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Now Accepting Applications for September 2010 Starting Positions.

Click here to apply!

 

Notes for Overseas Applicants

 
ALTIA CENTRAL generally does the bulk of its recruiting and interviewing in-country but overseas applicants are welcome as well.  We currently have a system in place where we can interview and screen applicants in Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand.  The successful applicants then have a 2nd interview with an ALTIA CENTRAL head office recruiter to complete the process.  We typically employ 10 to 20 overseas applicants each April and another half dozen or so in September. Overseas applicants are also especially important during the semesters as we like to utilize their flexibility to fill those positions which open up during the semester for one reason or another.  These tend to happen in the months of May and June, and then again in October and November. Overseas applicants are responsible for booking and paying for their own airfare to Japan as see this as part of your investment in, and commitment to this adventure!

The Interview

The first face-to-face interview will take place at a central city location, usually a hotel lobby coffee shop, and you will be informed of the location upon confirmation of your acceptance for interview. Interviews are conducted either by ALTIA CENTRAL staff from our Nagoya, Japan head office or local representatives in that country if applicable. The interview normally lasts about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and is quite informal, though we request that you dress formally. We want you to feel relaxed during the interview so we try to keep things casual yet professional. Most applicants come away feeling like it was less of an interview and more of friendly, informative conversation and that the time flew by! We hope you do too! You will not be asked to do a teaching demonstration, but preparing and going over a lesson plan will be required.  As well, when the interview is confirmed, you will be asked to bring a couple passport photos and copies of a variety of documents so we can get a headstart on any visa application etc that may be necessary.  We'll let you know exactly what to bring well before the interview.

Location Preference

We do of course ask you for a preference of location (or type of location, e.g. rural, urban, near the mountains, etc.) and try very hard to meet your requests. Nothing can be guaranteed of course, especially at the time of the interview, but we will try hard to find a suitable place to meet your needs and skill set.  Of course, the more specific your request is the more difficult it may be to meet your request.  (See the list of currently available locations in our "Available Positions" section.)  Obviously, the more flexible you are, the easier it is to place you!

Starting date

ALTIA CENTRAL ALTs generally start school in April, the first day of school being around April 7th for most ALTs, and finish near the end of March the following year, somewhere around the 25th or so. Thus they start at the beginning of the school year, rather than half way through it, as on the JET program. JET starts much later in the year, around late July/mid August with confirmation coming through around as late as mid May/June. Our ALTs arrive late March in time to settle into apartments and then undertake 4 days of Orientation/Training in Nagoya city. Our training is held by dedicated staff with many years of experience in Japan and is designed to orientate you to the school system in Japan, and to get you ready for the first month of school, after which we have our first Follow Up Training, again in Nagoya. One of the greatest concerns many new ALTs have is just exactly how to teach in the Japanese classroom. Our training is designed to ensure that you have a greater head start, and better understanding of your role and the expectations of the school than most JET teachers.

Resources 

Just as a mechanic needs tools to fix a car, a teacher also needs resources to help them teach! ALTIA CENTRAL, provides you with an excellent resource pack, everything you will need to get going. Everything from flashcards to music CDs to storyboards, Junior High school text books and supplementary lesson plan books. And add to that our website, which is loaded with more ideas and downloaded resources at your fingertips. You can also exchange teaching ideas, lesson plans and and tips with your fellow ALTs via the website.

On-Going Professional Training

We offer on going training throughout the year with our FUT events, which are held four times over the year. These events combine Follow Up Training for new ALTs with other Professional Development seminars. We want to ensure that, as a teacher, you have multiple opportunities to continue learning, receive great new ideas and be inspired to do more with your students or your community. On top of that it's also a good time to socialise with your fellow ALTs ands catch up with those friends you met at Orientation/Training.

A real native English Supervisor!

Through JET, you are very much on your own and are supervised by a Japanese Board of Education staff member or one of the teachers in your school (if you are a High school teacher). If you are lucky they may speak a little English, but this is not always the case and this is where things can be difficult for JET teachers. Language and cultural misunderstandings are very common. Each of our ALTs are allocated a Native English speaking Supervisor who has lived and worked in Japan for many years, has extensive experience as an ALT and understands how the schools and Boards fo Education operate and what they expect. They are responsible for supporting the ALTs in their schools, visiting the ALTs at school, observing lessons and giving feedback to the ALT based on their own observations and also from feedback from the school (we send out two questionaires a year to schools). They are also on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, within reason of course, if you need any after-hours support.
  

The COE

The visa Certificate of Eligibility is applied for by ALTIA CENTRAL to Immigration here in Nagoya. To apply we need 4 passport photographs, a clear copy of your degree, a signed contract and a copy of your resume. This usually takes 3-4 weeks to come through but sometimes longer. Once we receive it back, It is then sent to you by FEDEX wherever you are in the world, and then you must take it to your local Embassy of Japan or Consular Office (any country is ok if you are traveling). This usually takes about 5 working days. Once you have your visa in your passport, you can come to Japan. From date of issue of the COE, you have  3 months to process the COE and come to Japan. 

Placement

This is the tricky part! For overseas recruits, we ask that you are as flexible as possible with placement, whilst keeping in mind any preferences you may have for placement location, type of loaction (rural vs urban etc) and level (JHS/ELE/KINDY). Placement is like a big puzzle for us. We quite simply do not just place everyone anywhere at random! We take into account the contract area and level and the customer's needs, the history of the contract and background and abilities of the applicant and try our best to make the right match that will keep all parties happy! This is incredibly important. If we have the wrong match, we will create problems on many different levels....and we don't want that! Placement can be confirmed well ahead of time or perhaps not until either just before you arrive or even, worst case scenario, after you have arrived. We try very hard to let you know before you leave..it is rare that you will find out upon arrival, but we ask you to be patient and understanding in case the need arrives!
 

Supervisor Allocation

Once your placement location has been confirmed you will be handed over to your native English-speaking Supervisor who will co-ordinate with you about your arrival, pick up if necessary, move into your apartment, hotel accommodations for training (if required) and your Board of Education/school introductions. From here on in, they are your supporter throughout your ALTIA CENTRAL adventure. 
 

Arrival

Apparently for "the safety of all residents of Japan," photographing and electronic fingerprinting of all foreign visitors at Passport Control upon arrival was introduced from November 1, 2007. Once you have arrived, we ask you to make your way to either your new home city or Nagoya for Orientation/Training. O/T will take place in Nagoya before the start of the semester, so please confirm the dates with ALTIA CENTRAL before booking your tickets.