Alternatives to JET

[Gekishinken]

Just something to add about Interac, I got a job offer from them and you don't necessarily have to go to one of their information meetings. I was offered a position by them in January (to leave in August) after a phone interview and Skype interview.

[Spencer]

I did read the site, but I was hoping some jets/ aspiring jets could be more honest than a sore that markets itself in a positive light.
There is also some things that are not contained on the site, such as how it's funded, if flights are payed for, if there is some sort of current interac support network...etc

[Gekishinken]

Interac is a private company, thats how its funded. They get paid by the various boe to get them an alt. No, flights are not paid for. You have to do that yourself. In fact, besides JET I have not found anyone else who pays for your flight.Interac also pays 240,000 yen per month. Two months (aug and dec) are at 60 percent and 75 percent pay but you get vacation time during that period. Interac says you should bring 500,000 yen with you to japan. You do have the option of taking a loan from Interac for this but you have to let them know if you need it during the interview.

Interac also does not have an apartment lined up for you when you arrive. You must get one when you get to Japan. They supposidly offer to help you find one. As far as location they flat out tell you you will be inaka and not Tokyo/urban. You also have to be willing to drive.

As far as support network goes, no clue if one even exists.


From my experience getting offers from both Interac and AEON, avoid eikaiwa like the plague.

[Spencer]

I'm not doing the conversion, can I assume 500000 yen is around 5 grand? But okay so interac is out. What is the payment fire JET? JET of course seems like the ideal...Hope I get shortlisted

[merkypie]

I did read the site, but I was hoping some jets/ aspiring jets could be more honest than a sore that markets itself in a positive light.
There is also some things that are not contained on the site, such as how it's funded, if flights are payed for, if there is some sort of current interac support network...etc

All of that IS on the site as well as their north american recruitment site. Also there's tons of youtubers on the internet that have gone through the application process in detail. Do your OWN research before asking stupid questions. Do you honestly think Aspiring JETs/current JETs would know about Interac in detail? They're a competition. That's like going to McDonald's and asking their employees how it's like at Burger King. Come on, man. Seriously. Got Interac questions, go to a site that caters more to JET alternatives. The time wasted on these forums having other people do your research and making decisions for you should be better spent going to http://www.google.com and typing in, " How much does Interac pay? " or " Does Interac cover my fly to Japan ".

Christ, Spencer, all you do on these forums is just cause headaches. Just be proactive for once and stop making up excuses as to why you can't do anything.

[thedocumentarian]

Spencer, the information that you asked about is on the website. On their website, it says you need to plan your flight on your own but they will make recommendations of certain airlines with the best prices etc.

[nicole.ai]

I'm not doing the conversion, can I assume 500000 yen is around 5 grand? But okay so interac is out. What is the payment fire JET? JET of course seems like the ideal...Hope I get shortlisted

You know you can google "How much is 500000 yen in [insert other country currency]" and a conversion estimate is found through a number of different currency conversion sites, right?? And the payment FOR JET is easily found on most of the JET websites.

And not to be rude, but if how much you get paid is the number one reason you applied for the JET program, I kind of hope someone who has a multitude of better reasons gets the spot you are hoping for. Especially since you're too lazy to find simple answers on your own....

[nicole.ai]

Weird double post error....I somehow quoted myself...lol

[KoeiS]

I'm not doing the conversion, can I assume 500000 yen is around 5 grand? But okay so interac is out. What is the payment fire JET? JET of course seems like the ideal...Hope I get shortlisted

You know you can google "How much is 500000 yen in [insert other country currency]" and an conversion estimate is found through a number of different currency conversion sites, right?? And the payment FOR JET is easily found on most of the JET websites.

And not to be rude, but if how much you get paid is the number one reason you applied for the JET program, I kind of hope someone who has a multitude of better reasons gets the spot you are hoping for. Especially since you're too lazy to find simple answers on your own....

You can also just google "500000 yen to [insert currency...i assume CAD]" and google will automatically calculate it for you in half a second.

[Ertai87]

Jeez, guys, come on. He didn't ask anything that bad. This is, after all, the "alternatives to JET" thread; it stands to reason that the people posting here know their stuff about alternatives to JET, so it can't hurt to ask. Also, Interac's website is pretty crappy; I wouldn't want to have to look for anything there if I had another option.

As for currency conversion, there's the lazy way and there's the actual ForEx rates. The lazy way is to divide by 100 (or chop off the last 2 zeroes), and that would be your amount in USD. The ForEx way, last I checked, states that Y100 = $1.30 USD. The two numbers are, clearly, quite different =D I use the former when I don't want to cry myself to sleep about all the money I've wasted in Japan, and the latter to explain to myself why I feel flat broke whenever I leave there.

[Teishou]

Ertai87, it's not because of these particular questions, but more because of a culmination of his previous behavior/questions up to now... People are getting impatient with his laziness - it is the internet after all. Why is he asking things easily found on Google?

[nicole.ai]

Jeez, guys, come on. He didn't ask anything that bad. This is, after all, the "alternatives to JET" thread; it stands to reason that the people posting here know their stuff about alternatives to JET, so it can't hurt to ask. Also, Interac's website is pretty crappy; I wouldn't want to have to look for anything there if I had another option.

He asked

What is the payment fire JET?

I see a few things that are bad in that question alone....

[Spencer]

Ok, Now that Im actually on a computer I can google it
Its 5990 Approx.
Its really not that big a deal that I didn't Google it. like really....Is it that hard for a current Jet to just say....yes, or no....or maybe give an approximation for anyone who is not in Japan...since we are on the Aspiring Jets forum.
Googling something is a bit more work on a phone, not impossible, but means tabbing out, didn't feel it was that big of a deal....

As for Nicole and her qualm about me asking how much JET pays, There is nothing wrong with asking that question, And I became curious because in the previous post, it was mentioned that Interac only pays 240000 Yen a month (for those of you who do not know what that is, 240 000 Japanese yen = 2 848.65904 Canadian dollars).
There is nothing wrong to ask what the salary is for JET, However if that was the only reason I was doing Jet I am sure I would already know how much Jet pays.
As for the

What is the payment fire JET?

, Sorry, Typo, T9 On my phone can suck sometimes.

[Gekishinken]

Is the negativity really needed on these forums? Spencer was just simply asking questions in a topic about alternatives to JET...Yes, Spencer could have found many of the desired answers by using Google, but didn't. I don't see the need to publicly berate or degrade someone...Can't we all be friends?

Now to return to the topic. I actually didn't mind Interac, the main concern for me was the pay issue (especially the two months at reduced pay). I read many reviews of Interac which stated that, to paraphrase their comments: "Interac is a one way trip to being impoverished" and "What good is having vacation time if you have no money to spend on traveling?". Those were really my only two issues with Interac. Their office staff was very nice and the whole process took about four weeks (from first phone interview to job offer received). One thing that is nice about Interac is that if you hate your location you can request to transfer to a new one after six months, and there is room to potentially advance into Corporate.

[nicole.ai]

Ertai87, it's not because of these particular questions, but more because of a culmination of his previous behavior/questions up to now... People are getting impatient with his laziness - it is the internet after all. Why is he asking things easily found on Google?

This whole argument is mute.
Was on my phone.
didnt actually have the motivation to go google it, when a simple or no from someone in Japan is probably a bit easier then wondering why I didnt just go google something that was on the forum....it was not that important. Why didnt the poster who put the number go google it back to USD so Aspiring Jets could actually understand how much that is....see mute point. I wasnt on a computer.
Now that I am on a computer, and can easily tab in and out of browser windows... here you go
500 000 Japanese yen = 5 997.5 U.S. dollars
500 000 Japanese yen = 5 946.53817 Canadian dollars
500 000 Japanese yen = 5 665.50161 Australian dollars
500 000 Japanese yen = 3 788.45304 British pounds


there I googled it
I even gave you a few other options.
although much more energy than someone giving me a nice simple answer being in Japan. Mind that would have been more difficult on my phone.

He asked
Spencer wrote:
What is the payment fire JET?


I see a few things that are bad in that question alone....

Sorry.... On my phone. T9 kinda sucks sometimes.

Alright, I'm gonna put on my grumpy English major hat on right now. Mostly because I'm just in a cranky mood today.

First of all, it's MOOT, not mute. Like a moot point. And secondly, I do stuff on the net with my phone all the time like post on a forum, and I try make sure that before I hit "SUBMIT" that the words that I pick are correct/intelligible. But then again, it might be the English major in me that makes sure to do that.

Also, googling the answer is MUCH easier than posting the question for a forum and then waiting for an answer to be given. I google things on my phone ALL THE TIME. So, you can't say that being on a phone is a good argument to use as a reason you didn't search something. Because chances are, if you can post something on a forum with your phone, you probably can use a search engine on your phone. If it wasn't important, then why didn't you just wait until you were on a computer to look it up? Why is it the job of the person who posted the amount in Yen to convert it? There are too many currency variants for that poster to take into account, so it's easier for whomever wanted to know how much money that was in their own currency to find it out themselves.

Lastly, you blamed your phone for the misspelling, but now that you're on a computer, you don't seem to be faring much better with your typing skills and words.