Financial adviser and TESL

[John Coggins]

I'm interested in finding out information about job opportunities in Japan. I'm currently working in the UK as a financial adviser and my girlfriend teaches English as a second language. We are getting married in Jan 09 and interested in moving in Feb 09. I have 3 years experience in financial advice, CEFA and CEMAP qualifications. My girlfriend has the CELTA qualification and is in the process of completing her BA English Literature degree from the Open University. She has one year's teaching English experience from a reputable school in England.

If anyone has any helpful information we would be very grateful

[synthia]

Welcome to the forum!

Are you planning on getting a working holiday visa? Or will you be looking for an employer to sponsor you?

If you and your girlfriend marry, and she gets a job teaching English, you will get a visa that allows you to work. However, unless you speak Japanese, getting a job will be difficult. Perhaps you could look for something where you would be a financial advisor for expats, or a job in an English financial institution operating in Japan. With a spouses visa, you will have an edge over those who need sponsorship.

I'm assuming you have a degree. If you don't, you might be able to get a sponsored visa based on the number of years of experience you have, but first you have to find a job where someone will sponsor you.

You could teach English, though.

You don't mention your ages, but for teaching English, it can be difficult for older people to find work. Even in the early 90's, most schools wouldn't interview anyone over 35. I know, because I was 46 and had trouble getting schools to even talk to me.

[Sevenhelmets]

I use to work in a financial advisers in Tokyo, and can definitely say that getting a job isn't hard at all. There are a lot of firms that cater specifically to the foreign community, I would hazard a guess around the 10-20 firms mark. Some of course are better than others .... my last company wouldn't be among them, hence why I'm talking in the past-tense

In any case, because of the clientele, my company had a specific policy against speaking Japanese. We were advised to only communicate in English, at all times - and this isn't uncommon. So you wouldn't have any issues with the language.

Most of these companies are always advertising for new employees, purely because it's a tough line of work - one that requires a pretty reasonably "thick neck", and therefore the turnover rate is high. One of the reasons for this is because with the smaller firms you must generate your own leads....finding foreign employees working in Japan, getting their names and phone numbers, then pitching them, and finally sitting down with them to do a financial analysis and report/recommendation.

The upside is that if you really work it, you can be sitting pretty tidy. One of my colleagues made 20 million yen in one quarter.

Alternatively you could try getting in with the investment bankers. All the major banks are in Tokyo of course; JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Credit Swiss etc etc. Just look up their respective websites and they normally post jobs on their websites.