new grad job search from overseas advice
I, 22F from USA, have N1, visited Japan several times, lived some months in tokyo on volunteer/workaway stuff and with friends etc.
I am gonna try applying to JET this year for after my graduation next Apr/May. Ideally CIR but ALT would be good too. I wouldn't mind committing to living in the countryside for the experience but maybe not for more than 1 year. It feels like a solid way to land and get some experience especially as a CIR
As a backup I really wanna have other job opportunities lined up. Problem is I don't know what job or where to look.
I don't rly have a dream job but think I enjoy education, counselling, advising, type stuff. My big academic interests are linguistics, psychology, but also looove anthropology, history. I don't wanna do eikaiwa I've heard too much bad stuff and know ppl personally. Ideally I'd leverage my Japanese somehow if I ended up teaching English
Here's what I have in my favor so far:
- JLPT N1
- My degree will be a Bachelor's of Arts in General Studies (its the easiest to graduate with)
- I have some volunteer experience teaching ESL casually (unprofessionally) in Japan and am doing an ESL TA volunteer here currently.
- Might also TA or tutor to teach japanese at my uni next term on recommendation from a professor.
- A couple people informally offered me work and even help with a visa when I lived in Tokyo before. One of them was quite high up in a very big company. Very lucky encounters but idk how reliable it'd be
- I'm considering getting TESOL or some other cert but idk how much it'd help me nor if I rly wanna teach English that much anyways.
- No debt, ~5k USD savings, and currently working to save more.
So if I don't get lucky with JET I'd like to have alternatives lined up. Should I be searching now? careerforum gaijinpot tokyodev etc.. when I look there I don't see anything that feels relevant to me.
A friend suggested to me I could even just come on a tourist visa again after I graduate and stay with friends, workaway, au pair etc and search in-person since it seemed to be going well before. Then I'd just re-enter on a work visa.
Any suggestions or info regarding any of this stuff is very welcome!!! :)
Edit: Oh also, I'm white, and from what I've seen, this is also definitely in my favor and pretty big for how much people like you in Japan. Kinda icky but worth mentioning cuz its very real in my experience.