Mumblesnore
Dead Stargod 
’Tis the season (for Eggnog)
Posts: 16,154 
CIR Experience: Former CIR
Location: Tokyo
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Post by Mumblesnore on May 11, 2016 23:58:51 GMT 9
Apparently the BoE's have already been informed about their incoming ALTs, and some predecessors have broken code and told their successors of their placements ahead of time. I was wondering if the same is true for CIRs.
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Post by zdaradara23 on May 12, 2016 4:49:07 GMT 9
I was expecting to get placement information past May 15th, but all of the anxious posts on the Incoming JET page are killing me and I really would like to know soon >.<'. I'm starting to check my email a lot more often than usual!
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Post by CaptainSeery on May 12, 2016 8:36:25 GMT 9
Contracting organizations (regardless of if they're for ALTs or CIRs) have been getting placement info over the past couple days. You'll get contacted by your consulates/embassies, presumably within the next few days. Technically COs and predecessors aren't supposed to contact you until they've recieved your reply form. Personally I've broken that rule but only if the new JET posted in an online forum or the prefecture's AJET facebook page, indicating that they were intending to follow through.
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Mumblesnore
Dead Stargod
’Tis the season (for Eggnog)
Posts: 16,154
CIR Experience: Former CIR
Location: Tokyo
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Post by Mumblesnore on May 12, 2016 9:34:08 GMT 9
Contracting organizations (regardless of if they're for ALTs or CIRs) have been getting placement info over the past couple days. You'll get contacted by your consulates/embassies, presumably within the next few days. Technically COs and predecessors aren't supposed to contact you until they've recieved your reply form. Personally I've broken that rule but only if the new JET posted in an online forum or the prefecture's AJET facebook page, indicating that they were intending to follow through. Thanks for the reply! So it is soon, then. Luckily I picked up a shift to work tomorrow 7am-4pm, otherwise I would just sit at home and check my email every five minutes. It's nice to know that the wait is aaalmost over. |
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Post by nikinee on May 12, 2016 12:26:38 GMT 9
Haven't heard anything yet, but I'm holding out for the next week. Seeing everyone talking about getting the new JET info is making me super antsy... lurking in the Plus/Minus thread certainly doesn't help on that front, haha.
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Post by CaptainSeery on May 12, 2016 15:54:53 GMT 9
I wouldn't hold my breath! Some consulates release the info a few days after others anyway... But it should be soon.
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Post by King Quailbee on May 12, 2016 16:17:51 GMT 9
I found out mine an hour before my departmental graduation ceremony mid-June. You will find out sometime and will have plenty of time to research about it. Seriously, stop refreshing the e-mail inbox and go out! It will instead be a nice surprise when you busy yourself with other things!  |
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sven
Founding Father of the CIRHP 
Posts: 472
CIR Experience: Former CIR
Location: Niigata
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Post by sven on May 13, 2016 2:48:27 GMT 9
Howdy.
I'm a program coordinator in the states, so I'm on the other side of this. We tell you guys pretty much as soon as we get the info, so if you haven't heard anything that means your consulate hasn't heard anything and there's no point in worrying.*
Last year placement's got sent out around May 15th so that's probably going to be the same for this year. Depending on Tokyo could always be a bit earlier or later but I would put my bets on the info coming out sometime in the next 10 days.
*mileage may vary by consulate
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Post by dosanko on May 13, 2016 9:59:58 GMT 9
papa sven so reliable, providing such 安心感!
But yeah, I got super anxious waiting for my placement (AND to hear from my actual 担当者 because all I got in placement info was "Hokkaido" and I was like where the hell am I going to be on that island that's a quarter of Japan in size), and it felt like I was forever waiting for the news. But looking back, it was such a short period of time (less than/around a month after shortlisted).
The information will come no matter what. So go out, do some shopping to prep yourself, hang out with hulemdos, GO TO YOUR FAVOURITE RESTAURANT/CAFE AND HAVE YOUR FAVOURITE FOOD/DRINK god I want good poutine
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Post by nikinee on May 13, 2016 10:07:24 GMT 9
Thank you all for being so reassuring!
Need to get out and drink as much glorious Melbourne coffee as possible... Methinks a good coffee will be harder to come by over there. Although that might just be my inner coffee snob talking, haha.
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sven
Founding Father of the CIRHP
Posts: 472
CIR Experience: Former CIR
Location: Niigata
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Post by sven on May 13, 2016 10:19:20 GMT 9
Sometimes though people actually don't get placed.
So, that could happen too.
I guess
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Post by Sparkles on May 13, 2016 11:49:11 GMT 9
hue drowning man
sven destroying his 生まれたての安心感
We here at the 取りまとめ団体 for a certain prefecture have received placement info and have forwarded it to all the COs under our jurisdiction, but as Seery said we can't do anything until we've got reply forms. We're not getting any new CIRs this intake, so unfortunately I can't break code even if I wanted to. Reply forms, though; they're tricky. For example, we've already had one 辞退 -- someone who was placed here but had turned in their reply form saying "no thank you, I do not accept my place on the shortlist." The "no"s usually reach us much faster than any "yes" because the "no"s only have to turn in the single paper with a checkmark in the "no thanks" box, but any "yes" has to turn in a bunch of other paperwork, which takes more time. So even though we want to let the "yes" people know ASAP, we always get the "no" people's replies first. /sigh
Hang in there just a little longer! And I agree with what everyone else has said -- don't sit inside refreshing your email, so something fun instead!!
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icaman
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 26
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Post by icaman on May 13, 2016 12:38:49 GMT 9
My office learned this week who our new CIRs will be. Now we just have to wait and see if they accept! Hang in there.
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Post by ザ・penguin54 on May 13, 2016 12:43:34 GMT 9
Also I believe even if the reply forms come early we can't contact until the end of May.
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Post by dosanko on May 16, 2016 13:50:08 GMT 9
Also I believe even if the reply forms come early we can't contact until the end of May. This. (I mean, lots of people break this rule, but that doesn't mean we should be...) I believe it's May 26 this year? I was recently involved in a big thread on the facebook incoming JETs group regarding this, because someone decided to share what I wrote in MY e-mail to MY JETs in MY prefecture and lots of people (lightly) protested saying they're just going to go ahead and contact the newbies anyway... It's just a difference of a week or two though, really, so I wish they'd all stay patient (even though I know how long the wait feels) Anyway, it was a good piece of information to share in that group but I kinda wish they didn't say that the e-mail was from the Hokkaido PA...haha. |
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Post by nikinee on May 17, 2016 9:18:03 GMT 9
As much as all the waiting sucks, I completely agree with you dosanko! I also know the post you're talking about... such a big deal out of what should be nothing. Like, I'm incoming, and I can understand why JETs need to wait before they can contact their successor, so why can't they? Don't even get me started on the guy who shared the description of an incoming JET in his prefecture orz |
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Post by dosanko on May 17, 2016 9:28:55 GMT 9
As much as all the waiting sucks, I completely agree with you dosanko! I also know the post you're talking about... such a big deal out of what should be nothing. Like, I'm incoming, and I can understand why JETs need to wait before they can contact their successor, so why can't they? Don't even get me started on the guy who shared the description of an incoming JET in his prefecture orzUgh, yes, that was a complete ｃらｐ. All personal information (even if the name wasn't shared), plus the fact that the incoming JET probably still hasn't heard anything about their placement. :/ |
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Post by King Quailbee on May 17, 2016 9:35:15 GMT 9
Yeah that dude was hella specific. Like not many people have had a job in that area. :/
What a dipshit.
Sorry dosanko that you are always dragged into those things... :/
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Post by dosanko on May 17, 2016 10:07:43 GMT 9
Thanks King Quailbee <3 Thankfully (?) that guy who shared the personal info was not from Hokkaido hehe. 私には関係な～い♪ But yeah, that's one of the reasons why I'm 99% inactive on facebook for more than a year now, and I'm really really reeeeeeeally looking forward to the day I can cut the tie between work and facebook. I want to go back to being an outsider for the entire world of (and all the drama inside) the JET Programme... |
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Mumblesnore
Dead Stargod
’Tis the season (for Eggnog)
Posts: 16,154
CIR Experience: Former CIR
Location: Tokyo
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Post by Mumblesnore on May 18, 2016 0:23:42 GMT 9
I really thought Monday would be the day. Maybe Tuesday will have more luck (my shortlisted email came on a Tuesday.)
Is it weird for you current and past CIRs to see us upcoming CIRs be so hopeful end excited, when it seems like most people in the Plus Minus thread etc. don't even like the job...
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Post by zdaradara23 on May 18, 2016 3:36:39 GMT 9
Mumblesnore Yeah, I hope it comes on Tuesday as well. But if it doesn't come today, at least there is a higher chance of it coming on Wednesday.
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sven
Founding Father of the CIRHP
Posts: 472
CIR Experience: Former CIR
Location: Niigata
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Post by sven on May 18, 2016 5:48:51 GMT 9
I really thought Monday would be the day. Maybe Tuesday will have more luck (my shortlisted email came on a Tuesday.) Is it weird for you current and past CIRs to see us upcoming CIRs be so hopeful end excited, when it seems like most people in the Plus Minus thread etc. don't even like the job... Don't get tricked up by the occasional negativity on the main boards; I'd venture to guess that at the end of the day most CIRs really do like their jobs; we studied for years to get our Japanese to a high level, and now we get to use it every day doing all kinds of stuff. Plus, we get paid to live & work in Japan, which I think for a lot of us has been a dream for a long time.
But the position is a job. And like all jobs there are going to be days that just plain suck. Whereas ALTs have a community of people around them in similar situations they can commiserate with, CIRs often don't have anyone nearby that can really understand the hard parts of our jobs. ALTs will tend to think you can solve anything because of your Japanese, and your Japanese coworkers may not really understand why you're struggling with something. I once met an ALT hulemdo for dinner and told her I was pretty beat from solidly translating all day; her response was just "well, isn't that your job?"
So the CIRHP ends up being a place where CIRs can come to vent and know that others here will understand them. It's a place where we can sling all the bad and crazy stories from our work here, so I can see how it comes across as negative sometimes. But that's definitely not the true whole picture, and you shouldn't let it scare out of being really, really excited about what's to come.
*i am no longer a JET, so maybe I'm lying.
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Post by Honey on May 18, 2016 6:41:25 GMT 9
As much as all the waiting sucks, I completely agree with you dosanko ! I also know the post you're talking about... such a big deal out of what should be nothing. Like, I'm incoming, and I can understand why JETs need to wait before they can contact their successor, so why can't they? Don't even get me started on the guy who shared the description of an incoming JET in his prefecture orzUgh, yes, that was a complete ｃらｐ. All personal information (even if the name wasn't shared), plus the fact that the incoming JET probably still hasn't heard anything about their placement. :/ I saw that and thought, what the hell, that's way too specific. Can you actually get in trouble from CLAIR if you reveal anything before the date? |
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Post by CaptainSeery on May 18, 2016 8:39:57 GMT 9
What sven said.
I do think there are some people who genuinely don't like their jobs, but I think most of us do. I think for a lot of us there's also the fact that we are assigned to do lots of different things. Some of those are things that we are excited about and enjoy doing, but some of them are just not our thing. I work in a very small city and my soup and I are the entirety of the international relations section, which means that I basically have to do all of the 国際交流 and 国際理解 stuff for my city. Some things, like translating and interpreting, I enjoy a lot. Other things, like having to go to elementary schools and plan and run an English camp in the summer, I am less enthused about. Others, like eikaiwa, I flat out hate. So I complain about those things. But overall I do like my job and happily signed up for another year.
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Post by dosanko on May 18, 2016 9:05:46 GMT 9
Yes, what sven and CaptainSeery said! I'm almost always negative about my job on the forums haha, and I do admit that there are parts of this job that are definitely not what I signed up for like caring for 240+ JETs. And sometimes I get some illogical requests that I just go UGHHH WHY and head straight to the forums to vent. But I do like my job in general. There are lots of things I've learned at my job, lots of things I've experienced thanks to this job, and I do not regret one bit the fact I recontracted and stayed for a second year (I was originally going to stay just one and go hoome). This job is what made me love this place I live right now, to the extent I got a job here instead of Tokyo or anywhere else in the world. I'm not going to say I was expecting ponies and rainbows, but due to the nature of this job (and probably the programme in general), it's hard to expect beforehand what exactly we'll each be doing at our positions. All I can say is to keep the realism in you, but to never forget to find every bit of positivity you can find! |
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Post by Sparkles on May 18, 2016 9:26:47 GMT 9
Chiming in to agree, and to add that how and why you enjoy your job can change a lot over time. My first year was pretty good, my second year was pretty great, the first half of my third year was pretty amazing, and the second half of my third year (for a lot of different reasons) has been really stressful, but things are swinging back around to "pretty good" and hopefully my fourth year will be "pretty great"! Seasonality also affects my attitude toward my job, eg I absolutely despise summertime because I feel physically miserable (all the heat/humidity) and it's usually the busiest/most stressful few months of the year work-wise, but most of the time I really do like my job -- hence why I signed up for a second, third, and fourth year. There are definitely a few mismatches in terms of people and placements, but usually you can make it work, and when things are tough, the CIRHP is here with people experiencing similar things who can help you through. |
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Post by King Quailbee on May 18, 2016 9:34:57 GMT 9
Yeah, attitude is the most important thing when it comes to dealing with this job.
I probably have one of the more rural locations (which started one of those silly "my inaka is worse than yours" threads), but I think because I have a positive attitude in addition to a ichigo-ichie perspective, I have been able to get through this work just fine.
I have had some negativity recently with my job because of the jinji-idou (which I didn't know existed) and that really just feels like all the work you had managed to get has been shaken around violently and you are left to pick up the pieces.
But also when you get here, you need to show that you want to do your job. Depending on how your predecessor was, some offices will have an attitude of how you will be (which may be completely opposite to what you enjoy!) For example, my super pred was definitely a more experienced English teacher and seemed to enjoy that stuff...I like teaching foreign languages, but I have found that I don't really like teaching English because I am usually thrown into situations where I don't even know the level of the students' language ability. ;~; I like control and sometimes you can't get that level of control here...and that is something I have had to learn to deal with.
There will be loads of odd jobs and so you have to be a Jack-of-All-Trades. Please don't come in thinking you will be doing a bunch of interpretation, translation, etc. or else you will feel disappointed. But make those connections with people around your town, city, office, etc. so that you can get those jobs. I do not get any translation requests except for the e-mails between the Sister Cities, but I did manage to make a connection with someone from the kencho and I receive native check and translation requests in addition to giving some creative opinions about tourism PR.
Overall:
1. Be positive and remember your excitement
2. Be flexible
3. Everything is not what you are going to expect
4. But show that you are willing and ready to everyone around (and show what you are ACTUALLY interested in)
5. Make connections
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Post by snell_mouse on May 18, 2016 9:43:43 GMT 9
I really thought Monday would be the day. Maybe Tuesday will have more luck (my shortlisted email came on a Tuesday.) Is it weird for you current and past CIRs to see us upcoming CIRs be so hopeful end excited, when it seems like most people in the Plus Minus thread etc. don't even like the job... Lots of good posts responding to this already, but I just wanted to add that at least for me, seeing new and upcoming CIRs be hopeful and excited actually gives me new motivation instead! This is the end of my 4th year and frankly I am all too ready to leave JET, but hearing all your concerns and questions and hopes makes me remember how I felt when I first came and how exciting it was, and that in turn makes me remember how lucky I have been and how great my JET experience has been overall, so I get some やる気 back. |
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Post by nikinee on May 18, 2016 9:58:57 GMT 9
If anything, these forums have made me more excited for JET. One of the things that has made me nervous about being a CIR is the fact that there are much less of us, and as a result, I thought that there wouldn't be many people who could completely understand my situation if I were having a tough time. Just lurking around CIRHP for the past few weeks has given me much more insight about what being a CIR is like than I had when I applied for JET. It is what you make it, but if the proverbial shit ever hits the fan, then at least I know where to come to vent my feelings, haha.
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Mumblesnore
Dead Stargod
’Tis the season (for Eggnog)
Posts: 16,154
CIR Experience: Former CIR
Location: Tokyo
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Post by Mumblesnore on May 18, 2016 12:12:28 GMT 9
Thanks for the replies everyone! I don't want to give the impression that reading this forum made me dread becoming a CIR. I do think I'm flexible and positive and passionate enough about KOKUSAI KOYRU to be a CIR and make the most out of my time in the position. It's nice to read some of the more negative, ranty things about the job so that I don't come into it with too high expectations, only to be let down. A lot of people, when I told them I was accepted, acted like I won a vacation or something. I had to remind them, and myself, that this won't be a magical vacation; it'll be a job with difficulties and bad days to go along with the good.
In other news, Tuesday was also a bust. I've been on red alert for an email since last thursday, and frankly it's exhausting. I wish I could just forget about the placement email altogether and just be pleasantly surprised by it one day, but that ship has sailed haha. Life must have been so much simpler back in the days when there were no forums, facebook, or reddit to give people fancy ideas about when to expect life changing emails.
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