Is JET actually that much better than other opportunities?

[johnny]

Avoid AJET, your PA, NAJET, the support hotline and anywhere else where CV padding little hitlers congregate like the plague. The best thing you can do on JET is treat it like a job and rather than joining some creepy nationwide cult.

Garbage. Just because you treat JET like a job, it doesn't mean that you need to treat people who want to get involved like pariahs.

Also, for the record, my PA is super nice and conducts herself very professionally and helps create meetings that most of the JETs really enjoy.

Our AJET coordinators are really nice people and create nice, low-key events that really bring interested people together.

[Ini]

Organises meetings? Good for her, I bet she's really good at using excel as well... In these meetings does she draw on her years of experience teach you how to be a better educator? I'm willing to bet no because she'll just be another FOB JET. The blind leading the blind.......

[Antonath]

In these meetings does she draw on her years of experience teach you how to be a better educator? I'm willing to bet no...

Ini has a point. I've known some excellent PAs who were very, very good at their jobs, but ultimately they had no formal more training in teaching than I do. In fact, a little less, because they were CIRs, not ALTs.

Our AJET coordinators are really nice people and create nice, low-key events that really bring interested people together.

That's your local AJET. National AJET is what everyone bitches about, and is there almost entirely for CV-padding.

[johnny]

Organises meetings? Good for her, I bet she's really good at using excel as well... In these meetings does she draw on her years of experience teach you how to be a better educator? I'm willing to bet no because she'll just be another FOB JET. The blind leading the blind.......

I'm not sure it's the PA's job to have to educate us during the entirety of these meetings. It's a leadership and organizational role.

I believe our PA is in her third year. She has a degree in education and spends part of her week working directly for the kencho so she can organize special education events for us. She herself managed to get a great keynote speaker for my last kencho event who had a lot of great things to teach us.

[Gizmotech]

Organises meetings? Good for her, I bet she's really good at using excel as well... In these meetings does she draw on her years of experience teach you how to be a better educator? I'm willing to bet no because she'll just be another FOB JET. The blind leading the blind.......

Word. But like antonath said, we're dealing with a particular breed of power seeking sycophant, not your generally nice person. The local AJET can be okay (when they're not being unnecessarily regional).

[johnny]

Ini has a point. I've known some excellent PAs who were very, very good at their jobs, but ultimately they had no formal more training in teaching than I do. In fact, a little less, because they were CIRs, not ALTs.


That's your local AJET. National AJET is what everyone bitches about, and is there almost entirely for CV-padding.

My PA has a degree in education. So maybe I'm just in a good situation. She is also an ALT.

As for national AJET, maybe they are resume padding. I hardly care or blame them. I've never really talked with any of the National AJET people since Tokyo Orientation (if I talked with them then).

That Planet Eigo book is handy for newcomers. The organization published that...what else do they do?

[Ini]

it's a leadership and organizational role.

Its not a leadership role. Never let a PA tell you that they have any authority over you or anything that you do.

[johnny]

Its not a leadership role. Never let a PA tell you that they have any authority over you or anything that you do.

You are conflating management roles and leadership roles. Having a leadership role means that you are a consensus builder and a facilitator. Your aim is not to direct people, but rather to motivate them and encourage them to meet an organizational goal.

In that sense, the PA is supposed to be a leader.

[Ini]

I've been good friends with a few PAs. The work they did in terms of international relations at the prefectural office was excellent. It was just the "ALT support" side of their job I felt was utterly pointless.

[johnny]

I've been good friends with a few PAs. The work they did in terms of international relations at the prefectural office was excellent. It was just the "ALT support" side of their job I felt was utterly pointless.

Okay, that is a fair point. I see your point now. I don't find they always do much in the way of personal support. Ironically, I find my BOE does more to support me if I am having problems. I actually think hey want me to be happy which not something all ALT's feel.

[therealwindycity]

I've been good friends with a few PAs. The work they did in terms of international relations at the prefectural office was excellent. It was just the "ALT support" side of their job I felt was utterly pointless.

And it doesn't help that they usually don't actually have any clout at the BOE. I feel that a lot of PAs probably do the best they can with what they have to work with, but ultimately the BOE is going to see them as not much more authoritative than an ALT and give what they say about the same amount of consideration. We're lucky in our prefecture that our PA is actually employed by the BOE, speaks Japanese natively, and was a former ALT who decided to stay here permanently so she understands our situations really well. Even so, there's a limit to what she can do.

[ihatefall]

I would be careful in assuming a private company will get you a better position. I was on JET and was only 32 mins (on a regular train) from Tokyo. I knew a JET in Saitama that was 15 mins from Shibuya. (I live on the good side of the Yamanote now and I am barely 15 mins from Shibuya. But I do live in a huge house in Ikebukuro that I dont pay rent for so no complaining.)

I knew Interac / Heart ALTs that were 2.5 hours from Tokyo. Private ALTs and Eikaiwas are all over the place.

Personally I would must rather be in a public school experiencing sports festivals etc than in some stale Eikaiwa building 5 days a week. (working the night shift sucks)

If I were on the fence about which is better, I would apply to both and take the best offer. If you give up JET soon enough you'll make some alternate very happy anyway. (Just becareful about not getting paid during the breaks and being given a promised amount of money. There was a private I knew that had his hours cut during test season and had to leave Japan because he couldn't make ends meet.)

[zombiekelly]

I'm a first year Interac and only 80 minutes from Tokyo. Bring a gameboy on the train and you won't even notice the time it takes to get there.

[johnny]

I'm a first year Interac and only 80 minutes from Tokyo. Bring a gameboy on the train and you won't even notice the time it takes to get there.

How regularly do the trains come for you? I can bike to get to my regular schools, but if I have a meeting or special assignment and need to catch the train I need to be careful because the trains only come every 30 minutes.

[zombiekelly]

I drive to school, so I don't keep track of the commuting times, but generally it's 2 trains an hour in the afternoon. I don't consider it a pain though. The Hitachi stops once in the morning for the salarymen, knocking time to Tokyo under an hour.

[BeckyJones]

I feel like I'm bending over backwards for the opportunity to wait 8+ months to start an entry-level job.

The pay is a little bit better than other, similar jobs.

They sponsor your visa and pay for transportation.

Maybe it looks better on a resume.

Am I missing something, or has JET simply done a kick-ass job of marketing their program to make it seem like it's head and shoulders above the rest? Are you applying to other positions in Japan as you wait to hear on JET?

Hi, ex JET and current NON JET here.

to answer your question: Yes and No. JET usually has better pay, and better compensation when it comes to airfare and vacation. JETs also have more support in country than the private people have. This is a good thing and bad thing. If you don't speak Japanese and are having work or life related problems you can usually get support from other JETs, your Coordinators and CIRs, while it might be a bit more difficult to do working for a private company.

The downside to this is that JET is very carebear, and hand holding and there are a lot of JETs who simply can't hack it in the real world IMO, add this to the fact that JETs are notorious hard to fire and get rid of and you get a combination of a lot of childish and inept JETs who make it harder for the rest of the community. Another downside to this is that a lot of prefectures and a lot of BOEs know that JETs are easier to manipulate and easier to get out to their rural area and so you really do play roulette with JET. There are lovely JETs and lovely BOEs in lovely places. And then there are two bit shit holes with horrible students in the middle of no where who treat their JETs like shit and the conditions are quite horrible, so horrible in fact that it would be hard for them to find a private company to fill said positions.

So long story short, JET as far as employee benefits is usually better, but not by much. I have found that my working conditions as an ExJET to be better than when I was on JET, but I've been to japan before and know what I'm doing. If i was a newbie fresh off the boat with no japanese language ability, I think JET would be better than my current private job. But not by much.

[word]

This discussion was getting a bit off-topic. I moved the off-topic posts to a new thread in The Lounge.

[HorseFeathers]

My friend who strongly encouraged me to apply to JET was a 3rd year Interac ALT. His reasoning was that the JETs got better treatment overall; that it was like winning the lottery if you got in. But he personally did not like a lot of the JETs he knew because they were straight out of college. He said they complained a lot about their work or their apartments that were far nicer than his. But he acknowledged that this was just a personal bias and that he'd take a position with JET if it were ever offered to him.

Interac was my back up plan. Actually I take that back- at first it was my only plan but my friend strong-armed me to applying for JET. Saying I'd have to be crazy not to give it a shot. So if I end up not getting the job after my interview, I probably will look into Interac again. As far as my friend was concerned, he never had any real terrible issues with the company. He heard stories but they always happened to a friend of a friend so he never took them super seriously. So really, I'd say- JET's not the only choice out there. If Japan is your end goal, check out all your options. You don't have to put all your eggs into one JET basket.

[8082]

The "support network" does foster a certain attitude in people. JETs tend to expect the world to revolve around them and are used to having the BOE wipe their arse for them. Private companies dont have the time or money to waste spoon feeding people so the ALTs tend to need more common sense. Chances are the majority of your friends will either work for the same company or be on JET with you so choose which group best suits you. If you are a pragmatic person JETs will annoy you, if you have never left your parents basement before you will probably starve to death with a private company.

Amen.

[kenkennif]

After five years I finally signed up to ITIL just to answer this question:

THE ANSWER IS YES.