Don't work/interview for AEON
I'm sure it's already a popular opinion to avoid AEON if you can, but I wanted to share my recent experience interviewing with them.
I've recently moved back to Japan from the US and wanted to find an English teaching job, applied to a few jobs on Gaijinpot and only heard back from AEON about a part time online job.
The first "interview" was a video where I had to record myself answering a few questions. Which is irritatingly normal these days so I didn't think much of it. Before the recordings I had to watch a video where an older American dude tells you that you will only get paid 900 yen per 25 minute class, including any prep time before as well as writing up a report after each class. He also says that you choose your schedule, but people are allowed to book a class up to 20 minutes before the scheduled time slot, which seems weird and disorganized. Then he says, every class will be recorded and sent to their AI program to "write a post session report".
I had a follow up interview with an actual person (Japanese) who I could barely see as her laptop camera seemed to be ancient or possibly a microwave. After the usual questions, I had to give a "sample lesson" where I was shown a worksheet with a stock image of a woman with a think bubble that said "goals?" And some nonsensical sentences. After all this she said it was going to be sent to management and they would make the final decision. I heard back a few days later and was rejected with no reason given. (It might have had to do with my equating AEON English schools with AEON malls at one point in the interview, but I honestly didn't want the job after that first video interview and learning about all their stipulations.)
As the position is not part time or full time but a contractor "freelance" position, it makes me think that they're simply training their AI to not have to hire foreign workers within the next few years until their AI has gathered enough data to work on its own (while not having to deal with the hassle of firing full-time/part-time employees). With all the anti foreigner sentiment and laws making it more difficult to employ foreigners, it feels like big companies like AEON are harnessing AI to ultimately not have to hire anyone for English teaching, or at least only hiring Japanese nationals for the management part.
Just wanted to share my experience as it felt sneaky the way they didn't disclose the real reason for everything to be recorded and sent to AI. If people are training AI, then they deserve more than a measly 900 yen per lesson. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.