Life After JET

We head to the arts for our next theme, with our guest, filmmaker Gavin Hugh. In addition, we'll be getting into some political discussions, as Gavin also works for a member of the Scottish parliament, making this episode feel totally like, real grown-up and stuff. Film, politics, Nazi zombies, and Scottish independence - what more could you want? Footnotes: - Find Gavin on LinkedIn: https://www.l...

Continuing with the theme about the meandering path of life, our guest has certainly done her fair share of travelling and career paths (diving instructor, tour manager and marketing director, recruitment) and now currently runs a non-profit greenhouse program in a converted ice hockey stadium in Canada, in a town located in the Arctic Circle - making her the northern-most guest to appear on this...

If there's a theme for the next couple of episodes, it will be about the meandering journey of life, ending up in unexpected but wonderful places. Our guest went back on JET the second time, and with her husband and children, stayed on to build a life in Japan, start up a non-profit... and find a home living in the grounds of an ancient temple right in the heart of modern Kyoto. Footnotes: - LEGAC...

Our guest Amanda Chau works as a recruiter and HR consultant in Japan, and recently was a speaker/mentor at the After JET Conference for JET leavers in 2020. So she is in a unique position of knowing what it's like on both sides of the job seeking process. While this episode is about her work, in another way, what we're really talking about is choice - making it, stressing about it and learning to...

When one finishes JET, sometimes the next step is... more JET. In concluding the theme of past JETs working in public service, we fudge the definition a bit and feature a JET unicorn: our guest Matt French has applied for the programme three times (successfully), and is currently going into his 5th year, the first ALT to do so in his town in Hiroshima. We talk about what it's like being probably t...

Tourism is one of those careers that is a good fit for JETs - after all, we are passionate advocates for our second homes in Japan, and have explored every nook and cranny, probably more so than locals who have lived there all their lives. Continuing with the theme of ex-JETs who now work in the Japanese public sector, we'll be speaking to our guest, Andy Coombs, who currently works for the Fukush...

What's it like working in the Japanese public sector? We'll spend several episodes talking to guests who work in different government and non-profit organisations. Our guest Rafael Villadiego worked for several years at the Consulate of Japan in Sydney, and gives us a look at working at a diplomatic office, learning on the job, how to "read the air", and the importance of counting steps. Music for...

Hello everyone! It's been a while. A short update about our podcast.

The closest description that one can use for what our guest does for a living, would be "life coach", though Andy Chaleff would agree that it's usually hard to quantify. In this episode, we talk about his philosophy, his very eventful life, from JET, to high flying corporate executive, to penniless boarder in a leaky attic, to where he is now. Andy can be reached by: - The Last Letter (http://www....

Our second of our 2 part episode and this time around we get down to talking about life after JET. It can feel like a step "backwards" in some sense, going from having your own apartment and independence, to going home and starting over again. But it's not all bad, really we promise. FOOTNOTES: - Rebecca Chen on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-c-9b594254/ - Interfaith Rise: http://ww...

What started out as a conversation about documentary film making quickly moved into discussion on refugee and asylum seeker issues in America, particularly with the current administration. While job searching after coming home from JET (and therefore having plenty of free time), our guest, Rebecca Chen, decided to embark on a documentary film making project - it's early days yet, but we shall be c...

Despite the economy, state of the world, etc, it's never been easier to pursue your dream job, even if it means creating your own unique job title and career. Being an entrepreneur however can be a challenge. I talk to our guest, Raelene Morey about this, the importance of standing up for yourself and how every situation is different when figuring out... life. Because of the lack of mentors in thi...

In this episode I return to the discussion of teaching as a career, this time with a trainee teacher, and another who is a tutor at university. We talk about the differences between pupils in Japan and in Australia, the satisfaction of teaching and why all those class games are more useful than you might think. In the Australian state of New South Wales at least, all trainee teachers are required...

We've talked a lot about turning hobbies into a career, and my guest Julius Pang (ALT 2004-2007 Kitakyushu) not only became a professional photographer, he combined it with his love of Japan and started a photography tour business (Incredible Photo Tours). We talk about the work, photographing Mt Fuji (i.e. much harder than you'd expect) and wrangling old people. - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.c...

Do you have the write stuff (I had this pun, I needed to use it)? A passion for writing, reporting on social issues and events (and yoga) led our next guest, Shannon Lough, around the world and into a career as a journalist. One time she interviewed an ex-astronaut (true story). - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonlough/ - Portfolio: http://portfolio.shannonlough.com/ - Website: http://...

Being an artist is not just a job, but a way of life. Many of us may have once dreamed about a creative career - drawing, painting or writing, but usually feel that the reality of paying bills and eating regularly outweigh the fantasy. But for Mr David Piper, there was simply no choice to really make once JET was over. - To see David's work: http://sundayink.com/ - Follow him on the Book of Faces:...

Content Advisory Warning: In this episode, we talk about the work and experience relating to forensic investigation. If you're uncomfortable with talk about autopsies, etc, you might want to skip from the 20-min mark. Mention forensic investigation, and you'd be thinking of shows like CSI, Bones and Dexter. Our guest actually credits the X-Files for getting him into the field of forensic investiga...

The vast majority of JETs work as ALTs, or Assistant Language Teachers. Therefore it's no surprise that some would continue that into an actual career in education. However, being a teacher can open up some opportunities and challenges in surprising ways, as our guest, Anna-Marie Prohaska, proves. Anna-Marie Prohaska is on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-marie-prohaska-141453bb/ Class A...

We speak to Andrea Jacques, who was involved with the After JET conferences in the 90s as a careers and life coach. She is also the founder and head of Kyosei Consulting, and has published a book, Wabi Sabi Wisdom (available on Amazon). We talk about her book and its themes on not only finding job satisfaction, but also finding meaning and purpose in life - gathered from her life living in Japan....

In 2016, CLAIR began the first ever work experience placements at participating companies in Kansai and Kanto area, for a period of a week, open to CIRs from 3rd year and up. We speak to two JETs who participated in the internship, Joshua Leong and Paige Norris (thanks you two!). ​ Note that we can't divulge certain details like location and company name, as well as too much about the selection pr...

We continue with our discussion on content marketing - this time co-host David Reiling talks about his experience and his circuitous but highly eventful track to content marketing.

Content and digital marketing - some of the hottest jobs right now are in this area of online writing and promotions. We talk to Misty Ahmadi who works in content marketing at IBM, about her job and what she did to get into it. Along the way, we share some JET stories because that will happen when you gets JETs together in a conversation. Thanks very much to Misty Ahmadi! For more details, see: ht...

Roll of the Dice: The OPC - 2 In this second part, we get into the more fun, geeky aspects of our discussion - about how Magic: The Gathering gets made (content-wise), and what's fuelling the boom of the analog games industry (hint: nostalgia and small kids becoming big kids with disposable incomes). We also talk about what are some good games to try, which you so totally should get into! Thanks t...

Analog games! We've all played them - board games and card games, famous examples being Settlers of Catan and Magic: The Gathering. A good board game can be addictive - last year, at Oz Comic Con, my friends and I were so invested in this game called Carcassonne that we decided to skip one William Shatner's appearance and spent the rest of our time at the gaming table. The analog games industry is...

We talk about what it's like to work as a game master for a Tokyo mobile gaming company. See ma, playing games instead of studying CAN get you a job. Guest: Leslie (Game Master) and introducing David Reiling as co-host. For more details see: http://www.jetaainternational.org/serious-play-the-game-master​