Applying for 2019

[Popapop2]

The application has yet to be opened, and won't be till late September or early October. Regardless, I thought I would start a topic for it a bit early. I myself will be applying this year, and I was wondering if anyone else was as well. In addition it's always nice to receive the standard "your throwing your life away" comments from the old regulars. Plus maybe it will give people something to talk about!

[word]

Hi-ho, regular here--I encourage you to give it a go! There are still a few of us around who'll help you out when we get a chance.

[Popapop2]

! Thank you for your wisdom and help. It is much appreciated.

I know I've been thinking about JET so long and if I should do it, that it seems weird that I'm on the edge of starting the long journey towards it.

[Jiggit]

Anyone else will tell you this but just don't set your heart too much on it. It's not a career, it's temporary, blablabla. If you just like the idea of a gap year abroad then make back-up plans. If you absolutely have your heart set on Japan then apply with all the other private ALT companies and anyone else who will get you a working Visa. The only way you'd be throwing your life away is if you have no other plan than getting on JET and despair when you don't get in.

[Popapop2]

Thank you for your advice. I do have a plan on what to do if I don't get in, so I'm covered there. In some ways it would suck if I didn't get JET, and I'm sure I would be bumped out about it, but I do have something to fall back on here in the states. So I could just see it as fate telling me JET wasn't right.


*mumbles to self, man maybe these old regulars aren't as old and jaded as I thought they were.*

[Ini]

I have trouble with the kids today with their cardi b and their fornite but define "thinking about so long". When I was a younger man a long time was a few months but now I've been debating buying a nest thermostat for the last 7 years and that seems like a reasonable period of time. Does "so long" mean a year or 13 years? A year seems fine, since you were in junior high sounds like the ramblings of a crazed weeaboo with a naruto fetish.

[Popapop2]

I have been thinking about JET probably around the time I first started college. It was always in the back of my mind as a possiblity of what I would want to do immediately following graduation.

This July I actually had a great opportunity to go to Japan. For two weeks I was studying abroad and then I did another two weeks of solo travel around the country. It definitely gave Me first hand knowledge and exp in the country, though I recognize living and traveling are completely different. I still enjoy most of my time in the country.

Still my two major options after graduation are either do JET for a couple of years, or get a full time position at my current employer where I work part time. I wouldn't mind continuing to work for them, in fact it might be what I do after JET should I get on. Still I think JET could be a great experience and there's no better time than when I'm young and not excessively tied down.

[Beer Baron]

I completely recommend JET. Yea, you may have bad experiences but you'll have some awesome ones too that you'll remember forever.
What else would you be doing? To be honest, a year (at least) of eating amazing Japanese food, drinking Chuhi, and meeting new people, along with learning a new language and being paid for it (!) sounds like a great time to me.

As others have said, it's not a career. I stayed the full 5 years but went back into a programming job when I arrived back in the UK. In the last 2 years of my time out in Japan, I spent some of my free time at school learning a new programming language and creating websites. I put together a portfolio of websites I designed and programmed and this was absolutely essential to me landing a job when I got back. 5 years was a long time to be away from the IT sector but I managed to do it.

You don't have to stay the full 5 years, but time does fly. I didn't plan on it. In fact, when I joined the max allowed time was 3 years. The time flew by.

Of course, every situation is different. Some people hate their placements. It's the luck of the draw I'm afraid, but it's also what you make of what you're given.

Stay active on the forum - we need newbies like you !

[Popapop2]

Thank you for the advice and story.
My desired career is government work, which is what I'm currently doing part time. I do like it and will eventually come back, but I think doing JET could be be rewarding and a break before I pledge head first back into government. Plus I do think it could be beneficial to learn about Japan more, and get new perspectives and learn how it is living under a foreign government. I do feel that after a couple years I could still get some position in government, at least where I'm working right now, a couple of years from now.

The ESID I have often heard researching about JET. So I hope to take the punches as they come. Of course I would like a placement in Ibaraki where I studied abroad (Uni. Of Tsukuba) or near Osaka which was my favorite city. But I also would be willing to be placed elsewhere as well.

And thank you. Now that I'm here I hope to stay in some form or another. Some new blood.

[Beer Baron]

You'll read that you'll have no chance of a placement in Osaka. It was the same when I applied but I requested Osaka and got it.
I don't know what the current agreement the Osaka Fu BOE has as I think there was talk of them ditching JET. It may not have happened though. When i was there in 2004-2009, Osaka Shi definitely didn't hire JETs. They were privately contracted .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Popapop2]

I did find a link to the stats about placements here if anyone is interested - http://jetprogramme.org/wp-content/M...jetstats_e.pdf

Yes, I have read a few times that people often don't get the big cities like Tokyo, Osaka, etc. Which I don't mind, being semi close would be enough, heck I will be technically closer to Osaka than I am right now. Though I have heard that there isn't much in Ibaraki, besides JAXA and a few other things. But I enjoyed my time there, and being able to be close to the Japanese friends I made in Tsukuba would be a nice plus. Though I realize that getting any of my placement preferences is a crapshoot.

[Beer Baron]

Great find! Very interesting to look at those numbers and glad to see Osaka still hiring JETs.

[word]

I teach, so JET ended up being at least somewhat connected to my career choice. Remarkably, I was able to convince my last two schools that my time in Japan counted as teaching experience, which meant I was placed on a more generous salary schedule (it's still complete sh*t--yanno, a teacher's salary--but still).

I guess time has made me remember my JET experience much more fondly. Probably the way life works in general. I did four years on JET in the ultra-inaka and three as a direct-hire in a decent-sized city. Worked out pretty well for me. Lots of JETs saved money but my wife and I blew it all on travel and vacations and I can't say I have many ragrets.

[Popapop2]

Nice way to make use of JET.

[mothy]

I hate JET, but because it's an ineffective program that is a waste of money. For the average JET it's going to be a happy time for them as they blissfully make Japan worse.

[Popapop2]

Interesting. I wonder if JET will ever improve in those regards. I doubt it, considering it's government and it's been going on so long already. But good to know that if I go on it I'll likely have a happy time.

[Jiggit]

Don't mind mothy, he's just trying to distinguish himself from the other dancing monkeys.

[Popapop2]

Ah, of course-- he falls right into my original impression of all the regulars being old and jaded.

[mothy]

Don't mind mothy, he's just trying to distinguish himself from the other dancing monkeys.

Do you honestly think JET isn't a waste of money? For cheaper they could be sending their english teachers abroad for study and training, plus hire more teachers/support staff to reduce the strain on understaffed schools. In this era there should be no need for such a mass influx of native speakers.

[Jiggit]

Depends on what you think the goal of having them is. If you think the goal is for students in Japan to leave school with a functional level of English, then there are a million other problems they need to fix before JET.

Or do you think every other penny spent on English education here is used efficiently and effectively?