here I go again. job hunting

[Colonel Voss]

Ash: Thanks for the offers of help. I don't think the company in Ise would want to pay the train tickets from Yokkaichi. As for the Nara job, another move (and not having the cash to move) and more uncertainty that come with it wouldn't help. Uncertainty is one huge thing I am struggling with. I basically assume that I'll be fired at the end of every year now.

Prim: Again, the uncertainty.

Job: Keeping ones head held high does little to help. Once you have a knife at your throat, it is impossible not to think about it. Having a financial knife at ones throat does a good job of keeping one focused. It is the first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing you think about at night. Hell it even creeps into your dreams making the nightmares just that much more worse.

All: I've tried to figure a way out and even with an upward slope, there is no end in sight. I'm tired and long past need for rest and refit. Combat ineffective and told to hold the line is not a good place to be.

[Primarch]

(No offence to all the ALTs on here), It really does seem like ALT work is a poor choice for long term work. As I understand it, ALTs are the first thing to be cut on the school budget if they want to save money, the ALT companies are happy to screw you by refusing to pay you during the long holidays and in most cases, you are generally seen as being fairly disposable if they have just one negative comment about you. In a country with a decreasing birth rate, schools are going to be getting leaner and leaner. Don't get me wrong, my job is not secure by any means, but if instability is an issue then looking elsewhere may be a solution.

I would suggest that you pick up a copy of Town Work and start looking for positions that list English as a required skill, sales, marketing, translation, logistics, these are all possible avenues of employment. Most companies don't care much about prior experience or educational background, they expect to have to train people in whatever field they enter. So long as your Japanese is good enough to deal with customers/suppliers/managers in a polite fashion, you should be good to go. Of course, they will probably work you like a dog, as that is how things are done, but most companies don't like to let staff go once they are trained and you get paid for the overtime you put in.

The other option is one of the big Eikaiwas. It's not seasonal work, the hours aren't too awful. They also tend to hire for one year contracts, but again, like to keep people on where possible.

Finally, go back to companies you have spoken to before and let them know you are still looking for something.

Being uncertain about the future certainly sucks, but the more alternatives you pursue, the more chance there is of something panning out.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[ashmie]

Forget about yesterday and don't worry about tomorrow because today is all there is.
Best of luck Colonol Voss. Fingers crossed also.

[ashmie]

There is a nice job going in Kuwana I was offered but couldn't take due to leaving for eikaiwa kids and adults with a July start.
Mountain English school if you are interested please let me know.
250,000 en starting salary, nice boss and school. Good hours and you get a weekend.
Apartment can be at the school if needed.

Ash

[Washoi]

I work for Peppy Kids Club (Itti Japan)
Starting salary is 240,000yen a month. It's not the best work environment and you do work alone in an Eikaiwa situation but our current Gifu unit is down 40% of its teachers right now due to a group of friends all moving to canada together to continue their travels together (from what I've been told).

I'm new to this forum so I don't know you personally but It's a stable job and I can get you lots of details if you wish, I've been working here for 5 years so it's certainly palatable.

Also there is another company I Interviewed with who are Eikaiwa but seem like a good group of people based in Nagoya called "Ocean English" seemed like a good bunch of guys but wouldn't hire me unless I moved house... and I love my small town house, I don't want to move back into an apartment so I turned them down for my current climate.

PM if you want any info!

[ashmie]

Colonol Voss PM'd

[Colonel Voss]

So as I said last Thursday I had won a battle and got my contract voided and was trying to fix things.

Well that company left one huge stinker for me. I went to the immigration bureau today in Yokkaichi to renew my visa. We hit a wonderful snag. The immigration people couldn't tell who my prior employer was, the school or the contractor. They had filled out the application in a screwed up way.

So off to Nagoya I went my express train. I stopped at the international center to get some help. The legal advisor there was confused too and agreed that the contract was void but who I should write down for the immigration, he had no clue. We tried talking to the people I had talked with again but I got blocked and sent to another section. This time I got a really bad answer. Because I took money from the black company, they are my employer and the only way to void the contract was to return a whole years worth of pay! Of course he didn't say where I would get my paycheck from, so I guess he meant that I should just become a slave and work for free.

So off to the Nagoya immigrations bureau I went with no answer that actually made sense. I got lucky and on the train ride I found a rather nasty loophole. I went in and changed my visa to temporary and then back to instructor so that only my new company applies. Cost 8,000 yen total and I have a ton of work to do at city hall now as well as to go and talk to the slaver tomorrow.

So, my running tally is 2 lawsuits, one for breach of contract on my car and the other that will start on the black company. low wage, one or two meals a day, selling of my minis and borrowing money from friends. Passport and city hall problems.

The Irish have a saying, a full stomach cannot understand the feelings of an empty stomach. Throughout my life, I have been blamed and made guilty on everything. In high school, when two students hit me in class in front of the teacher who did nothing to stop it, every day for a whole school year. When I went to another teacher to complain, he blamed me and said it was because I wasn't cool enough. When my narcissistic Japanese girlfriend left me, everyone said she was perfect for me and it was my fault. It would take two years before one of them said, he realized what she truly was and he was wrong. When a Japanese teacher was yelling at me for no reason, I was told it was because I was humble enough. My mother guilt trips me weekly for not being there to take care of her and not visiting more often. It's my fault all these bad things happen and if only I would move back to Montana.........

These people haven't been through my situations. They sit there in much better positions then I. From their positions, they look down and say, it isn't so bad. They say, you can tough it out. They belittle my problems.

I can't even count the number of years that I can refer to as bad. Each year gets worse and worse and worse. I am told to keep my chin up because I am tough and I have been through bad before. I remember the world war two picture of a man caught in barbed wire and shot dead. The sigh read, 'You talk of sacrifice. He knows the meaning of sacrifice.'

I'm bone tired. I have fought for so many years and the toll it has taken has been huge. I have made huge sacrifices only to get kicked in the teeth again and again. I promised my priest 4 years ago that I would commit suicide. That promise alone kept me from jumping in front of a train yesterday and in Feb/March/April.

Platitudes are meaningless. I have heard them so many times for so many years that they have no meaning.

Understand that if you offer help with strings attached, I may not accept because your strings might make things worse for me. And if I do, don't guilt trip me for not accepting. Instead, look at all the things you have and understand that you don't know even a quarter of my story. I keep a lot of hardships to myself.