Finding a Job in Japan

Coming to Japan as a teacher
Ok so either you have decided to go to Japan and look for a job in Japan, hoping that you will find a company that will sponsor you or you are already in Japan and are wanting to change jobs or find more jobs. Either way, this guide will show you all of the available resources to find jobs within Japan.

Job sites for English teaching
There are a variety of sites here. Some are only good for finding private students and others can help you find full-time work. If you are planning to come to Japan on a tourist visa you will need to find a full-time job and hope for sponsorship. Whatever your needs I hope you enjoy the list.

7act is a site for finding private students. Unlike other private student sites you are bound by some rules by the 7act company. Basically you sign up for their site and they will provide you students. As for teaching the students you will have to do it in your own home or somewhere like a cafe.

The job lists at Dave's ESL Cafe and Japan English Teacher are extensive lists of teaching jobs throughout Japan. These are really excellent resource for everyone looking for a job.

Jobsinjapan.com is a site with a "mother lode" of jobs to browse. Jobs of all fields and users can also post classifieds for their services.

www.tesall.com. Tesall is an excellent search engine for job searches because you can specify all the criteria for your job search. It calls itself "The web's first vertical search portal for ESL and EFL teachers. They have quite a lot of jobs posted here so happy hunting!

www.gaijinpot.com is the Meccah of Job sites in Japan. You can browse through hundreds of job postings and post your resume for employers to see. This is a must site for anyone looking for a teaching job in Japan!

Ohayosensei.com is another site dedicated to showing listings for teaching jobs in Japan. Like many other job sites you can receive periodic updates about new jobs if you subscribe to their newsletter.

teachabroad.com has a few English jobs listed. Many of their jobs are for the big Eikaiwa companies like Nova, Aeon, and such.

Orangutan English is a great site for finding private students. Create a profile and post your rates and let interested students contact you.

121sensei.com Like Orangutan English and Findateacher.net, 121sensei.com is a great site for finding private students. Create a profile specifying your rates and where you will teach and students will contact you.

JALT Jobs has several jobs listed and many jobs teaching at universities in Japan.

a-kaiwa.net is a site where you fill out their registration form and they will put students in contact with you. This is for finding private students in the Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Saitama areas.

Gakken School Management has full time English teaching positions for their schools in Tokyo, Yokohama, Chiba, Nagoya, and Fukuoka. Their site looks like a spam site with all the popups but it is actually legit.

Findateacher.net is a well-known site for finding private students in Japan. All you do is create a profile and students contact you.

my-sensei.com is another site for finding private students. Create a profile and students find you.

findstudents.net is another site for finding private students. English is not the only language though. You can teach Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Italian, German, and French.

tefl.com is an ELT site with an extensive job database. You can narrow search criteria to type of job, type of institution, and type of position.

ESLjobfinder is an ESL job search site where you can post your resume and search for jobs for free.

ELT News Japan has a number of jobs in their job section for ELT positions throughout Japan.

Jobs outside of Teaching (Finance, accounting, professional services, etc.)
CDS Consulting is a site for searching for jobs outside of the teaching field. You can both search for and apply for jobs on their site.

dotjapan.com is job search site with ranging from accounting and banking to hosting and dancing in Roppongi.

Japan Research Career Information Network is a site dedicated mainly to listing job openings for research related jobs. Many of these jobs are also university related jobs.

Rikunabi for Overseas Students is a site made by the well-known Japanese job recruitment company Recruit. To quote their site directly, "Rikunabi for Overseas Students provides employment information and career fair information exclusively for job seekers who are fluent in Japanese, English and/or other languages, studying outside Japan."

CFN career forum is a site for Japanese-English Bilinguals looking for Jobs in Japan. Many of these jobs are will also recruit people who are living abroad.

Career Builder has some listings for jobs in Japan. These look to be professional jobs for individuals with 1-5 years work experience.

CareerCross is another site dedicated to listing jobs for bilingual individuals. Many of the jobs don't require work experience but do usually require native or fluency in both English and Japanese.

Workinjapan.com is a site with a wide variety of job listings for both those who can speak Japanese and those who cannot. Another great site for those looking for a job in Japan but still haven't mastered Nihongo.

Japan Times Jobs are job listings from the leading English newspaper in Japan. Most of the jobs require Japanese language ability but sometimes you can find ones with no language ability required.

Japanesejobs.com a site for bilingual jobs in the US and Japan.

Job Seek Japan is a site where users can upload their resume for Japanese employers to see and can browse job postings by employers.

Jobsinjapan.com is a site with a "mother lode" of jobs to browse. Jobs of all fields and users can also post classifieds for their services.

jobdragon.com is a site with thousands of job listings and a great search engine where you can specify your English ability, Japanese Language ability, industry, minimum salary and location.

I hope these sites will help you in your job search. If there are any additions you think we should make please Contact Chibabeat.

Also, see some of our other useful articles
How to come to Japan
Preparation before coming to Japan
Coming to Japan as a Teacher
Coming to Japan as a Student
Coming to Japan as a Graduate Student