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JET: a disappointing sidenote

6 February, 2010 (12:28) in Japan, Work
592 views | 5 comments

Jet: A disappointing sidenote

So I applied for JET, but found out yesterday I didn’t get selected for interview.

To those not familiar, JET is the Japan Exchange and Teaching program. I applied back in November of last year to be in ALT(Assistant Language Teacher) which would involve moving to Japan for a year to help teach English in a school. Applying is anything but simple, requiring you to collect, many documents including: references, medical history, degree information and a personal statement. I put alot of time into collecting this information and preparing my statement so i’m happy what I sent off was a good reflection of myself, I just wasn’t what they were looking for.

It’s a policy of the program not to provide individual feedback which is quite frustrating, so I’ll never know how far off I was, or what areas I could look to improve on if I did choose to apply again.

For now i’m going to continue learning Japanese and look toward my next trip over, which will probably be in 2011. I’m undecided as to whether i’ll apply again, two unsuccessful applications would be incredibly embarressing and personally crushing.

Related posts:

  1. JET: The result is in
  2. JET: The Interview
  3. The Japan 2008 Stash!

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Comments

Rik February 7, 2010, 1:36 pm

I wouldn’t consider it embarrassing to be turned down twice, just unfortunate. I’m sure there are plenty more work-based schemes you can look into. Just whatever you do.. stay sexy.

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James|February 7th, 2010 at 7:58 pm

Fingers crossed eh, and cheers Rik :)

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Jamaipanese February 9, 2010, 5:34 pm

come on man! get up dust yourself down and try again!

Not sure what your degree is in but I am sure you can apply for other jobs in Japan.

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James|February 10th, 2010 at 8:46 am

My degree is in Computer Animation and Special Effects, 3D modelling, animation and the like. These days though i’m mainly a web design guy which is something i’m been doing for over a decade now(ouch!). There probably are jobs out there I could do in the working world, it’s just they’d require a level of fluency i’m not really near yet! JET would’ve been awesome as I really fancied the chance to try something totally new and teaching is something I do a teeny bit of in my job and find quite rewarding.

Cheers for the pep talk Kirk, i’m alot less miserable about the whole thing :) maybe if I work hard this year I might be more interview worthy! *Engages Trans-am*

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Gareth Williams August 16, 2010, 2:48 am

Hey man, I realize this is an old post but I figure I’d post up here anyway. Don’t get down about being turned down for JET this year there were a record number of applicants apparently, probably due to the economic downturn. I didn’t get in on my first time either, if you want me to look over your personal statement or anything or want any help at all then just fire me an email or something.

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