Finding a Job in the Public Education System: JET vs Interac and direct hire

Teaching in the public-school system in Japan is more socially well-regarded than working for a private company. You'll also potentially make a lot more money than in private companies. There are three ways to enter this system and we will discuss and compare them here. All of these positions require a Bachelor's Degree.

When I say "private schools" in this post, I mean schools that are part of the public education system, but are run privately and not by local or prefectural governments. I am not referring to English conversation schools or cram schools.
-For a comparions between the public education system and private sector, read this.
-If you want to teach in the private sector, read this post instead.

The JET Programme
Possible the most well-known of the three ways to get a job teaching in schools in Japan is the JET Programme. This is a government-run program, therefore well funded and organized. Once you become a JET, you will be taken care of in Japan in that you will have a support system in place for you. There is almost always an English-speaking Japanese supervisor who will help you while you are in Japan.

On JET, you can specify areas you would like to live in, but only 25% of JETs get one of their requests. Most likely, you will be placed somewhere completely different than you originally wanted. So if a specific region of Japan is necessary for you, then JET might not be a good choice. Married couples are usually kept together, but boyfriends and girlfriends may be separated.

There is also age discrimination on JET. JET wants young teachers and there is a cut off of about 35. The older you are, the less likely you will get hired by JET unless you have experience or a degree in education.

The salary on JET is very high for Japan. You receive around 320000 yen per month, which is more than many of your Japanese co-teachers make during their first few years of teaching full-time. For ALTs, your position is easy, your work hours short, and your responsibilities few. For CIRs you may have a lot more work and responsibility. You will sometimes have to work weekends.

The disadvantage of applying to get a job through JET is the competition and the time frame. There are a lot of people applying for a few coveted spots, and in bigger cities, this is even more of an issue. From start to finish, the application process for JET takes almost one full year. It's not something that you undertake on a whim and getting refused after waiting for such a long time is surely extremly disappointing.

If you're interested in the JET Programme, you can read more on the official website.

Interac and other Placement Companies
For those who don't get into JET, who don't want to wait a year, who are older, etc. then placement companies are the next easiest route. Placement companies provide schools with foreign teachers just like JET, but as they are competing with JET and they are a private company, your salary is much lower. Placement company employees make almost 100000 yen less per month for doing the exact same job as a JET. In towns where there is a mix between JETs and placement employees, this salary difference can be a point of tension between the two groups.

You will have a supervisor, but they may not live in the same town as you, so sudden trips to the hospital might have to be accomplished alone or with a friend who may or may not speak Japanese.

The advantages are that you have more control over your location, and you can be hired very quickly. There is competition for positions, but not as much as there is for JET or direct hire positions, so it's easier to get a spot.

Interac is the biggest placement company. If you are interested in going through Interac, you can read more and apply online here.

Direct Hire
Some schools prefer to directly hire their employees. This is more often the case with high schools and private schools (remember by private schools I mean schools that are part of the public education system, but are run privately and not by local or prefectural governments. Not cram-schools or conversation schools).

These schools will post ads for teachers themselves and hire their employees directly. The salary for these kinds of positions can be high. I've seen job postings advertising salaries as high as 400000 per month. Many prestigious school prefer to directly hire in order to control the quality of the applicants.

One key requirement of direct hire is that you must already be living in Japan. I have never seen a direct-hire ad that did not specify this as a requirement. So if you are living abroad, JET and placement companies are your only bet.

Additionally, you are generally required to be competent in Japanese. JLPT N3 or higher. N4 is possible if you are really good at communicating with a limited vocabulary and your listening skills are good.

For the better positions with higher salaries and better conditions, the competition is going to be fierce. So speaking Japanese, having a Master's degree and TOEIC/CELTA etc. is often expected even if it is not listed as required in the ad.

Some good websites to find direct-hire and placement jobs are:
http://www.gaijinpot.com/
http://jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/job-info-centre/jobs

The DOs and DON'Ts of Working in Japan

This guide mainly applies in an educational context, but can be extrapolated for almost all Japanese workplace environments. It's full of generalities of course and mainly applies to a workplace that consists of mostly Japanese employees. If your workplace is very international, then this guide might not apply.

1) Never Say Die
Don't take sick leave, and don't take vacations. Stay late at work often, and talk to your co-workers about how tired you are. Also, participate in everything optional (i.e. sports festivals, school festivals, speeches given by VIPs that you can't understand, etc). Yes, it will involve giving up your weekends and evenings, but participating in events and activities in your workplace show that you are committed to your job.

2) Don't complain.
If your situation is miserable and you hate your job, this is a tough one, but Japanese almost never complain and neither should you. If you absolutely must complain about something, make sure you speak to a Japanese co-worker and get their advice on the best way to go about doing it. Obviously you can complain about harassment and so on.

3) Retro Up!
Act like you are from an episode of Leave It To Beaver. Japanese value cheerful optimism, cooperation, friendliness, thankfulness, and a purity (i.e. sexual purity) of dress and comportment (short skirts are oddly an exception). Don't believe me? Just read their manga or watch their movies/dramas. The messages in these portrayals of society are always someone who triumphs over adversity by being cheerful, moral, and hardworking. Your role-model is now Jane Eyre. The younger generation is changing, but the younger generation isn't going to be the people interview, hiring, supervising and working together with you at the moment. It's still old-school here.

4) Ask for permission
Especially when you are starting out, you will not know the workplace culture. Make sure you ask for permission to do almost everything out of the ordinary, even if it seems harmless to you. Want to have a class outside on a nice day? Ask permission. Want to make a website for your students online? Ask permission. Want to use an unoccupied room covered in ten years of undisturbed dust? Yes, you've got it - ask permission.

5) Give away some glory
Make suggestions to your sempai. This is tough to do as it involves your sempai (co-worker above you in rank) getting credit for all your ideas, but as a junior worker it is not your place to offer constructive criticism. Once you have worked for a few years, then you can make suggestions at meetings. Until then, if you want to make a suggestion, then make it to a co-worker and ask them to suggest it for you.