skelonas 0 Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 I had a job lined up in Matsumoto, until during the phone interview they discovered I had a girlfriend who would be coming over as well! They felt that she would create competition for them as she would be looking for jobs with another school- this in not BS, this school was going to hire me otherwise. I have to laugh because otherwise I'd be crying. So here is my question, has anyone else experienced this kind of nonsense? Is it as likely that crap like this would happen in a bigger city like Sapporo? We are planning on heading over to Sapporo in December at this point, to find jobs. She has JET experience, I have high school teaching experience, and we smile and interview well. Do you think we have a chance of finding teaching jobs? Do any of the ski resorts over there hire Americans without work visas? We just want to live and ski in Japan, and support ourselves while we are over there. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 this is a good one for the Nova people to answer. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 Its simple, at the next interview don't say your girlfriend is coming with you!!!! Or say that she is Japanese and thats why you are wanting to go to Japan. Personally I wouldn't say shit, I didn't mention my J-girlfriend at my interview Don't see why that would be a prob anyways, stupid company!! You only coming for the winter or are you planning on staying longer? Do you qualify for the working holiday visa?? This will allow you to work part time with a company, thus gaining entry to japan, then just get yourself a few private students to top up your salary. Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 US isn't on the working holiday scheme. >She has JET experience, I have high school teaching experience, and we smile and interview well The smile alone should do it. You don't have thick Latino accents, or anything, do you? (Not that there's anything wrong with that!) Keep the GF stuff private if at all possible. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 Some schools aren't keen on girlfriends as they like to promote their single handsome teachers to the female masses. Stuff working here.. come for a holiday! Link to post Share on other sites
skelonas 0 Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 We definitely want to live and work for a year or more, unless we were able to find something at a ski area specifically for the season, but in order to sponsor a work visa, they'd probably want us for a year. Isn't it hard to keep something like having a beautiful blond haired American girlfriend a secret, especially since the schools hook you up with housing? She'll stick out like a sore thumb. Plus we will both be looking at the same time, so I'm not sure of the best way to job search, especially if we go door to door. I guess that is why I was hoping it may not be as much of an issue in a larger city, versus a place like Matsumoto- they actually were concerned about her getting work at another school and creating competition for them! Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 I think that is probably a less common problem. You really shouldn't have that same problem at too many places. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Bigger places you will be fine. Just don't advertise the fact, though needing housing might be ya problem. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 maybe that school has an average to poor reputation. Quite a few people on the forums here live in Matsumoto. Maybe you could talk with them via PM? If they dont want your GF because of competition then Id reckon they're not that good to begin with. Call it the first domino falling... Sapporo is a great city. I wanted to move there myself but am stuck in Kansai. Often times many schools do look for couples as teachers. I have seen that on ohayosensei. You could both apply to Interac. Its an average company which has contracts with many of the local JHS and HS in cities/prefectures. Last I looked there were several openings for Tohoku. Check out the big job sites. Hope you can get what you want Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Be aware that the market is seeing an influx of teachers right now with Visas. Keep trying from overseas but dont advertise that you are coming with your girlfriend. Organize the housing yourself. Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 I cant understand their logic to refuse you cos u bringing your girlfriend, therefore I suspect that might be just some excuse for another reason they wanted to back out. From what I hear most teachers applying for jobs have crap CVs: typing mistakes, or talk about what they want to do in their free time too much. Therefore my advice is: 1) Make a good CV. 2) Don't mention that you are into skiing because if I was an employer I'd be looking for someone who wasnt going to be calling in sick every time it snows in Hakuba. Also, if you are handsome why not put your photo on your CV? Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 I think the excuse might be real Bobby12. I have heard of simialr stories before, but not all that common. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 > Organize the housing yourself. which is soooooooooo easy for a foreigner too Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Gaijin guesthouse Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Not all companies will put you up in apartments that are run by them. Interac for example just gives you support and help in finding a place, they don't pay for anything though so you have to bear the full brunt of key money etc etc as well as furnishing the place. I know that AEON want all their teachers in their apartments and won't allow sharing, but there are millions of companies. You don't have to deny her existence, you just don't advertise that you have a gf. I don't think that you'll have much of a problem getting work. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 nor getting some. Link to post Share on other sites
midnightcharger2 0 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Welcome to the wonderful world of "leave your logic at the door" I came across a friend here in Nagano city, and the guy was paranoid of trying to date girls. WHY??? The company he works for says that he is allowed one girlfriend, but if they find out he is messing around or talking to many girls, he will get fired. Make any sense??? I can understand if they were the companies students, but many (not all) companies here have very little to no legal respect for their foreign workers along with their Japanese staff also. There are laws that are written but rarely enforced. As I can understand the situation with two gaijin dating but working in seperate schools being a problem for some employers, your private life is just that, private. They had no right asking if you were dating / married. Lesson learned for the next search. Be wary of any questions companies look to you for answers, many times there is a hidden meaning through a simple harmless question. Another piece of advice, dont go looking for work together at the same places at the same time. Split your searches and swap, but never go together. Also, this is kind of a bad time of the season for job searching. Most contracts end around Jan / Feb and renew during March at many of the schools. Plus the NOVA debacle will cause alot of chaos of foreigners looking for new places of employment in the following months if the company plunges off the deep-end. Keep up the good fight though, There is always work here if you search long and hard for it. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 TB, true, but many of the places that do have apartments dont want you leaving them either... Link to post Share on other sites
me jane 0 Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 I think the housing issue is the biggest one. Loads of companies have issues with relationships too. I would say come over here with whatever job you can find in whatever city will have you and have your girlfriend do the same. Then when you are both in the country with visas look for jobs where you want to work and quit the company you came over with. Only the sex industry hires without visas so unless you want to sell yourself or your girlfriend on the streets of Sapporo you will need one! Ski jobs might provide accomodation but you will have more success with English teaching in the current climate if you and your girlfriend get your own place. As said above it's a bad time to find a English teaching job as there are 5000 nova teachers looking for work. They all have visas and most of them will sort out their own accomodation (the two biggest hiring expenses). I read somewhere that Berlitz language school Tokyo head office has 200 Nova teachers apply in a single week. Link to post Share on other sites
wattiewatson 0 Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Pretty reasonable about the girl friend thing. A lot of the Nagano eikaiwa's are pretty small operations. It would piss me off if i stumped up for a few costs only to find out that the competition got a free ride. Ive seen a few jobs advertised for Niigata on Gaijinpot.com Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Leospalace provide "furnished" apartments but expect to pay about 70 to 80 grand a month. dunno if that includes bills though. they have a website, just do a search for it Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Instead of all this visa this visa that shit, you should consider meJane's hint and got for the "karaoke" jobs Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 70-80 a month surely won't include bills. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Depends on if it is in Tokyo or somewhere else. Link to post Share on other sites
skelonas 0 Posted October 13, 2007 Author Share Posted October 13, 2007 Thanks for all the advice and wisdom. The search has been frustrating because we've been able to find jobs starting in February where we are in the same place, but far from skiing, and jobs that start soon, but nothing for both of us. We certainly know how to present ourselves professionally (I've not only sent my pic, but have made a video introduction), and have had offers from the big chains, and some of the smaller schools too- just not great situations. Ideally, we'd like to find a position for both of us at one location that begins soon, and then look for positions in ski towns (if we aren't already there) once we're in the country with visas. It looks more likely that we'll have to come over in December without jobs (or maybe a job in Feb/Mar in a less ski friendly location waiting) and live in a gaijin house or leo's palace in Sapporo or Nagano hoping that we'll find something. Any more specific suggestions on where to stay? If we are going school to school searching, would it be best to split up and hit each school on our own, as suggested? It would seem kind of odd, but I suppose my experience that prompted the post suggests that might be the best strategy. Also, I have heard from others as well that Nov-Jan isn't the best time to find jobs, though it would seem to me that a lot of people might put in notice before the holidays, thus leaving open vacancies. This is just speculation on my part, so I was wondering if anyone has seen this happen. Link to post Share on other sites
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