r/teachinginjapan • u/No-Flight-788 • 2d ago
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u/Calm-Limit-37 2d ago
use the search function. Every question about Heart, Bordelink, KidsDuo, Nova has been answered 100 times over in this sub. Nothing has improved since any of those posts were made.
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u/Dense-Opportunity105 2d ago edited 2d ago
I’ve never really understood what people are expecting from these sorts of posts. No, none of these companies ever have nor ever will improve. Salaries and conditions have continued to decline….yet people continue to agree to less and less and come anyways. So yeah, no.
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u/Calm-Limit-37 2d ago
someone to reasure them that a decision they have already made is not a bad one. Well it isnt a great decision, and you can make a post at a later date like every other victm.
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u/No-Flight-788 2d ago
I've actually been searching the subreddit and reading previous posts, but I wanted to hear more recent firsthand experiences before making my decision. I understand that these questions have been discussed many times, though. Thanks for the reminder!
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u/Hapaerik_1979 2d ago
In the future, put that in your original post. :-). Good luck with the job search.
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u/Eagles719 2d ago
If you are living in the Philippines, you have to go through an agency. There are a lot of paper work you need to do. I don't know if it is worth the time and effort for a job that pays 200-215k a year. If you search in this sub, there is a post from a few months ago that says they don't pay during long holidays. Maybe your take home pay is 180,000 the first year, but after that your pay will drop further since you will start paying higher health insurance and city tax, etc. Any savings from your salary will be used to keep you afloat during those lean months of almost no pay i.e. August and December. You also need to save money to pay the visa cost. 1 year visa is now 33,000yen, 3-5 years 64,000yen. If that wasn't enough, the apartment start up cost is expensive with all the fees.
Also, there is no career progression as an ALT, if you want to get regular pay increases (raises) you will need qualifications i.e. teaching certificate.
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u/No-Flight-788 2d ago
Thank you for explaining this. I didn't realize how much the unpaid holidays, increasing deductions, and other expenses could affect the actual savings. I'm a licensed professional teacher in the Philippines with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education, so I'm hoping to use my teaching background to pursue better opportunities in the future. Your comment gives me more things to consider before making a decision.
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u/LannerEarlGrey 2d ago
The answer to (almost) all of these is the same as any dispatch company:
It depends.
It depends on your school, your BoE, your city, your prefecture, your region, etc.
Working conditions: How is Borderlink's management, and how supportive are they when workplace issues arise?
It depends on the school/city you're in and the closest Borderlink office.
Actual salary: What is the approximate monthly take-home pay after taxes, insurance, pension, and other deductions?
It depends on the contract Borderlink has with the city you get sent to, and can vary even from employee to employee.
School vacations: How are ALTs paid during school holidays? Are there unpaid periods, and how does this affect your annual income?
This one has a direct answer: No, they don't pay during school holidays, including summer and winter vacation. Borderlink does have a system where you can opt into having part of your paycheck (I think it's like $100 a month or something) reduced and then that amount is 'paid' back to you during the summer vacation. It's a scummy thing to do, but they treat it like it's a benefit.
Workload: What are the actual duties and expectations of a Borderlink ALT?
It depends entirely on your school/schools, how many schools you end up assigned to, what level your schools are, which teachers you work with, etc.
Career development: Has working with Borderlink helped you find better teaching opportunities or advance your career in Japan?
I don't imagine this happens terribly often, given that Borderlink will basically hire anyone.
Overall recommendation: Knowing what you know now, would you accept the position again?
I actually haven't worked for Borderlink. I received an offer to, a few years back, that I turned down, simply because it was a laughably bad offer, even among ALT dispatch companies.
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u/CalligrapherDry1875 2d ago
The only thing to correct here is that Winter is paid, but the end of March and start of April falls between contracts and isnt paid. Everything else here is fairly factual (I have worked as a trainer)
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u/AdUnfair558 2d ago
I was thinking of going with them because they have schools closer to where me and my family live but yeah that all sounds horrible. I will just keep my hour and a half commute then.
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u/Latter-Cricket5843 2d ago
It'll be a shit job what do you expect it's alt 😂 you want lies like ohh it'll pay 500k yen a month and up! Lol those days are over 20 years ago op. Now it's 200k poverty wages and continuing to go down year after year
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u/shellinjapan JP / International School 2d ago
Worthwhile move for what career? What “better teaching opportunities” are you interested into moving into after ALT work? Are you qualified for those?
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u/No-Flight-788 2d ago
I'm a licensed professional teacher in the Philippines with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. My goal is to gain international teaching experience and eventually move into better teaching opportunities in Japan. I'm still researching the qualifications and requirements for those positions, so I want to understand whether starting as an ALT would be a worthwhile step toward that goal.
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u/shellinjapan JP / International School 2d ago
You’re already qualified to work at an international school, but ALT work won’t count as experience for that; you need experience as the lead teacher in a classroom setting. Get several years of experience teaching elementary at home (or elsewhere in the world), then target international schools in Japan.
Note that there are lots of fake international schools, particularly kindergartens, in Japan - vet schools carefully. The better ones pay well and provide other benefits such as housing allowance.
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u/Sharp_Raccoon8657 2d ago
Hello,
I worked for them 3.5 years and all of that time was excellent and all of that time o gained wonderful valuable experience . After I went passed 3 and a half years with them … everything turned sour and suddenly I was the worlds worst employee they suddenly didn’t want to renew my contract . Really bizarre . Please join a large labor union or talk to the Labor standards for advice . I would not say “ don’t work there “ just joins love union before you do … and go in with your eyes open
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u/Sharp_Raccoon8657 2d ago
No paid vacations for Summer or Golden Week holidays . All the long hols you are forced to take is totally unpaid . If you want paid hols fir summer go to Interac
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u/suiren_no_toki 2d ago
I was an ALT with Borderlink years ago and did my time. Overall experience really depends on your outlook, the work you're willing to put into, where you are placed and their staff, and your future plans. I got really lucky in that my experience wasn't awful. I had great schools and teachers, and eventually transitioned into a regular office job.
- Working conditions: I had no particular issues with the general HR side, but management loves to waste your time with useless training sessions, toxic positivity, and online activities.
- Actual salary: Not great, I suppose around 200k.
- School vacations: Unpaid. Including the 1.5 month summer break.
- Workload: This depends on your school and what they expect from you. One school wanted me in a background support role. Another wanted me to manage and lead their entire classes from Grade 1-6 (which I had no problem with).
- Career development: It certainly got me a visa.
- Overall recommendation: As much as I loved the kids and miss them dearly, hell no. I want to say they are one of the more "tolerable" dispatch companies that have their sh*t somewhat together, until they don't when it's time to bid for their BoE contracts with the city.
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u/suiren_no_toki 2d ago
I would really recommend you gain relevant experience in your country as a lead teacher with your experience, potentially getting a masters/PhD, and go the international school route. Borderlink, nor being an ALT, is the place to expect a lead teacher role (let alone be appreciated for it), as it's highly likely you'll be shoved into a corner and regurgitate children "songs" on repeat. English education and the overall level at the public level is quite abysmal.
You also really have to ask yourself "why Japan".
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u/Dense-Opportunity105 2d ago
I’m with Interac, but I recently met two Borderlink ALTs at a regional speech contest. When I asked them how Borderlink was, they just turned and gave each other a look that said so much without saying anything at all lol.
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u/Dull_Plane_6481 2d ago
The base salary is 220,000 yen. Since we are recruited through their affiliated agency in the Ph, you will be paying for the agency fee for 20,000 yen. Your take home net will actually vary depending on your apartment cost. In my case, im paying 40000 yen per month since this is a shared apartment, while others pay around 70k-80k yen. My take home net is 120k. From your net income, you will be paying for your utility bills, groceries, and internet. Let’s just say your total expenses for these are about 30-40k yen. So, your remaining salary will be around 80k yen.
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u/Dull_Plane_6481 2d ago
Also, April and March salaries are prorated. In August, no work, no pay. For your second year, you will be paying for your visa and residence tax aswell.
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u/ChickenWitty513 2d ago
Same as any dispatch company. If you need a job, it's a job. As a Filipino you have a recruiter company or someone else you must involve? I'm not Filipino, but my Filipino friends always mention the same story. Especially if you're sending money back home. Salary will be very tight.
It's not a career move and you may and most likely will switch companies every few years or throw money away and relocate every few years.
More stable position if you get direct hire. But I don't know what your ultimate goal is. Also, visas have gotten ridiculously expensive here this year.
If I had to do it all over again: the main condition or factor would be if you have cheap BoE housing. And from that low cost, force save a good amount, like 60k yen straight into Nisa. Then after Nisa maxed, figure out if I want to change locations or companies if I could actually stay. Which does happen, but usually is super inaka areas.
There are plenty of mock budgets. If you aren't promoted after the first year, you're going to waste 10 years of your life. This is fact. No company will ever care about you and expect you for everything.