jmblisse

Hello everyone, I have been a reader of this forum for quite a while now and i think its time i made a post.

I have recently graduated from a UK university with a Bsc Media Tech degree (IT/Technology based) and have been working as a sales executive in a small local car dealership for about 7-8 months now.

I have been looking at moving away since leaving university to East Asia, in particular Japan

I have looked at a few options in Asia, including teaching which after some research it seems that the market is saturated at the minute (especially in japan). I have also looked at ski resorts which would be an option but i would not really see it benefiting me in the long run.

I was wondering if anybody could give me some inspiration on other places to look or opportunities available. Would it be very realistic getting a job in japan with very little language ability? I was thinking of exploring print media (newspapers etc). But again its slightly difficult with no experience.

Any help and advice would be great.

bakedbean

Hello and welcome to BE

I wasn't sure we had too many postings on Japan, but just did a search and quite a few threads came up. If you don't get any response from this thread, maybe do a search yourself and take a look at the different threads on here? At the main Far East menu, you'll see a search box at the top on the right.

Anyway, maybe someone might post here. Let's hope so. Best of luck.

ex reg

I asked a guy on another forum who lives and works as a lecturer in Japan, married to a Japanese as well.
This is his reply:

''He could try "English teaching". Quite big business here. It isn't actually teaching, it's just being white and you don't even need to speak Japanese. But he can get a decent enough wage off it and a visa while he looks for something better.

Try:

http://www.jetprogramme.org/


Which is government funded,

or to research one of these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eikaiwa_school#Schools

The first one has a bit more prestige behind it, but both jobs are not great. Foot in the door though. All you need is a Bachelors in anything and happen to be a native English speaker. No teaching qualifications or anything like that.

Other than that he could try doing a Masters or PhD here and apply through MEXT (Japanese education ministry) for a grant. They're very generous: monthly wage and fees all paid. All he has to do is find an institution which offers them and apply. He'll hve to be a good applicant, but then he could live quite comfortably, and again look for work after he has a visa.

Without Japanese language ability those are basically his only two choices. If he could speak Japanese the offers would be far greater. It's a pretty monoglot society, so basically no chance in any other markets. ''

HTH.

I notice that your degree wasn't in spelling. :-)

I'm not gonna check my post for spelling errors so don't bother telling me of mine :-)

coatinginspection

Best start with correct spelling when you canvassing for jobs. (*Recent)



Note: Here is a prospective apology if it turns out that you are dyslexic!

ex reg

I love it when a thread turns out like this.
Especially as I've already mentioned the spelling.

coatinginspection

Clear typo.

Edit: That's karma for me!

Edit 2: I havn't read your post, I was simply commenting on the thread title...

coatinginspection

Dum, dum, dummmmmm.

DigitalGhost

Simply put, not going to happen unless you either marry a Japanese or get a job teaching English.

When you say limited language ability, can you even speak, read and write in the Japanese language at all? I have worked in IT for nearly 5 years now and am in a long term relationship with a Japanese citizen but even I wouldn't fancy my chances in IT work if I moved over there, which is to be honest the main reason why we haven't considered it as a viable option, and bear in mind that I have a basic knowledge of the language, wouldn't need any kind of work-based visa sponsorship and would have no limitations placed on what I could and couldn't do unlike most foreigners working over there.

Korea probably wouldn't be an option for you either to be honest, maybe try looking into China, Hong Kong, Singapore or the Phillipines.

jmblisse

Thank you for the replies.

I guess I have learnt the hard way about checking my spelling before posting. If I knew how to change the thread title I would.

The information about the post graduate study sounds perfect, although my degree (2:1) is not from a prestigious university, would this be a problem? . I will research online after work and see what I can come up with.

I think the 'foot in the door' point you mentioned is how I may have to work things, I guess being in the country for a year and a better knowledge of the language would serve well when applying for other jobs.

Could you please ask the lecturer in Japan his opinion on TEFL, if it is needed, will increase my chances, or is it just a waste of money.

Although I have noticed some jobs working on US military bases selling US vehicles, although you need to be a US passport holder. Does anybody know or heard of anything similar that would maybe be availible?

Again thanks for your replies. (have fun picking apart my spelling )

DigitalGhost

Those sort of qualifications are usually only needed in Japan if you want to teach English at a higher level or professionally to business students without a bachelor's degree.

Your degree on it's own would likely be enough for you to qualify to teach for an organisation such as Nova, however I recommend that you read up on it more in books or on a site like gaijinpot before you make any decisions as there are a lot of issues to bear in mind when applying for and practising english teaching in Japan which won't be mentioned to you or made obvious when you apply from overseas.