Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Reply From Gaba

Well, it's only a few hours after my interview at Gaba, and I've just received an email from them.

I didn't get the job!!!!

It was actually a very nice email, but due to the problem with my student ID running out a month before my contract with Gaba would finish, and therefore cancelling my work permit at the end of June, they can't hire me.

Just that one month! And if ICU had let me, I would have applied for the work permit as soon I stepped off the plane! Well, maybe not literally... But there's no way I would have waited until December before applying!

Grghh, how annoying! Bureaucracy wins again!

So I'm back to square one with the job front. I'll have a look at the International Student Office noticeboard at ICU, because they often have job vacancies advertised that fit into students' schedules. And I'll also step up the pace in searching for private students.

I'm really lucky that I'm getting the JASSO Scholarship now. If I had no job and no scholarship, I'd probably have to cry! But my student loan installment just came in and we were told in the JASSO meeting earlier that we should get the first Y80,000 transfer to our Japanese bank accounts at the beginning of February.

I'm really annoyed about losing the job because of something that should have been so easily avoidable, but that's life I suppose. You can't win them all!

9 comments:

Jamie said...

I'm sorry to hear about the job at Gaba Miles; try not to worry too much about it!

My advice is to go along the private route. Just print off some posters with those tear-off contact details and plaster them up on every notice board around ICU (and anywhere else that has notice boards). Not sure if this works as well in Japan as it does in China though. Another way is classified ads in newspapers. They can be surprisingly cheap too!

I'm sure you'd see some results with those, if not, try something like http://www.findateacher.net/ or similar!

Good luck!

Jamie

Miles said...

Hey Jamie!

Yeah, I think I definitely will try the noticeboard idea! It probably does work better in China than here but it's got to be worth a go!

I'm using findateacher.net at the moment, so hopefully something good will come of it! :)

Hope you're well! :D Thanks for the advice!

Miles

Randy Tsang said...

Hi Miles,

I'm not sure if you have already covered this in a previous post, but I was wondering if you had any experience with applying to Gaba from abroad? I am considering applying for a working holiday visa to Japan and applying to Gaba from here in the UK. can this be done purely from abroad, or do you have to go to japan and go though the whole interview process that you describe?

cheers dude, great blog!

randy

Miles said...

Hey!

Thank you for your question. It's a very good point, I haven't actually covered that in any of my posts.

You can go through a telephone interview after applying from abroad, and they send a task pack to you to fill in. Then they let you know if you're successful and then you can fly out to Japan and start work!

The process is described in more detail on this website - http://careers.gaba.co.jp/overseas/process.html

I hope that helps!

Miles

paradoxbox said...

hey miles. just want to let you know you're not alone in being rejected by gaba, they have really clamped down since 2008. i interviewed and got hired there in 2008, my visa ran out and i came back here on a student visa and they rejected my application without even looking at it. i had to puff up my resume and cover letter and make a few dozen phone calls to their headquarters to make sure everyone recognized me, then sent off another application and they've at least acknowledged me and are allowing me an interview this time...

times are tough i tell ye..

Miles said...

Wow!! They've got really tough haven't they!

That makes me feel better - thanks for letting me know.

Good luck with your interview!

Miles

xPaperdoll said...

@Randy Tsang-

If you are going to be getting a working holiday visa then you cannot apply to Gaba from abroad. You only apply from abroad if you are seeking visa sponsorship from them. If you are coming on your own visa then you need to wait until you are in Japan to apply.

Laura said...

@paper Ummmmm, no. The only reason you wouldn't apply from abroad is if you will be arriving in Japan in less than a month. Otherwise, working holidaymakers can apply from their home country in advance. See here: http://careers.gaba.co.jp/overseas/process.html

(Hi Miles - sorry to hijack your blog here, but I thought someone should set the record straight, albeit belatedly.)

Miles said...

No no, please hijack away Laura! If you ever find a mistake in what I write please tell me!! : )

Thank you!

Miles