most recent example of this was Nova corporation and its financial implosion.)
Skip the Job Search With Placement Programs
Some teachers use a work around of a TEFL placement program. How this works is the TEFL provider who knows and has a solid working relation with thousands of employers helps you with the placement. (The TEFL provider offers this perk when you enroll in their program.) This saves the ESL teacher from getting caught in the nightmarish stuff previously mentioned because the provider works with the most reputable companies they can find.
Or put another way, they don’t do business with companies that mistreat their teaching staff. Maintaining contacts with good companies and overseeing them i.e. quality control, is how they survive. Make no mistake these guys do this stuff for a living. That’s how they ‘re able to throw in perks like finding teachers jobs, picking them up at the airport, and offering orientation and support throughout their contract. In general, these services are quite cheap. Both i-to-i and ICAL offer this for free.
The Limits of Placement Programs
One important note about placement programs is that they can’t guarantee you a job. What they can do is get you connected with potential employers. From that point on it’s pretty much up to you to do your best in the interview and clinch the job.
Still with the TEFL qualifications you get through their programs combined with the fact that these jobs aren’t advertised on sites or in the paper, this gives you a distinct advantage over those who compared to you are under-qualified and simply don’t know about the job opening. So basically, by using a placement program to do the grunt work for you, you’ll be leveraging their contacts and experience to bust into the ESL field and get hired.
Placement Companies Shine When Time is Short
Using TEFL placement agencies is especially useful when finding a job quickly is a concern. Because their client lists are long, they can get you through their course and into a job in about the same time it takes to find a job on your own. This comes in handy in spring when competition for placement heats up.
For the first time teacher who believes he or she might need a little hand holding on their first foray into teaching in Japan or want more of a sure thing, a combined TEFL certificate along with their placement programs can help wring the risk out of making the big jump.
After all teaching overseas is suppose to be a fun adventure and not an object of regret. ONe company that does a good job at this is i-to-i. They’ve been in the business forever, have solid reputations and place hundreds of candidates throughout Japan every year.
http://www.all-about-teaching-english-in-japan.com/tefl.html
By John paxton
Japan nuclear crisis: Fears mount over radioactive waste in food ...
Fears are mounting among Japanese health authorities that food and milk from areas surrounding the Fukushima nuclear plant could be ...
