Event Report: Life After JET Webinar

On Thursday April 25th, the IJCC held an online event  ‘Life After JET - A Conversation with Irish JET Programme Alumni’ which focused on post-JET career paths.  

The event was moderated by Aisling Barry, IJCC Vice President and JET Alumni, who opened the evening with a brief background of Ireland’s involvement with the JET Programme as well as IJCC’s efforts to support Irish JETs. During the event, 6 former Irish JET participants – Ronan Miyachi, Grace Walsh, Patrick Brophy, Susan Lawlor, Erika Sucuangco and Derek Moore – kindly shared stories from their time on the JET Programme and how this experience impacted their careers. We also heard from Aedín McConnell of Post-Primary Languages Ireland on opportunities for returning JETs to leverage their experience within the foreign language education space in Ireland.

During the Q&A session, attendees heard advice on topics such as deciding the right timing for transitioning careers after JET, the hiring process and remote work situation in Japan, and cultural differences in the Japanese workplace. Many thanks to all our speakers for their valuable input!

It was a great pleasure for us to see many new faces joining from Ireland and Japan. Thank you very much for your participation! 

 

The video of the event can be watched here on the official IJCC YouTube channel. 

 

Resources discussed during the event can be found below:

 

Japan Market Expansion Competition (JMEC) 

https://jmec.gr.jp/about-jmec  

Springboard+  

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/education/third-level-education/applying-to-college/springboard/ 

Embassy of Japan in Ireland

Official JET Programme website

https://jetprogramme.org/en/

Embassy JET page

https://www.ie.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/00_000048.html

Post-Primary Languages Ireland 

  • Languages Connect Main Website – PPLI’s Awareness Raising Campaign; always looking for fresh content and new stories that will inspire more learning of foreign languages and maintenance of heritage languages. 
  • Say Yes to Languages Primary Module –Ten-week module preparing the way for the introduction of foreign languages in the primary curriculum.