Admittedly, I’ve been holding off on starting a blog about my experience finding a job as an ALT in Japan until I was closer to that end goal. Perhaps I’m still jumping the gun a bit, considering I haven’t actually gotten the job yet, but I can’t help but think that now, as I sit here just under a week away from my final interview with Interac, might be as good a time as any to begin. After all, I know I’ve spent countless hours eagerly soaking up every tidbit of information I can find about the interview process with different companies myself over the past year. Maybe, just maybe, I could be doing another information-hungry soul out there like me a favor on immortalizing my experience to add to the pile as well.
Or maybe I just want a reason to talk about myself.
Either way, I suppose any reason is as good as the rest. So here’s what I’ve got so far:
I mentioned that my interview (next Saturday!) is with Interac, but as with most others, Interac was not my first choice for getting to Japan. In late 2010, I applied to the JET program and — again, as with most others — was not granted an interview spot. While that was not ideal, I am not so easily deterred. I’ve wanted a job teaching English in Japan since way back in my preteen-dom, so there was no way that being denied a spot in JET was going to cause me to turn around and go home.
Once January came around and I saw for sure that I was not on the infamous and cold-hearted JET interview list, I began to take some of the options I had been researching more seriously. Some people will tell you that no company, dispatch or eikaiwa, is good to work for, and I went through countless pages of forum discussions in order to make a weighed and educated decision on which companies I wanted to go for and which I felt too suspicious of to worry myself with.
Anyone who has heard anything about Interac is now probably thinking that it’s very strange that I would choose them, if I was so thorough in my investigations. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, just google ‘Interac ALT’ and read a bit of what comes up. Long story short, about 70% of what you find will be negative, some horrendously so.
Being that I majored in a subject that was heavy on marketing, I have learned to hold off passing judgement on any company, service, person, product, etc. that is given horrible reviews online. This was the thing that came to mind instantly upon reading some of the ghastly stories on forums and BBSes from internet denizens (many of whom never even worked for the company). I have learned to think harder, look deeper, and consider that most of those who actually bother to go online to vent their frustrations about a subject are those who have had (or simply heard of, in some of these cases) a terrible experience. These are often the minority, but on the surface easily appear to be a wide majority–because they are the majority of those speaking. Most people satisfied with a company won’t suddenly think, ‘Oh hey, I was happy/okay with how I was treated. I should go tell the internet.’ Do you? The only threads I found about Interac that regarded an opinion (not asking for one from other forum-goers) how the company treated their workers were begun by those who were wildly displeased. I’m not saying they’re wrong, I’m not saying they’re right. I’m simply saying that the wise will take such things with a grain of salt. Especially when I also found, upon digging deeper, plenty of people who were satisfied — if not sufficiently happy — with how they were treated personally and how the business runs or ran.
Next, almost all of the threads where there were complaints about Interac regarding the most commonly brought-up issues such as late pay, being fired for taking sick days, etc. were from 2008 and before. Speaking from my own personal experience with the company thus far, and the lack of current complaints about such things (or anything at all, really) made me hesitantly hopeful that they have recently attempted to turn their bad press around. In fact, the only negative comments in a current Interac thread now seem to be made by those linking to the aforementioned old threads, with a tag of ‘Just fair warning, this is what I heard…’ I haven’t been hired nor have I worked for them, so I can’t say what’s going on and what isn’t, but of all the information I have available at this moment, I know that my gut feels tentatively comfortable about this company.
So that’s why Interac. Among other things, such as my preference for working in public schools, of course.
But I’ve gone on about that long enough. So, after all of my research and contemplation, I applied for several schools, dispatch companies, and a couple of eikaiwa. As if by fate, Interac was the quickest to respond, sending me an email to inform me that I had passed their application stage a couple weeks after it was submitted. The next step was to schedule a phone interview with one of their recruiters, which I signed up to have the next month, in late February.
My phone screening was with Jason. He called me promptly at the time I had chosen, although I had been sitting there in front of my phone with my heart racing for a good 15 minutes prior. I had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised by how relaxed and simple the process was. Mind you, I have had hour-long phone interviews before this, so perhaps I was simply more calm for the prior experience, but I really do think that the phone screening is nothing to sweat.
The questions asked were the ones you would expect. Things like, “Why Japan?”, “Would you be comfortable in a rural placement?”, “Would you be willing to drive a car?”, “Do you have any teaching experience?”, “Are you prepared to bring 500,000 JPY along to finance the move?”, among other questions that should be standard if you have done any sort of ALT application prior. I just remembered to breathe, answered honestly, remembered most of all to keep an upbeat and chipper tone, and spoke clearly and concisely. Your interviewer can’t see you bouncing out of your chair for this opportunity, so you have to sound excited — especially for this job, for which you are expected to be genki as all you-know 24/7 anyway.
What did surprise me about the phone interview was how short it was. After 15 minutes, Jason had run through his list of questions, and I was offered a spot in one of their seminars (aka the final interview) before he hung up. I of course accepted, and got off the phone floating on cloud nine. From what I’ve read, not being offered an interview at the end of your phone screening does notmean that you didn’t get one, but it does mean it’s possible you didn’t. Basically, I’ve never heard of Interac telling you over the phone if you did not make it — you have to wait for a rejection email. I’m not certain if being given a spot immediately vs in an email later down the line is a sign of how well you did, or simply a question of how different recruiters do things…. but if you get the spot, I wouldn’t worry about that too much.
The reason being? According to Interac themselves (backed up by statistics from first-hand accounts of seminars by successful hires), getting a spot in a seminar is nearly a shoe-in for being offered a position. What is seems like is that Interac is very severe about cutting a large number of candidates with each step in the hiring process so that those who they ask to potentially inconvenience themselves with traveling a long distance to an in-person interview are those whom — unless they are late to their interview, this seems to be the one Sure Fail! — they know they would be happy accepting. The following is a direct excerpt from my main email regarding my seminar:
Acing the interview
If you have been invited to the seminar, you have been chosen amongst hundreds of applicants, and have passed the portion of the process where most fail. There is no reason to be nervous. Be yourself. Be honest with your recruiter. We provide teachers all over Japan in a wide range of situations, and we are interested in finding the spot that best suits you. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. A large part of this session is getting all the facts to you so you can make the right decision about going to Japan, and really enjoy your time there.
It seems as if the seminar is mainly informational, and almost a formality and a chance to interact with each candidate in person before definitely offering the job. At least that’s what everyone’s said and that’s what I’d like to believe! So… here’s to hoping!
I guess I’ll find out in a few days now… For now, I’m just going to keep working my ass off on my video demo, do some more calming exercises, and get myself on that plane to Chicago. I’ll see you on the other side.
♥ japanologically 
Hi, this is a comment.
To delete a comment, just log in, and view the posts’ comments, there you will have the option to edit or delete them.
Good luck with your seminar…and don’t forget that interview and demo lesson!