Direct-hire ALT work

The difference is who employs you. In a dispatch job, a private company employs you and places you at schools under a contract with the Board of Education. In a direct-hire job, the Board of Education employs you directly, rather than through a company. Direct-hire roles are public-sector positions, usually posted as a fiscal-year appointed employee, with pay set by the municipality. The support also differs: a dispatch company helps you settle in, with things like housing and paperwork, while a direct-hire Board offers little beyond sponsoring your visa, so you relocate and run your daily life yourself. Dispatch jobs are easier to find and common for first-time ALTs; direct-hire jobs are fewer and expect some experience. Neither is simply better. Dispatch is an easier entry point, while direct-hire means more independence and a closer relationship with the employer.

A Board of Education, often shortened to BOE, is the municipal body that runs the public schools in a city, town or village. It is the employer in a direct-hire ALT job, rather than any individual school.

In Japan, ALT roles are filled in two main ways. Many go through dispatch companies, which employ the teacher and place them with a school. With a direct hire, the Board of Education employs the ALT itself.

JET is a government programme that recruits ALTs from overseas and handles your relocation, salary, and support, but assigns where you go. Direct-hire is a job you apply for yourself, directly to a Board of Education, so you choose where, but with no programme behind you. Since Boards want people already in Japan with some ALT experience, many start on JET and move to direct-hire once they are settled.

A direct-hire ALT contract usually runs for one year, following the school year from April to March. Most are renewable year to year by re-appointment, as long as both you and the Board want to continue. Some municipalities cap how many years you can renew, often at around five.

Most direct-hire jobs follow a yearly cycle for an April start. It runs roughly:

• Postings open: autumn into winter
• Deadlines: late autumn to winter
• Interviews: winter to early spring
• Job starts: April

Timing varies by Board, and smaller openings can come up at other times of the year.