Best areas to find a job?

[Revenant]

For those in the know, much has been going downhill, and especially so recently. The reasons for that I hope do not become the topic of this thread.

In short, I can't find many jobs here, and I need to find something fulltime (I can find various other jobs to supplement my income and thus my son after our divorce after finding a fulltime job). I've looked through various online job ads, and most are from Tokyo, and a few are from Osaka. I don't actually want to move to Tokyo, cause that would be so far away that I could rarely see my son, at the same time I just need the money to fulfill what I feel I need to do, that being support my son despite all my slightly expensive habits (drinking, music, and ebooks).

You know, I'm being once again perhaps too honest, as some students have told me I am (and I have many faults), but I hope people stick to the real question.

Since I don't want this to become a critique of my life, I just want to know first whether I would have good chances of finding jobs in Osaka, or should I just move to Tokyo where most of the jobs seem to be?

 

[Glenski]

What visa are you on right now?
What are you actually qualified or trained to do, and could you do them in Japan?
How's your level of Japanese (speaking/reading)?

 

[Revenant]

I'm on a permanent residential visa. I'm not actually trained to do anything (I mean I was 'trained' in various companies like Berlitz), but I have a whole lot of experience teaching everyone from kindergarteners to high level researchers that go to international conferences and present their research on things like breast cancer.

My speaking level of Japanese is decent. I cannot read perhaps more than 400 hundred Japanese kanji characters (I can read some compounds as well, but mostly in relation to Elementary school lesson plans).

 

[Glenski]

Just to be picky about terminology here, there is no such thing as a "permanent residential visa". You must mean Permanent Resident status.

So, in all your life, the only thing you ever got training or any other work experience for was teaching English the Berlitz way? I forget how old you are, but have you ever held a job elsewhere (and what was it) that would have given you work experience?

Looking for teaching jobs in Japan is tough right now, as everyone knows, but having PR makes it a bit easier because you can take part-time work, whereas some people can't. You may have to line up the PT jobs for a while. If you plan to stay in the country for long-term, I'd suggest learning how to read and write a lot more, otherwise you'll probably be subjected to little better than EFL work.

I just need the money to fulfill what I feel I need to do, that being support my son despite all my slightly expensive habits (drinking, music, and ebooks).

We've covered this a bit on a previous thread, but cutting down is one way to help alleviate your situation.

 

[Revenant]

Got a short TESL course before I came to Japan, and I have part time work at YMCA and other smaller schools. I worked five years as an ALT in elementary schools, but my other work just consists of kominkans and private students (lots of those).

That pretty much sums it up.

What other kind of jobs have you come across besides EFL?

 

[orochi]

Sounds like the biggest barrier is your Japanese ability. If you can get along well enough, then you can do any job you want.

Lower Japanese skills usually leaves people with one route teaching. You could work for a public school, private school, or Eikawa company, for example. You could always start your own school. Or you can do private classes.

I don't know where you live, but if there are businesses that cater to foreign people or companies, you can sometimes get away with lower Japanese skills ince most of your clientele will speak English.

Moving to a bigger city like Tokyo improves chances of finding English-friendly jobs since there are more foreigners and foreign companies.

I would suggest you start by thinking about what you want to do. Then go look for it.

 

[Glenski]

With PR you can take any job, not just teaching jobs, but you have to be qualified in the eyes of the employer. That usually means having enough Japanese ability. Some jobs don't matter as much -- gaijin bar worker, office worker for a gaijin company where they use English, seasonal resort work for a gaijin company -- but most will matter and ask for JLPT2 minimum.

 

[orochi]

glenski, thanks for posting the same thing as me

 

[Glenski]

Not sure if you are sincere or sarcastic, orochi. I mentioned needing more Japanese before you did!

In any case, 2 people telling him the same thing only reinforces the thought. He's scrambling for work right now and needs something to keep his head above water while he ponders what to do long-term, so as you wrote, I agree that he needs to seriously think down the road, determine what he needs to get what he wants, and then decide.

 

[FrustratedDave]

Get into construction as a Laborer, limited Japanese is not a problem and most times the pay is ok. The only problem is that it can be unstable as you work day to day. But it might fill in until you find something you want.

 

[orochi]

Get into construction as a Laborer, limited Japanese is not a problem and most times the pay is ok. The only problem is that it can be unstable as you work day to day. But it might fill in until you find something you want.

Good choice. You get to wear cool parachute pants, too.

 

[Mike Cash]

What other kind of jobs have you come across besides EFL?

With PR you can do practically any job you can convince somebody to hire you for. Unfortunately, most people neglect their Japanese skills (especially reading) and don't consider anything outside traditional gaijin jobs. Then there is the fact that very few Westerners would tolerate Japanese working hours, pay, and conditions.
How to get a job outside EFL? Be qualified, linguistically competent, and prepared to have a lot of doors slammed in your face, figurative speaking.

 

[orochi]

watashi watashi.....

 

[Glenski]

With PR you can do practically any job you can convince somebody to hire you for.

And, just what would you suggest for someone in his position?

only "decent" spoken Japanese
weak reading ability
no training or work experience in anything except TEFL
desire to stay only in the Osaka area

 

[orochi]

I'm curious to find out what Revenant wants to do.

 

[Mike Cash]

And, just what would you suggest for someone in his position?
only "decent" spoken Japanese
weak reading ability
no training or work experience in anything except TEFL
desire to stay only in the Osaka area

I was only pointing out that with PR the career limiting restrictions common to the various visa classes are wiped away and one is free to go for practically anything. Naturally, self-imposed restrictions such as language ability, training, aptitude, motivation, etc. are are still right there untouched.

Japan is such a weird place in that most foreigners who make a living here do so by in some way and to some degree trading on their foreignness, and consequently never give any real thought to living here and working a regular non-gaijin job, and never bothering to prepare themselves to be able to try for one. It starts out as government imposed employment ghettoization and with the granting of PR turns into de facto self-imposed employment ghettoization.

Unfortunately, most "regular" jobs someone in his situation could get are the sort that anyone used to getting paid a nice sum to sit and drink tea and chitchat with housewives would quite naturally turn his nose up at. Hell, I'm a blue collar worker in Japan myself and I'd turn my nose up at the sort of thing he could get with such limited Japanese and a lack of literacy.

 

[Glenski]

I'm curious to find out what Revenant wants to do.

Aside from making enough money to support himself and his kids, I don't think he really has anything specific in mind. Have you seen his other thread?]

Mike,
I found it a little hard to follow your last post. It seems like you're saying that in his situation, PR is pointless unless he beefs up his language ability. If so, I agree. What "regular" jobs do you imagine he could get with his current credentials? I can't honestly think of very many.

 

[Mike Cash]

PR isn't pointless. It has its merits outside of employment.

I can't imagine what he might get. To be honest, I can't imagine he'll actually bother looking, much less trying to get hired. Western foreigners just typically will not do the sort of work he could get. If it isn't "inside work, no heavy lifting" they won't touch it. Despite the posts we sometimes get from people swearing they'd do absolutely anything to support themselves if they could only live in Japan, you practically never hear of anyone from a first-world economy who will do a job in Japan that requires them to bust a sweat.

I'm not without sympathy for Revenant, as my situation isn't so terribly different. I didn't finish college. I don't have any sort of qualifications for English teaching. Back when I did it, I found myself at a serious disadvantage getting hired due to those factors. What helped me the most was that I didn't neglect Japanese literacy. You don't have to be terribly bright to do the job I do, but you do have to be able to read. I never could have stayed here as long as I have if I hadn't gotten on the reading thing hard and heavy early on. Becoming literate in the language of a society where one expects to be a permanent resident just struck me as a matter of common sense.

 

[Davey]

Teaching jobs should be available in every big city, and the bigger the city the more jobs there are I guess. But I guess finding a teaching position with your experience and type of visa shouldn't be too difficult here in Kobe/Osaka.

Most of the IT related jobs are in Tokyo, although there are some jobs in Osaka as well (mainly programming, designing jobs are in Tokyo).

If you do want to stay in Japan, I advice you (you already know this but still want to write this for other readers ) to get a teaching job, and to put your Japanese skill up in your free time(not being with your family during the week should give you more time, if you are motived enough) and the moment your Japanese skill is good enough find yourself a job where you can actually use your Japanese. If you do not want to keep teaching English.

 

[Mike Cash]

I don't mean to knock the English teaching profession in any way whatsoever, but it is a very liberating feeling to be able to work a regular job that doesn't revolve around your being a foreigner and know you don't have to teach English if you don't want to. The prospect of spending another thirty or forty years pretending to teach English to people who are pretending to learn it was just too depressing for me to contemplate.

If one enjoys their work teaching here, finds it rewarding, feels they're doing some good....God bless you and more power to you. But not all foreigners who find themselves here teaching enjoy it, are any good at it, or fit for it. If you're among the latter and you contemplate staying here long-term the biggest favor you can do yourself is to build up your Japanese...especially reading...and open up other options for yourself. If English teaching were all I could do I would have left Japan a long time ago. My personality just isn't suited to that sort of work.

 

[FrustratedDave]

I don't mean to knock the English teaching profession in any way whatsoever, but it is a very liberating feeling to be able to work a regular job that doesn't revolve around your being a foreigner and know you don't have to teach English if you don't want to. The prospect of spending another thirty or forty years pretending to teach English to people who are pretending to learn it was just too depressing for me to contemplate.
If one enjoys their work teaching here, finds it rewarding, feels they're doing some good....God bless you and more power to you. But not all foreigners who find themselves here teaching enjoy it, are any good at it, or fit for it. If you're among the latter and you contemplate staying here long-term the biggest favor you can do yourself is to build up your Japanese...especially reading...and open up other options for yourself. If English teaching were all I could do I would have left Japan a long time ago. My personality just isn't suited to that sort of work.

+100 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I lasted 3 month teaching English.

 

[Glenski]

PR isn't pointless. It has its merits outside of employment.

Mike, I didn't mean flat out and in the most general of terms that PR is pointless. Hell, I have it! What I meant was precisely what you and I have been saying: namely, that even though Revenant has PR, his ability to do more than teach English makes PR almost a pointless thing to have, just because of the wide range of work he could otherwise do if he were qualified for it.

Since he hasn't been on here for a few days, let's just hope he has used the time wisely to job hunt (and perhaps even land something). I hope he comes back to report, either way.

 

[Revenant]

So far all of my online and irl applications have been rejected. The closest I came to finding a job was with Berlitz working as an English teacher at a high school in Oji city, but the high school got back to them and told them they wouldn't accept someone without a degree.

I can't move anywhere soon to look for work simply due to limited money.

I'll look into construction work, that might work for the time being.

I already do private classes, but finding more students here is difficult. The most successful teachers here who have more teaching ability than I, not to mention more charisma, often say it really requires they hustle to make the money.

Teaching English simply can't be something I do long term, I mean I enjoy teaching some classes, and I had a whole lot of fun teaching at the elementary schools, but it's not something I want to make a career out of.

What I'd like to do is become a software developer. I'm looking into feasibility at the moment, such as working and student loans back in Canada, or I could study Japanese more seriously and possibly get a student loan here (I don't know anything about that as that's just an idea that popped into my head now).

 

[orochi]

There you go. Now you're working on it. Come up with a short-term, mid-term, and long-term plan. Figure out how you can accomplish each step and plan plan plan.

 

[Revenant]

Thanks Orochi, you've always known how to say what needs to be done and be encouraging about it as well.

At the moment, I just need to know what are the major banks in Tokyo, cause that's where I'm getting a job.

EDIT: Never mind, I got the info.