Should you work for Nova?
From one of our readers:
I just got back from New York yesterday, where I had an interview with NOVA. I heard about it from a friend of a friend I met in a bar and since then have been pretty gung-ho about the possibility. I have been beelining towards NOVA because it is the one that that guy told me about, and perhaps unwisely neglecting to do too much research past the NOVA site itself. The interview was fine, whatever, and frankly I was surprised at the low quality of the other candidates- they were all just twenty somethings like me, nothing special. The interview itself was subtlely off-putting, and the corporate nature of NOVA began to become apparent as the interviewer rapid fired through the lightning round and refused to move on until she had something to fill the space on her sheet for the semi-unanswerable questions.
Today I decided to poke around for information on the internet, and I have not been very happy. Malevolent rants aside (of which there are a few…) I see a consistent negative opinion of NOVA as being a corporate giant full of malcontented or alchoholic gaijin. While I understand a lot of the experience depends on the luck of where you are placed (I asked for an urban area) and who is around you, I am deeply and genuinely concerned about the recent insurance scandal and the unnecessarily draconian fraternization policy.
Are all the eikawa run this way? Are any of them better than NOVA? I began to look at ECC and, at least just from their website, they look more reputable in terms of how they treat their workers.
Let me be clear, I know NO japanese and not all that much about Japan (although the general knowledge I do have is fairly fleshed out). I didn’t even consider applying for JET because of this, even though the majority of the people I know who are over there did JET and like it. BUT, I really don’t want to sell myself short as an English teacher… I just got a degree in English and have spent years teaching music lessons (a subject more similar to language than you might think…) I was especially dismayed to learn that the Bachelor’s degree is a requirement not of NOVA but of the visa application, essentially showing me that NOVA just wants english speakers and that’s it.
I want to go to Japan for the cultural experience, to learn and to see (and to watch, too :) ) I want to stay there for a year, maybe two. While I may not pursue a career in ESL, I absolutely don’t want to just breeze through the teaching- it’s important to me that students learn! Given my credentials, is NOVA really the best option for me?
Sigh. NOVA. What can you say? I read all the stories about NOVA before I left for Japan too, and while I was a bit sceptical that these were legitimate complaints as opposed to enthusiastic bitching, most of what I’ve heard has been confirmed since I arrived.
Firstly, I think it’s a good thing that you’re thinking about why exactly you want to teach English in Japan. I should warn you that you will be an odd one out. I’ve been studying the foreigners that come to Japan to teach, and it seems like there are three main reasons that they have decided to come to Japan.
1) They have no career prospects and getting a job as an English teacher is easy. You noticed this when you sat the interview. The quality of candidates wasn’t high, but I’d bet good money that all of them are recruited. NOVA in particular is said to be under recruitment quotas so I’m told the interviews are more or less just to check that you don’t dribble when you talk or have Tourette’s Syndrome. It’s sad, but the majority of people here fall under this category. Many of them are bitter and cynical and bitch the most, the “malcontented and alcoholic gaijin” you mentioned, but that is a generalisation. There are also great people from this category. Another point is that you’ll find them in every eikaiwa, not just NOVA.
2) The people that actually want to become teachers. My housemate is one. She came to Japan because it’s an easy way to get teaching experience, especially since in countries like Britain, the rules and laws surrounding working with children make it difficult to get some experience on your resume. It is amazingly easy to get teaching work with children, even with no formal teaching qualifications. It’s also just a fun lifetime experience to be in Japan. They tend to stay here for a couple of years before going home to continue their teaching careers. They are pretty common, but by no means the majority.
3) The people here for fun. I’m one of these and I suspect you are too. These are the people who aren’t thinking about teaching careers, they just want to be in Japan for whatever reason. My reason is the fashion and the anime. But learning the language, or being interested in design are other popular ones. Maybe they’re the round-the-world backpacking type and have now stopped in Japan after trekking in South America. Maybe they’re the kind of people that had highly successful careers at home but got bored and wanted a seachange. These kinds of people are teaching because it’s the easiest job you can get quickly in Japan. They aren’t interested in teaching (not to say that they neglect the job) but the focus is more on being in Japan and the job simply funds their stay. These people seem to be the ones that move on to other jobs or go home in a relatively short space of time (around one year or less). These people are also pretty rare.
I should point out that there are of course the people that came here and were only planning to stay for a year, but ended up staying here for ten! Getting married, having kids, establishing successful careers. They’re hardly foreigners anymore. They’re home now.
I can really only tell you my opinion as a person from the third category. You will have fun in Japan, but you may not have fun at work. Especially now that you have doubts about NOVA, I wouldn’t recommend you going there. All of the eikaiwa have a similar teaching standard, but each eikaiwa’s culture is different. In my experience, I love teaching the students, but I hate being in the staffroom. What you said about different areas and branches is true too, but of course, in the case of NOVA, there are some things that remain the same, like the anti-fraternization policy and the legal hiccups.
NOVA hire as many English teachers as AEON, GEOS and ECC put together. It’s big. The majority of teachers that you’ll meet are NOVA teachers. Keep in mind though, that the English teaching scene is changing. Stories that you may have heard from people who taught in Japan years ago may not necessarily hold true today.
But I’m getting philosophical…
Is NOVA a crappy company to work for? All signs point to yes. But depending on who you are and what you want from your time in Japan, it may not matter. Are other eikaiwa better to work for than NOVA? Again, signs point to yes. But I’m told there are some aspects where NOVA have been more flexible with their staff, for example, the ability to change branches, swap or change shift schedules and so on. I can’t really vouch for the accuracy.
Don’t worry about your lack of Japanese. Any eikaiwa will take you, even the small ones. It’ll make your life a little rocky but every foreigner in Japan has that issue. And especially since you asked to live in an urban area, you’ll get by.
It’s great that you want your students to learn and not just pissfart about but you’ll find some students that aren’t really there to learn English. Their reasons may range from being-there-because-their-mother-said-so to wanting-to-marry-a-gaijin-man. So keep this in mind when you teach.
I guess my best recommendation is: hell yeah, come to Japan, you’ll have a grand time. The easiest way to get here is by working for an eikaiwa (on a side note, none of them require bachelors degrees, it’s all only for the visa) and the easiest eikaiwa to get into is NOVA. If you don’t like them, you can always move on once you get settled. Or, you can save yourself some grief by working at another eikaiwa (if you ask for a recommendation, I’d say AEON).
If you do end up working for NOVA, don’t let it ruin your stay in Japan. There are plenty of options open to you once you have the visa and are in the country. The one thing I wouldn’t recommend doing is accepting NOVA’s accomodation, no matter how much they insist. It’ll be more work on your part to find a place to stay, but you’ll save more money that way.
Sigh, this isn’t even a quarter of my views on the subject, but it’ll do for now, I hope :)
- 
March 10th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
Go for JET. I wish I had…
March 14th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Dang Chidade-san.
That’s a fair description of the engrish teaching situation. Nova does offer one thing: a foot in the door. Coming to Japan is difficult and Nova will make it easier to get here. Nova will exploit you–you can exploit them. Work the 1-year contract and move on to better things.
I had a few choice words over on my side, news.3yen.com from a certified teacher’s perspective:
“Thinking of teaching in Japan? Don’t bother” (Amen!)
March 15th, 2006 at 8:37 am
Update: Read more about working in Japan here from SMH News Service (March 15, 2006).
March 28th, 2006 at 11:57 pm
Here’s some additional info coming, more or less, from the trenches.
I recently moved back to Canada from an AEON school in Japan. AEON IS a much better choice than most of the other schools if you actually plan to teach English conversation. The interview was fairly competitive (unlike other schools) and most of the people they hire are pretty solid. Even when the new national pension plan went into effect, they maintained my wages and benefits even though they were legally obligated to cut my work load down to 29.5 hours. It seemed like a good deal at the time. Was I ever wrong…
There seems to be alot of resentment on the eikaiwa scene these days due to the national pension plan and the problems it causes. In the case of AEON, all of the Japanese help is pissed off because they see the foreigners making full salary at 29.5 hours. Those J-teachers, silently and en masse, complained (”foreigners have it easy! they must be lazy!”) and now, company-wide, foreigners are getting worked to the bone. The pension system has completely changed the whole nihonjin/gaijin dynamic within eikaiwas — there’s alot of jealousy and mistrust on both sides of the nationality line. The problems are different at NOVA (ie lower salaries, benefits, etc) but are still aggravated by the pension system.
One last note for people without shame: it’s entirely possible to take advantage of Nova’s lax hiring standards. Simply get the job, get the VISA, go to Japan, and never show up to work. I don’t know what you’ll do without a job (maybe teach private lessons, if possible), but I do know many who took this route.
May 2nd, 2006 at 4:46 pm
Thanks for the info! It is very helpful as I am looking at prospective English-teaching programs to join. AEON does look the most promising, as you suggest, and I may be considering it seriously. May I know what the interviews usually entail — what do they expect, what sort of questions do they ask? And do you have any sort of advice/comments regarding joining AEON?
May 6th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Wow! I am going to Japan in Five weeks to work for Nova, and live in their provided accomodation.
Most of what i have heard so far is bad and making me a little nervous. Am i stupud working for them? I know that the only thing that got me the job is the fact that i can speak english (and didn’t dribble in the interview), so i’m not going over there expecting to be a prized employee that can’t be replaced. But are they going to treat me like s***? And what is so bad about the accomodation other than the fact it is overpriced? Will they put me with people my age? I’m going to Japan (from New Zealand) to experience a new culture and have fun etc i guess all i’m looking to nova for is money in the bank. What happens if you choose to resign? I have a ’sponsored visa’ from nova. If i resign am i allowed to work anywhere else?
May 14th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
Any advice on the best options for my partner and i living in New Zealand and wanting to work teaching english in Japan? we dont have Tertiary qualifications, but partial credit towards BA/BFA. Thanks.
May 16th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
To erin: Unfortunately, you won’t be able to get a proper Work visa without a 3-4 year university degree. This is part of Immigration law in Japan and has nothing to do with the companies that hire you. You may be able to get a Working Holiday visa (which is what I have) which allows you to work part-time but your job choices are severly limited then.
To Geoff: Best of luck, mate. You might find that the job is completely unsatisfying but now that you have the visa, you can find another job after you get settled in. NOVA can’t take the visa away from you because you’ve quit. As for accomodation, I think they look more at location and how much money they can milk out of you rather than who you will live with. Accomodation is one of NOVA’s greatest poitfalls, and you can believe they’d be looking after their own interests before they look after yours.
But, I think you’ll have fun in Japan, nonetheless.
May 16th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
So….I’ve now been told several times that I can, in fact leave Nova (they sponsored my visa), but can I leave and work two part-time jobs or do I have to get another full-time position. Are there any legal concerns?
May 17th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
You have the work visa, so you can do anything you like now. You can work one full time job, or many part time jobs, or not work at all. The visa lets you stay in the country and work.
It dictates what work you do though, so be careful. Your visa says Humanities or something similar, right? So you can legally work in the area of Humanities, ie: Teaching. You’d need another visa to work in differnt fields, eg: Entertainment, or whatever.
May 20th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
I’ve been seriously leaning more and more towards a job teaching English in Japan, and I think I fall under your third category. I’ve been teaching myself Japanese for the past few years and I’ve gotten to the point where I can converse pretty well, and I’ve made some good friends in Japan through my few visits there. But now I really want to try living there, and teaching English seems to be a good way to start. Reading your blog sounds like the teaching could be a lot of fun, but I’m also really interested in the work involved with actually educating. So it sounds like a good match for me.
I’m just curious if the eikaiwa companies would think I’m a good match for them. Granted, it sounds like the interview process isn’t so tough. My first choice would be AEON, though, and I suppose NOVA, failing that, though things like their (apparently) bad rep and their strict non-fraternization policy kind of put me off. Do you know much about the AEON interview process, like what they expect, and so forth? Anything specific to put on the resume?
I’m also curious to know what sort of options there are after eikaiwa for those people using it as an “entry” to Japan eventually looking for other jobs. I graduated recently, majoring in software engineering, but it strikes me that most Japanese software companies wouldn’t have much need to explicitly hire gaikokujin. Also, I’m curious about the age limit on working visas… is finding a Japanese bride the optimal solution (sort of half-joking, here)?
Sorry about the long post.
May 24th, 2006 at 1:31 am
Long posts are always welcome :)
I can’t really recommend what to write on your resume. I can tell you what I wrote: I was interested in going to Japan to find out more about Japanese culture, both pop and traditional, as well as improving my Japanese.
I said that I thought I’d make a good teacher because I’ve been teaching English all my life to my Eastern European family and because I have good communication skills thanks to a school lifetime in the debating, public speaking and drama clubs. So, that worked for me. Hopefully it’ll give you ideas of what to write.
As for computing jobs after the eikaiwa, they exist but are difficult to come by. They generally want experience and certified Japanese language ability. It’s not impossible though, so give it a try.
Along with eikaiwa, there’s the position of Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) which is in high demand if you can deal with children (which leaves me out).
I *really* don’t recommend NOVA. Never mind all the criticism about working for the company, but last year, they posted a 30 billion yen loss and have this year tried to save money on stationary and house slippers on the employee accomodation. *That* to me says the the company is about to collapse or be bought out by another company.
AEON is the best option, I think.
As for visas, I seem to remember hearing that the maximum age was 45, but don’t quote me. Check the Japanese embassy website for your home country. Hope that helps!
May 24th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
I am a US Soldier in Iraq, but I leave the Army in a year year and a half. My goeal is to move to japan to learn the language, and the culture of Japan.
I was wondering what a Working Holiday Visa is, and what the minimum requirements are to get one. I don’t have any college under my belt right now, but I planned to take a few classes to better my english before I started teaching it. Antoher thing is once I have the requirements for the Visa out of the way, how do I apply to one of these eikaiwa? Also what is an eikaiwa?
Thanks alot for your help
June 1st, 2006 at 1:45 pm
Hi Curan, hope you are safe and stay safe in Iraq.
I don’t think that a Working Holiday visa is applicable for US citizens. I seem to remember hearing that it’s only for Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians.
But, I’ve also heard that U.S. citizens have it easiest with regards to getting a Japanese visa. It’s best to check with the Japanese embassy or consulate in the States, but if rumours are correct (and anyone can comment to confirm or deny this) then you might be able to get a work visa even without a degree.
Another option you might consider is transferring to a military base here in Japan. The US have them everywhere here, although I’m not sure if there’s any bases for the Army. I think it may only be the Navy or the Marines. With a Military visa you can live and work here freely.
Eikaiwa is the Japanese word for English Conversation, so it’s also become the name for English Conversation schools. The most well-known of these eikaiwa are NOVA, AEON, GEOS, ECC, GABA and Shane’s English School (if you are British). They all have websites that give more information about their recruitment programs.
Have a read through the teach.3yen.com blog posts to find out more.
September 20th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
Hey,
I’ve been working for Nova for the past 3 months. The company has been good so far. I think that the lessons are what you make it. Fair enough you can’t plan your own lessons, and have to use their textbooks. But it’s how you approach the lesson and your frame of mind. I think that Nova has been good to my partner and i so far.
The reason i say this is because the work is good, and satisfying for me. If you don’t put any effort in to make it fun and educational, then yeah any job you approach to do will be shit and unsatisfying. Yeah, Nova does have some careless teachers that don’t care, but the majority of people i’ve met particularly at training sessions and at my branch do care about the students and do want to teach them english.
Nova is a big company, and i think that if you choose to go with Nova it’s for the security in regards to pay…it’s also well recognised and it’s also a global company that also consists of a travel agecy, advertising company, communications company, publishing company and medical insurance company.
Nova pays you a base salary regardless of whether or not you have a full day of no shows or 8 full lessons (part-timers only have 5 lesson days and get traditional weekends off).
Other companies like Gaba will only pay you for the lessons you teach. Yeah it is slightly more pay, but you also risk getting shitty pay if no one turns up. Some other language schools also have a rating system, where your popularity is a key factor amongst the students, therefore you pay is based on whether or not students choose to have you as their teacher, which can not only be demoralizing but also financially disabling. Gaba is one company that follows this policy.
Nova also has the system of Shift swaps and overtime to build flexibility and get some extra income. It just depends on finding a reliable person to shift swap with.
But yeah, Nova’s not a bad company - but keep in mind. It’s a company and just like any other company it’s key goal is the bottom line. It’s focus is providing students with a service - educating them and providing a fun and enjoyable lesson.
If you want to teach english and really have something to complain about, you should go with ESL or some other type of Government owned program.
But, yeah Nova’s accommodation is a rip, a total rip. You probably pay $100-200 more than you should be paying and if your with a partner, then you both have to pay the rent - so your paying twice for one service. Umm, but once again, the utilities and stuff are all included in the rent and it’s all set up for you when you get here. You don’t have to stay in a hotel or Manga cafe whilst your looking for accommodation - keeping in mind that you need a japanese person as a guarantor and at least 3-4 months key money/deposit money upfront for most accommodation here. So Nova makes it easy for you, and i see it as more a matter of convenience to be living in Nova accommodation. If you plan on living in Japan and working for nova for more than 2 years, i’d reccommend moving out of Nova accommodation - but you have to save your arse off cos accommodation in Japan is expensive….so it’s easy to see why people just whinge and stay in Nova accommodation.
Also, Nova has a probation period of 2 and a half months, so this is basically where your performance is closely watched and they may or may not ask you to come off of probation if your not a good teacher or have had complaints, in some cases (not uncommon) they may ask you to leave the company. Probation also means that your pay is slightly less than your full wage for the first 2 months.
Nova also reimburses your travel costs for work, so that’s handy as well.
In my opinion, Nova isn’t a bad company. Like any company (apart from working for Google or Microsoft) it has it’s up’s and down’s….in my experience it has mostly been up’s. I think that Nova has pretty high standards, especially in terms of presentation and feedback methods to help students improve.
But if you really want to know….come to Japan and find out for your self.
Some other language schools are:
-Aeon
-Gaba
-Berlitz
-Geos
Goodluck!
Panda
xo
September 26th, 2006 at 1:55 am
Here’s another opinion from someone teaching for a different school. I work for Geos, and have been in Japan for 1 1/2 years now. I’ve read a lot of horror stories and success stories, and I have one thing to say: your experience is what you make of it. I came before the whole national health insurance thing changed contracts, but only 6 months into my stay, I suddenly only had to work for 29.5 hours a week. Nice. Same pay. My co-worker, a Japanese teacher, had no problems about that. She’s a part-time teacher anyway. Basically, at the moment, I am right at that maximum number of hours, though with a really lopsided schedule. Saturdays are only 4 lessons, Wednesdays are 8 lessons. My schedule tends to change every month as new students come or old students don’t renew their contracts.
Now, like Nova, Geos is a corporation, and money is what’s important. There is a really big push at the schools to get new students, and this means teachers have to be salespeople. Geos has been losing students, as competition is quite strong. There’s a Nova next door to my school, and a Shane in the neighbourhood. So, teachers aren’t actually teachers, they’re salespeople selling English. We have to sell books, too. There’s intense pressure from the manager to sell books, lessons, get the students to come twice a week, convert to a more expensive contract, etc. Money is number one, even if it violates the teacher’s contract. I used to work a total of 32 hours a week, 2.5 hours more than allowed by my contract. Since then, it’s dropped down to 29.466666666 hours just by sheer luck of a couple students having to move to another city or cancel their contract (he had no time anymore). But when I was over, I had a manager that wanted to keep adding classes to my schedule, even though I kept reminding her that I can’t have more classes. Basically, most of my beef is with the way the company is pushing for more profit. The pressure is on the managers and now the teachers as well. To be fair, Geos does actually push for quality English lessons. Teachers have flexibility in what to do in lessons, but there’s a lot of ongoing training. As for teaching children, if they’re not returnees and under 12 years old, it’s more like babysitting than teaching. Some of these kids seem to have no discipline at all, unless their mother is within earshot. But you know what? I enjoy it most of the time. I have some great students who are very motivated and I enjoy teaching them. I suspect Nova is similar, though with Nova, students get a different teacher every week. At Geos, the teacher always stays the same. That way, the teacher can actually gauge progress and adjust lessons for the student’s needs. I have thought about looking elsewhere for a job, but the way things are in my life right now, I’m waiting to see what happens. Though I’d like a different manager.
Regarding money, I’m living very comfortably, actually. I’ve always been good with my money, so I have a lot of disposable income at the end of the month. 280,000 yen a month isn’t that difficult to live on.
Oh, and by the way, I’m here for a mix of reasons. First, just for the experience of living and working in another company. I feel I’ve become much better at adapting to situations than I ever have been able to. Second, I’d always been interested in Japan, so I thought I’d try Japan. I mean, I could’ve tried teaching in Korea or Taiwan. Third, I wanted a change in my surroundings. Canada’s nice, but I wanted to have a big change. And actually, life isn’t much different in Japan, other than the language barriers. Fourth, to have fun! And finally, because my fiancee lives here :)
November 9th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
Absolutely. I’m sad to say that I’ve worked for NOVA for several years, and the rumors are quite true. Working conditions are poor, and you will get no respect at all from management. It does not matter how well you teach, or if you never call in sick, or if you are never late. You are treated as a number on a piece of paper, and when they are finished, they will scratch you out and get another.
I see some people online saying “Don’t let NOVA ruin your stay in Japan.” That is absurd. If you work for NOVA in Japan, your stay is already “ruined”.
BE SMART. DON’T WORK FOR NOVA.
November 10th, 2006 at 1:58 am
Is Nova really that bad? David you say you’ve worked for them for several years, if it’s that bad why did you keep working for them?
I’m considering applying for Nova and I think from what I’ve read it could be a good route into Japan and to see how it things work out.
December 6th, 2006 at 1:05 am
First of all I want to thank for this website. I have found much of the information very helpful. What I’m wondering is if anyone who reads this site works for ECC? I was originally going to work for NOVA however a friend who is currently in Japan working for them suggested other companies. I’d like to hear testimonials from people working or who have previously worked for ECC.
Thanks
April 5th, 2007 at 5:32 am
Can anyone speak in detail about their experience working with AEON or Amity specifically?
May 4th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Nova eh, im there right now, bout to go to work soon actually.
First things first, nova is an easy place to get a job, no doubt about it. Work is work, it will never be fun, you will get bored and come to despise it, but that goes for any job!
Where im working is sweet, staff are cool, teachers are cool, students are cool. Im having a great time, once i walk out the door from work im in japan, im not at nova. Only reccomendation i would make is if you are planning on staying the year and possibly longer, FIND YOUR OWN APARTMENT! nova over charges you, though you get free bills, its not worth it.
Most horror stories come from people who come to japan for the wrong reasons, dont enjoy the place then get fucked off with the job….the work is easy, the job aint hard, the pay is enough. COME TO JAPAN