Career Resources for Alumni
Northern California has deep ties to Japan. The region is home to 40,000 Japanese nationals and 100,000 persons of Japanese ancestry. An estimated 600 Japanese companies do business in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Tap Into Your JET Alumni Network!
Trying to find a job? Thinking about making a career change or going back to school? Why not tap into your huge network of fellow JET alumni?
To give you a snapshot of your network, there are almost 3,000 alumni living in Northern California, 28,000 alumni across the U.S., and 55,000 worldwide. They have a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds, representing every field. Our alumni work at every level of every sector of the economy: business, non-profit, education, and government. Many of our alumni continue to be involved in international business or exchange. Recently returned JETs may be entry-level. Many of our older JET alumni are now senior managers and executives, leaders in their fields.
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Here are some ways to tap into your vast JET alumni network:
How to “Sell” Your JET Experience to Employers
You know how valuable your JET experience was, but how can you communicate that to employers? Here are some ideas:
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Acting as a cultural ambassador and teacher in Japan gave you the “people” skills needed to build relationships and communicate with a wide range of audiences, from preschool students to captains of industry.
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Living in a foreign culture very different from your own has made you able to overcome difficult barriers to get the job done.
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You learned how to be flexible, able to roll with whatever is thrown at you and still achieve a successful outcome.
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By facilitating people-to-people international exchange, you know how to bring people together. You also know how to translate difficult concepts into easy-to-understand messages.
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You are used to dealing with every level of organizations, from the end-user (students) to peers (teachers), all the way up to senior management (principal/superintendent).
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You tailored your product (English) to the customer (student) using a “customer-oriented” approach that took into account their needs and desires.
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You used a “value-added” approach to teaching that added value to the student’s education. The value you added included providing an opportunity for students to communicate with a native speaker and introducing students to a global perspective.
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You bring a unique and valuable “global” perspective to the job.
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You learned how to be a “team player” in the intensely “team-oriented” Japanese office culture.
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If you can keep the attention of 40 Japanese teenagers in a room and get them to do what you want, you can do anything!
Volunteering with JETAANC
JETAANC is an all-volunteer organization founded to assist and support JET participants who have returned from Japan and are living in Northern California and Nevada. As a JETAANC volunteer, you can help plan and participate in a multitude of activities ranging from picnics, cultural/book clubs, and karaoke nights to career development events and training for new JETs. Boost your professional skills, add real-life experience to your resume, and network with many fascinating people working in a variety of career fields while having a great time.
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Executive committee roles are also available. A leadership role in the JETAANC executive committee affords volunteers hands-on experience helping manage a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization serving 3,000 members as well as the general public. Serving on the JETAANC executive committee is a fantastic way to enhance your professional skill set, build relationships, and support U.S.-Japan relations; plus, it’s a lot of fun!