English teaching job ending soon, looking for a new job

[Darius123]

Hey all - I'm sure this is the millionth post of this kind, but... I need your help!

I'm a 26-year old ALT on the JET Programme, and my job is coming to an end.

I'd like to get another job in Japan if possible. I'm sick to death of the English monkey thing though, and understand that there isn't much possibility for advancement in this field in any case.

I have around N1 level Japanese - I can pass the practice tests with a comfortable margin, and will be sitting the exam in July. I also studied abroad at Waseda Uni during my junior year abroad in college.

Unfortunately, as I majored in Japanese studies (with an English minor, whoopee) I don't have many other marketable skills.

I've been sending out resumes for the last few months on Gaijinpot, but haven't had much luck (plenty of mails from Eikaiwas though!). I'd like to find an entry-level job in which I could hopefully use my Japanese, and if possible learn another skill so that I will not be totally unemployable in my thirties. At the moment I am thinking of proofing/editing, translating, etc. but am open to other ideas.

Any other suggestions regarding places to look, ways to search, etc would be greatly appreciated. I'm not really particular about where I work in Japan.

PS: I will be in Tokyo for a few weeks before I have to go home, and can search there as well - I know I would have more success hunting in the Kanto area.

[ttokyo]

I knew a guy with a similar background who made it into HR at an international company in Tokyo. My impression is that larger companies are rather looking for specialists and smaller foreign companies could use 'all-round' talents such as yourself.

[Darius123]

I wouldn't mind HR. As long as it's not being an ALT, I am open to pretty much anything. I guess I'll just keep searching this site and hope something pans out.

I'm also going to the DISCO event in Tokyo on June 30th - maybe I'll be able to snag something there.

Does anyone know of some reputable temp agencies/recruiters, by the way?

Would love to hear some other ideas!

[ericson]

I do hope you can get something. The proofing would be a strong possibility, but I think personally if you can get into HR then that would be much better in the long run. I am sure you will be able to find something. Have you tried those headhunters yet?

[Muts]

I wouldn't restrict yourself to looking for jobs on gaijinpot.
If you can work out a bit more clearly what you want to do then you can send your resume out to companies you might be interested in working for, even if they don't seem to be recruiting anyone. When I was applying for translating jobs this year I got plenty of replies from just sending out resumes on the off chance that they were looking for someone.

There are plenty of foreigners in Japan with N1 level Japanese looking to get out of teaching English. Specifically in terms of translation, the things that might make you stand out against other people seem to be:
experience translating on a volunteer basis or as part of a previous job;
specialist knowledge of a specific area (medicine, computers, economics etc.);
really good English writing skills (e.g. a history of publishing things or editing);
amazing Japanese (passing JLPT N1 is more like bare minimum).

If you don't have any of these things going for you then I'm guessing that you'll be fighting a pretty tough battle. You may have to accept that you will need to go and get some more experience or qualifications. If you have applied to translation companies and not even been sent a trial then maybe that is a sign that this is the case. I know you say you're interested in anything other than ALT teaching, but if that is coming across to potential employers then you may lose out to people who seem a bit more focused on what type of job they want to do.

Good luck

[Darius123]

I have had some experience doing volunteer translating (and some cheap paid translating) J > E, and I am pointing that out in my resumes. I also am trying to sell the whole "proofing/translating my students' speeches from Japanese to English" thing for the speech contests we were doing at the school. I wish I had passed JLPT N1 earlier, but I'll to make do with what I've got...

Stupid question: Are headhunters similar to temp agencies? I'm new to this whole "searching for a real job" business.

If anyone has any other links/advice, feel free to write in the thread or pm me You've been a big help already.

[zmcnulty]

A little bird told me that most companies this year are focusing on the MyNavi Career Expo and not DISCO's Tokyo CareerForum. MyNavi is 6/23~24, so a week prior.

Disclaimer: I'll be on the other side of the table at one of the booths on the 23rd. My company isn't participating in the DISCO fair. If I were in your shoes (and I have been; look through my post history), I'd go to both fairs anyway.

[Darius123]

Much appreciated, McNulty. Just signed up for the conference.

Love the username, btw. You're making me want to call the parents up and have them ship the box set over...

[Ken44]

Hey all - I'm sure this is the millionth post of this kind, but... I need your help!

I'm a 26-year old ALT on the JET Programme, and my job is coming to an end.

I'd like to get another job in Japan if possible. I'm sick to death of the English monkey thing though, and understand that there isn't much possibility for advancement in this field in any case.

I have around N1 level Japanese - I can pass the practice tests with a comfortable margin, and will be sitting the exam in July. I also studied abroad at Waseda Uni during my junior year abroad in college.

Unfortunately, as I majored in Japanese studies (with an English minor, whoopee) I don't have many other marketable skills.

I've been sending out resumes for the last few months on Gaijinpot, but haven't had much luck (plenty of mails from Eikaiwas though!). I'd like to find an entry-level job in which I could hopefully use my Japanese, and if possible learn another skill so that I will not be totally unemployable in my thirties. At the moment I am thinking of proofing/editing, translating, etc. but am open to other ideas.

Any other suggestions regarding places to look, ways to search, etc would be greatly appreciated. I'm not really particular about where I work in Japan.

PS: I will be in Tokyo for a few weeks before I have to go home, and can search there as well - I know I would have more success hunting in the Kanto area.

Why not return to your own country and try landing a job with a company which does business in Japan? Perhaps you can return on an ex-pat package.

Whatever you decide my feeling is you`d be making a big mistake teaching English in order just to stay.

[Darius123]

Hey Ken, thanks for posting.

That will be my plan if I fail to secure a decent job before heading home. I'm getting a lot of good info from these job conference sites, so I'm holding out hope that something non-Eikaiwa wise will pan out without me having to head home just yet.

Time to brush up on my interview skills....

[Duymon]

Job fairs. The two fairs mentioned are the major ones and require good Japanese which you seem to already have.

Worst case scenario. Go home and do Sales in a small J-company in your home country. You can get a lot of experience that you can then use to launch a career and then goto Japan as an experienced pro.