April 5, 2013
In Japan, businesses run quite
differently from in the United States. The fiscal year begins in
April and ends in March, and employees don't remain doing the same
type of work for more than a couple of years at a time. For example,
teachers who have just graduated college may work at the same school
for about 2-3 years max before they are transferred to another
school. Senior level teachers may stay at one school for up to 8
years, but after that they are transferred again. At government
offices, employees are transferred around as well. Employees who were
working in one department could be transferred to a completely
different line of work in another department the following year. Not
only that, but they could be transferred to a completely different
branch as well.
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| I didn't have a photo for this time, so here's an entirely unrelated one back from when I was an ALT. |
I love the idea that employees here get
to change it up every once in a while, and break out into another
type of work. After all, if you get burnt out your work efficiency
will drop, and you may end up hating your job.
At the same time though, aren't
employees who have experience at their position going to have higher
efficiency? I can't help but wonder this after seeing the mass
confusion that results each year after the transfers take place. Half
completed projects being picked up by new employees results in the
previous person in charge making multiple visits from a branch office
a half hour away and the confusion of participants in the project
when calling to speak with the employee in charge, only to find that
said person is no longer in charge of the project let alone working
in that office anymore.
I feel like if someone already has 8
years of experience on a topic, maybe keeping them in that position
would be for the best. Especially in a place such as a government
office where projects come and go anyway so one is always working on
something new.
As far as the fiscal year goes, things
are completely set in stone in Japan. In the U.S. you can graduate
from college at various times throughout the year, and job search
pretty much whenever you feel like it. However, in Japan you can
only graduate after passing an exam that is given once a year, so
everyone graduates at the same time. Then everyone begins looking for
a job to start in April, when the contract year begins. There is a
second round of job searching that occurs in August, after companies
have decided to keep or let their first-round employees go after the
several month initial trial period. However, employees who are job
searching in the August period are usually those who were passed up
in the first round, or those who were let go from their original
position. Thus they aren't as highly sought after as those in the
first round.
As a JET program participant I find
this quite frustrating as our contracts run from August. Not only are
we limited to finding a job one time a year, but it is also the
second round. In addition to this, we have to decide whether we will
renew our contracts in February. Which means that program
participants have to decide if they will continue or not without
knowing if they can even find a job six months down the road. I
understand that the Program needs time to find new participants for
the following year, and new hires need time to get all of their
paperwork together, but I wish there was a better way to go about
this so that current participants don't have to make a decision so
far in advance. For example, the Program could conduct interviews as
usual, and then officially confirm new hires later on, once current
participants have made their decisions in say, May.
Does
anyone else feel that the JET hiring process takes entirely way too
long? There has to be a more efficient way to go about this...
