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I am currently living in Japan and will be here for a while now. I'm teaching English in Fukushima at the moment but I dream of one day getting a full-time job in Niseko and moving the family up there (I met my wife there!).

To all the peope with full-time jobs there; what kind of qualifications and experience are sort after? I passed 2kyu on the JLPT a few years ago and would be close to 1kyu level now. I only have a Bachelor of Arts from uni so would it be worth taking up a post-grad business course?

I hope some of the people who have full-time jobs in Niseko could give us an insight into what kind of work they do and how they got their jobs. Any help/advice would be appreciated!

 

Cheers guys!

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Getting full time positions up here at the moment is not likely to be all that easy. With the economic downturn affecting tourism as much as anything most companies around here have been laying off staff, not putting more on.

Of course being bilingual and having a work visa already sorted you'd be a good candidate if any positions do come up. What qualifications might assist you will really depend on the position you are looking for. Many of the jobs here though don't really require qualifications, it's more important to have experience say in hospitality or sales or other positions where you have eperience dealing with people.

Anyway best thing you can do is just contact all the major employers up here and see if anything is available.

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Originally Posted By: BagOfCrisps
Have there actually been many layoffs up there, Go Native?


Depends on the business a bit. The development and real estate businesses have really struggled with very few sales over the last 8 months and most of these companies have had to lay off a large percentage of their staff. The management companies haven't had to downsize too much but they certainly aren't expanding and hiring more staff at the moment. Certainly most of us here now are having to do more work and often for less money than during the boom times.
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Were they too good? Maybe, but hey that's business isn't it? Get what you can whilst the going is good. Plenty of people made an absolute killing on property investments in Niseko. Those who bought in last year just before the economic crisis are certainly not going to be able to sell for more than they bought anytime soon but if they can hang on I'm sure they'll do ok in the longer term.

Thurs not too much brand new of anything going up this summer. There are a couple of projects going ahead that had sold enough apartments before the crash happened to allow them to continue construction to completion. Anyway check out the real estate companies when you're up here, there's plenty of apartments on the market that are going for pretty good prices currently. Still out of my price range though since I can't get a loan here.

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Originally Posted By: Zer0star
Thanks Go Native. I still think I'm a few years off landing a job there. Gotta get myself up to scratch in that time.


A few years ago you would have had no problems at all. Most people here from the early days were landing jobs (often in management positions) without having any previous experience or qualifications (pertinent to the job) at all. Hell the company I work for only this last year got a marketing manager who actually has experience and qualifications in marketing! Few other companies up here can say that. I was even property manager for a company up here for a while without having ever had any experience in that field. And I received no training and little support in the role!
These days though as competition has increased most companies are getting a lot more choosy about who they hire.
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Stem, a good time to ponder. Even with staff rates, my money is getting sod all interest.

 

Several of my friends have jumped into London. Credit card down of 5%, comp-letion in 2012. I want to do something different. Either here or in Hokkaido or Phuket. Or jump into Banyan Tree somewhere.

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Originally Posted By: 2pints,mate
And are the layoffs due to a sudden downturn in business or were the businesses getting a bit too big for their boots?


Well we did have quite a few years where without hardly any marketing and little effort we would be getting occupancy rates of 85%+ throughout much of the winter. It really was just a little too easy. Demand for accomm was far outstripping the supply. Last year though saw a massive summer of construction and then we had the economic crisis and we saw then Yen soar against most currencies. The pricing of the accomm had been set before the exchange flipped and all of a sudden Japan was once again really quite expensive. So the tables turned and all of a sudden supply was more than demand and we really had to start fighting (slashing prices) for bookings. Hell we had to really start actually worrying about the competition! This coming season is no different and although bookings have been pretty good so far it's not like the old days when half your properties would be damned near booked out already by now.

I know that at least one prominent business owner in town recently met with Prime Minister and governor of Hokkaido to call on them to start helping with promoting the resort. Basically nearly everything that has happened at Niseko in recent years is due to the foreign businesses and interests and has occurred with virtually no assistance from the government. The business owner pointed this out and said now in these more difficult economic times it was time for the government to lend a hand to promote the resort. We'll see if anything happens...
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Originally Posted By: thursday
Good good info GN.
I have been looking at the big ones. Their prices don't seem to be very recession affected. And their roadshows here are just way too optomistic.


Believe me Thurs they are very open to offers way under the advertised prices. Have a good look around and make an offer if you're interested and see if they'll take it.
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