JETwit Job Hunter is a new feature started by Autumn Widdoes (Okinawa-ken 2010-14). Autumn is a writer with a focus on performance and film who will soon return to the job market herself. She’d like to put her four years of experience in Japan to good use in future employment.
WELCOME to the inaugural post of JETwit Job Hunter Profiles. The purpose of this project is to:
- Share profiles of job-hunting JETs and JET alumni, and
- Invite JETwit readers to offer suggestions, advice, and any other help, either by posting in the comments section of this post or by contacting the profiled job hunter directly.
- The goal is to help everyone find work and increase the rate of post-JET employment, which in turn will make us an even stronger alumni network and community.
Here’s the first profile. Take a look and see if you can help:
Job Hunter: Lauren Carroll (Mie-ken, 2006-09) is a JET alum currently seeking employment in the San Francisco Bay area, though she is also open to employment opportunities in other regions of California, Seattle, Colorado, and New Mexico.
Objective: To work in a cross-cultural industry that uses or taps into her creative background and skills in the fine arts as well as her interest in Japan and international exchange. She would like “to help new international transplants learn about and adjust to the US” and would like to work with Japanese people who are moving to the USA. She is seeking this type of work without the requirement of fluency in Japanese.
Areas of Interest:
- cross-cultural consulting
- international student advising at the university level
- international exchange as a coordinator
Job Hunting Strategies:
- Websites such as HigherEdjobs, JETwit, and Craigslist.
- Informational interviews with contacts in industries that she is interested in.
- Letting everyone she knows know that she is seeking a job in one of these fields.
Challenges: Lauren has faced the challenge of having to manage an extensive career search while also working full-time at a job that is ending in a month. She feels that the Bay Area is a very competitive job market, though it also offers an incredible amount of opportunities, and that she hopes to make the connections she needs to gain a foothold in the career industries listed above.
Web Presence:
- Her blog documenting her years in Japan can be found here: http://ieatdirt.blogspot.com
- To contact Lauren visit her LinkedIn profile.
To help this JETwit Job Hunter, post your comments below, or contact Lauren directly.
If you’d like to be profiled, click here to submit your information through the JETwit Job Hunter Google Form.
Reminder that there are a number of JET Alum professionally oriented LinkedIn groups set up to help you. By joining groups in fields that interest you, you can find and connect with other alums in that field.
3 comments so far...
If you are interested in working with international students in a university setting, I would think outside the box on the types of jobs to look for. When I first returned from Japan I thought I wanted to do the same sort of thing. The problem is those jobs are highly competitive and usually they hire someone with an MA in international education or student advising. I wasn’t willing to plunk down $$$$ for a master’s degree not even knowing if I *really* wanted to do that sort of work or if it was just a natural extension of what I was doing in JET.
The first thing I did was I started talking to people who are members of NAFSA and people who worked at the local universities’ international centers. What types of programs were most of their students enrolled in? I then started applying for admin positions in those programs. I eventually landed a job working with a masters program that had a 90% international student enrollment rate. Even though my job wasn’t advertised as international student advising that’s what I did every single day. That also allowed me to get my foot in the door, get to make connections in the university, and find out about more international opportunities that would not be apparent to people applying from the outside.
I’d also become a member of your local Japan Association. That is a great way to directly connect with the Japanese expat community and find out about jobs. My very first job when I returned to the US was working with a company that helped Japanese executives relocate their families here when they were going through a company transfer. The job was never advertised; I just hit it off well with the company owner at an association event. You never know where a job chance will strike!
These are great tips for the job search. Thanks for the informative comment Kyle!
Hi Kyle,
Those are terrific ideas and bring a practical focus to things I’ve wanted to explore more. Thank you!
I too want to experience the career some before I get an MA.