Alternates 2012

[Mimmy]

Are we allowed to go to the orientation sessions in June/July? I saw some people specifically got emails form their consulate telling them they should go but I've never received anything like that.

Also, am I really the only Detroit person on here as an alternate? *sad face* now I feel REALLY alone lol

Two other Detroit alternates posted earlier in the thread and one has been upgraded.

[franky999]

Heard a rumor that the total number of JETs joining this year has been reduced compared to previous years, does anyone have nay information regarding this?

[Yarantoiken]

^ I have heard similar tales, but I'm not sure how true or untrue they are. From what I have heard, I think this has been caused by more of last year's JETs staying on due to job insecurity back home and the pay cut coming in. The yen is super strong right now so it's a great currency in which to be paid, and I think most JETs realise what good fortune they have. So fewer JETs leaving means there are fewer places for us. Think this is a major factor in the issue.

Loving all the cosplay talk - it's been YEARS since I've done any but I really enjoy it. Loved looking at cosplay pictures on DA, all really well done

[Hideaki]

Good Monday Morning Fellow 2012 Alternates!

May the odds be ever in your favor.

[husky]

I've been pretty depressed myself this weekend! I think if it weren't for the fact that I have at least SOME work to fall back on and my good friends here, I'd be beside myself. Hopefully we'll have some more luck this week!

Regarding the idea that JET isn't accepting as many applicants this year, my friend (shorlisted) and I both assumed that less people wanting to leave JET was a possible reason they might be a bit more choosy this year, but we figured it was just speculation with the information we had. Hopefully that's not the case! Whether it is or not, good luck to everybody! We still have the second wave incoming. If anything, I don't think I'll move on until that second wave is complete.

[Matt324]

Toronto alternate here..just thought I should add my numbers to the Toronto emo club weee. There are quite a few of us apparently. We should all meet up and cry . I've been browsing the forums and it seems like there wasn't a single TO consulate upgrade. I work the weekend so I will most likely not be going to the orientation events. It would be super depressing to go...but free Japanese lessons if your free Tuesday/Thursday....cheaper then paying $1200 at UoT right?

@emidono: hotel party anime north central :p you should drop by. Whole floors of the radisson open their doors at midnight..great way to meet people. I think I'll be going as Guile. Can't believe all the weekend passes are sold out...stupid random pass cap. You playing diablo3 tomorrow?...I'm always looking for people to play with PM me your account info .

@smasha: AN is may 25-27 smasha. It's great fun. Why your rain dance no work yet :'(

[Gekishinken]

I can recommend three things to you all that helped me when I was on the alternate list:

1. Get off these forums for awhile. Each time you come here you will remember JET and the fact you are alternated. This place is a great resource, but while I was alternated it really helped me to simply not come here for a few weeks.

2. Start looking at alternatives. If you do this it will help keep your mind off JET. I actually had an interview lined up with a dispatch company before being upgraded and it really helped me stay positive about JET because I knew I possibly had a backup anyway.

3. Stay positive. I mean it's only been around two weeks since upgrades began and you still have the rest of May, all of June and almost all of July before Group A even leaves.

Still though I wish you all good luck and know exactly how you all feel. It's really hard to see everyone so excited about going and you're just kinda stuck waiting. Stay strong!

[purifythecolors]

How's the Toronto emo club doing?
Has anyone else adopted the upgrade rain dance (I have)?

No upgrade rain dancing yet. I'm scared I'll do it wrong and just bring rain instead.

Toronto alternate here..just thought I should add my numbers to the Toronto emo club weee. There are quite a few of us apparently.

Welcome to the club. There really are a lot of us. I went to an interview with a dispatch company over the weekend and I met a JET Alternate there too. The Toronto shortlisted candidates must be dead-set on going---can't say I blame them! I'm still undecided about the various upcoming JET-related meetings/sessions/whatnot. I don't live in Toronto, so traveling there often for something that might not happen is making me hesitate.

1. Get off these forums for awhile. Each time you come here you will remember JET and the fact you are alternated. This place is a great resource, but while I was alternated it really helped me to simply not come here for a few weeks.

I need to start doing this again. I was good about avoiding the forums until May rolled around.

[Emidono]

Toronto alternate here..just thought I should add my numbers to the Toronto emo club weee. There are quite a few of us apparently. We should all meet up and cry . I've been browsing the forums and it seems like there wasn't a single TO consulate upgrade. I work the weekend so I will most likely not be going to the orientation events. It would be super depressing to go...but free Japanese lessons if your free Tuesday/Thursday....cheaper then paying $1200 at UoT right?

@emidono: hotel party anime north central :p you should drop by. Whole floors of the radisson open their doors at midnight..great way to meet people. I think I'll be going as Guile. Can't believe all the weekend passes are sold out...stupid random pass cap. You playing diablo3 tomorrow?...I'm always looking for people to play with PM me your account info .

@smasha: AN is may 25-27 smasha. It's great fun. Why your rain dance no work yet :'(

Hotel party?! Why did I not know about this? Lol. I will definitely make an effort to drop by. I find that my group and I are too antisocial at AN most of the time..I wish we were staying at the Radisson this year. Love that place but so expensive Instead we are packing 6 people into a Crowne plaza room, which was a bit of a nightmare last year lol.. I will be playing Diabio 3 tomorrow (probably midnight today), so I'll PM my info when I remember it Lol.

I agree that us Toronto people should meet up sometime! Might be a good way to try to pass time. As for alternatives..I'm really having trouble trying to figure out what to do and I admit it is making this waiting quite hard. Anyone from Toronto have any suggestions for potential JET alternatives? This situation wouldn't be quite so stressful and depressing if it wasn't for the fact that my boyfriend got shortlisted..And the idea of him leaving for a year to Japan without me so killer

[jou_chan]

I can recommend three things to you all that helped me when I was on the alternate list:

1. Get off these forums for awhile. Each time you come here you will remember JET and the fact you are alternated. This place is a great resource, but while I was alternated it really helped me to simply not come here for a few weeks.

2. Start looking at alternatives. If you do this it will help keep your mind off JET. I actually had an interview lined up with a dispatch company before being upgraded and it really helped me stay positive about JET because I knew I possibly had a backup anyway.

3. Stay positive. I mean it's only been around two weeks since upgrades began and you still have the rest of May, all of June and almost all of July before Group A even leaves.

I completely agree here with Gekishinken - the biggest thing for me before I got upgraded was staying positive and getting off the forums for a while. It's definitely not conducive to having a positive attitude if you're around a bunch of people getting upgraded and you remaining an alternate(for now!).

[Smasha]

Maybe my upgrade rain dance only works for me- I was crazy enough to invent one!( and really, you only need to do it in your head )

Got all my paperwork done today, about to send it off tomorrow, so my Japan stress is a bit reduced for a bit-until placements announcements!

Hold on to hope, guys, but take a break from the forums if it becomes too overwhelming!

[CalgaryPC]

Heard a rumor that the total number of JETs joining this year has been reduced compared to previous years, does anyone have nay information regarding this?

There are fewer open positions this year than last, though not anything significantly out of the normal year-to-year variation. I don’t know offhand how much of that is more JETs staying for another year, and how many are JET positions being eliminated (either being replaced by private ALTs or just cut in altogether), though there is certainly a little of both.
In general the programme is trying to encourage participants to stay longer, and personally I get the sense that many people who stayed in Japan (or stayed on the short list) after the earthquake & tsunami have a pretty deep connection with their town/city/school. That would mean more current JETs renewing than usual. Canada in particular did have significantly more applicants than last year, so the competition here was more competitive than usual this year, for what that’s worth.

[miami_coordinator]

Hi everyone! It's the middle of May, and I thought I'd reach out to all of you. I know that you're probably on tenterhooks waiting for a call or email or SOMETHING that will let you know what you're doing for the year ahead! Truth be told, even though it probably FEELS like a lot of time has gone by, it really hasn't. We haven't even been told about JET placements yet! Meanwhile, though, I know this is rough for all of you, and I want to offer my own insights and suggestions.

There WILL still be JET upgrades throughout the summer and into the fall and winter (there were even a few in early 2012 this year!). But if you do nothing except keep waiting... and waiting... and waiting for something that may not happen, then you'll only end up wasting your time and becoming depressed. Keep reminding yourself that to have made it as an alternate means that you WERE accepted, but there were insufficient spots available to include you into the initial short list. The reviewing and interviewing panels felt that you had the qualities and abilities to make you a good JET, so don't allow yourselves to feel like you weren't good enough. That won't help anything, and it would just be a waste of time and create unnecessary bad energy.

So, here are my recommendations (because I do care about you all and I don't want you stewing in a pile of negativity!):

1. Fold a piece of paper in half and make two lists. The list on the left is the things you would be doing right now if you WERE on the JET short list (or if you had been upgraded at this point). On the right, make a list of things you'd be doing if you had been rejected.

2. My advice is to go back and forth between the two lists and pick certain things. Did you have "study Japanese" on your list on the left? Then make a schedule and a plan for studying Japanese every week. Did you have "look for other jobs" on your list on the right? Then look for other jobs. The goal is to keep moving and to keep being productive. Looking for another job doesn't mean you're giving up on JET. And if you start to carry out some of the goals you had in mind if you WERE accepted, then you'll be prepared in case an upgrade happens.

3. Set goals and targets for yourself. When is the latest you're willing to remain on the alternate list? For JET's purposes, it's best for us to have you on there for as long as possible, but that may not be the best plan for you. Keep in mind that it is true that the longer you remain on the waiting list, the better your chances would be for getting an upgrade, but it may not be healthy for you mentally. Make the decision - are you going to wait until JET tells you that there will no longer be upgrades, or are you going to set a date (or a circumstance) after which you will ask to be removed from the list? Even if you decide that you're going to wait until the last possible moment - which is completely fine - you're giving yourselves a sense of power because you are the one making the choice to be on that list.

4. Start thinking about next year. I'm shocked at how few alternates I see reapply the next year. I think that they forget about the application date and deadline because they know they're already on a waiting list. Let this be one of your contingency plans - don't forget to consider reapplying.

5. If you do decide to reapply next year, be smart amount it. You remember what a crazy mad dash it was to get all of your documentation in on time? Well, now you're more experienced. You know what the application looks like, and you know what sorts of things are asked in the interview. Don't waste that knowledge. If you decide that you will be reapplying next year (and yes, you can stay on the alternate list AND reapply for the next year), then take advantage of your summer and start planning for it now. Whatever you do, do not stay stagnant. If we see you again next year, we want to see what's different about you. How have you grown and changed over the course of the year? Have you started making plans towards accomplishing the goals you put in last year's application? If you use the same reference writers, let them know what is new with you. Be on top of the situation and give them loads of time to get new letters ready. Reference writers like to reuse their old letters (especially when rushed), but that means they could still be referring to you as a student even after you graduated and they may not even change the date of the letter. Give them new fodder to use for their letters. For example, I recommend giving them a copy of your new statement of purpose so they know how passionate you are about this program.

6. Don't allow yourself to get depressed or give in to self-doubt. If you decide now that you are absolutely going to be reapplying for JET next year if you are not upgraded, then you should fully embrace the idea. There's no question of "if" or "but" - it's just a question of how and when.



My final note is not to take this message as a sign that it's all over for this year. It's not! There's still plenty of time left and, again, there will still be upgrades made. I'm only writing to you now because I know that this is around the time when the concept of not getting upgraded is really starting to sink in and there could be some depression and desperation. Don't give in to that emotion, but balance your hope of an upgrade with the reality that it might not happen. Imagine as if you were on a crazy seesaw of emotion; if you move from the furthest end and into the center, you can find your equilibrium much more easily. That comes by taking charge of the situation and deciding for yourselves what you are going to do. That does NOT mean you should turn around and withdraw from the waiting list (I'd get in trouble if MOFA or CLAIR thought I was encouraging alternates to do that!!!) but rather it just means facing what might or might not happen and making some basic contingency plans. The last thing I would want to see is a group of really qualified and capable people who develop bitter feelings towards JET because they spent their entire summer simply waiting for someone else to make a decision that would impact the next year of their lives. Be proactive, be active, take control of the situation, and keep moving forward... even while waiting .

[jou_chan]

Even though I got upgraded that was an amazing note miami_coordinator. Such great advice and really inspirational words!!!! You rock!!!

[thedocumentarian]

Well said, Miami Coordinator. Even as a shortlist candidate, your posts give me a lot of hope into this point of the JET departure process. I will definitively pass this information along to the alternates I know and hope this gives them some light into their situation too.