How do you get your foot in the door in Japan?

[Cherrypop]

Qualifications:

BA - English
Certified Elementary K-5

Teaching Experience

ESL - South Korea - 1 year
PYP Elementary (Student Teaching) - .5 year
Assistant Teacher - In a PYP school - .5 year
Co-Teacher - .5 year by May 2014
Random subbing and also worked in an after school program for a year.

My dream country is Japan. I know it's fierce competition. How do people get their foot in? Is it really difficult to even get into the tier 3 schools in Japan?

Has anyone ever heard of newly certified teachers finding a position in Japan? (Not as an intern). If so, what did they/you do to secure that position?

I've been researching international teaching for a while now so I'm pretty familiar with how things work. I just want to know if there is even a glimmer of hope for me to find a position in Japan fall 2014. If not, I am open to working everywhere except for the ME and Africa.

Thank you!

[sid]

Japan has good competition, but it's not impossible. People move there all the time.
From your specs, what I most recommend is digging in somewhere, anywhere, and getting some consecutive years of experience. What you have is all chop and change, and most schools would have trouble 'counting' any of it. ESL only 'counts' if within an established K-12 school (and post certification), not in a hagwon or language institute. Student teaching and assistant teaching don't count. Co-teaching could mean several things, but probably only 'counts' if you are an equal partner in a classroom that requires 2 full-time teachers to deliver the school's established program. If it's some form of internship or learning on the job, as in, if there's usually only 1 teacher per class in the school, but they put you in as a special case, that won't count either.
The only things that really count are teaching FT for a full year or more in an established K-12 school with all the full and normal responsibilities of every other teacher, and no special mentoring/learning program to assist you. All of which must be post-certification. Ideally you need at least 3 such years, though it is quite possible to find decent international posts after 2 years.

So, if you are in a school right now, stay there, get some more experience, then set your sights on Japan. Start networking now. Someone you know knows someone who can help. Start building your CV now. What special skills does your dream school want? Get them...

Good luck. You're at the start of a journey, and it might take a little more time to get there, but get there you can.

[pgrass]

Try applying to K International School or the Tokyo Canadian School. These are two schools which are on their last legs. They like to hire inexperienced teachers to save money on salary. Both are PYP certified.

[dexts]

I posted a very similar question recently. I have managed to get a pretty good offer from a prestigious Japanese school with an international programme in Tokyo, albeit not IB.

Here are the steps I took.

1. Apply to all suitable jobs I can find online in Japan.
2. Contact schools directly, introducing myself.
3. Go to Japan. This step might be unnecessary. I was going to Japan anyway, and I used that opportunity to see as many people as I could while there. This worked REALLY well. School heads were happy to see me face to face, as there was no cost to them, and they might just end up with a teacher with minimal effort. I believe that this was the only reason I was made an offer.
4. Sell myself. I prepared really well for meetings, and aggressively marketed myself to the heads.

I am in a similar position as you. I do not have amazing experience, or qualifications, and I could just imagine my CV going to the bottom of the pile almost automatically. I think that personally introducing myself, and giving heads an opportunity to meet me in person helped get my CV nearer to the top.

Or maybe I was just lucky.

[Cherrypop]

Wow thanks for all of the advice everyone!

I'll look into those schools pgrass.

dexts, I'll take those steps. When you say "contact the school," do you mean call them up or send an email expressing my interest in the position? It's nice to know that there is hope for me.

Sid, thanks for that information and encouragement. Unfortunately, due to family circumstances, I have been constantly relocating, thus changing jobs. I'd like to stay put for two years at an international school. If not Japan, somewhere else, but I definitely would like to be abroad by fall.

There is a master teacher and lead teacher in the classroom that I'm co-teaching in. I'm the lead teacher, so I'm not sure if that is "equal ground" but we plan together and I am responsible for many of the students, so I'm not sure if that counts then...bummer.

[dexts]

Sorry, that was a little unclear. What I mean by step 2 is, once I had applied through the correct channels, I sent a quick email to head, usually about a week later. This, as described in a previous thread, is actually quite helpful in getting yourself noticed.
After this, I waited until about 2 weeks before my planned trip, and then said I was going to be in the country for a few days, if we could meet.
I got a number of interviews this way, that I don't think I would have gotten, were I not visiting the country.

[sunteacher]

Have you tried other areas...I know that there is a school in Kobe is advertising ...It's called St. Michael's International school.