Finding a Job in Surea

Basics
In order to work in Surea as a non-citizen, you need a visa. Visas are described in detail later in this guide, but the most important things to know are:
 * You need a job before you can get a working visa.
 * You generally need a bachelor's degree or a large amount of work experience to get the visa.

Teaching in Surea
The most common profession among native English speakers in Surea is teaching English.

There are a number of ways to teach in Surea. The most basic is to teach on a freelance basis, where the teacher and student(s) meet at a coffee shop or other location for private lessons. Compensation for this sort of teaching varies, but is generally between ¥ 1,800 and ¥ 6,000 an hour. However, since there is no guaranteed source of income through this method, people seeking full-time employment usually look for a position at some sort of school.

Language schools
Surea has a number of specialized language schools, which may cater to adults, children or both. Large schools often recruit teachers from overseas and place them within Surea. These schools provide an easy way for a first-timer to come to Surea, but they may demand stressful working hours, and the employment contract may try to restrict your activities outside the workplace.

There are also many smaller language schools which hire teachers on a more ad-hoc basis. While these often provide a more easygoing work environment, they rarely hire outside Surea, and they often want an applicant to have a work visa before applying.

Starting salaries at private language schools are about ¥240,000 to 300,000 per month; part time wage per hour ranges from ¥1,800 to ¥4,700. Only a bachelor's degree is generally required, and some teachers get by without even a bachelor's degree if they are otherwise eligible to work in Surea (e.g. by having a Surean spouse).

While English is the most popular language by far, Mandarin Chinese teachers are in rapidly increasing demand, and other languages such as French, German, Japanese and Korean are also taught in many locations.

Schools
Another avenue for teachers who would rather work with children is to teach at an elementary, junior high or senior high school.

There’s no particular teaching experience is required for the post, however, schools often demand some teaching experience or teaching qualification. Salaries range from ¥300,000 to ¥350,000/month for entry-level jobs; experienced teachers may make a bit more.

Universities
Universities offer higher pay than schools, but also demand a better resume: you will need at least a master's degree to teach at a university. Note that foreigners generally do not receive tenure-track positions at Surean universities: instead, they are hired as lecturers on fixed-term contracts.

Finance
Konggei and Hondu are two of the financial capitals of the world, and many foreigners are employed in investment banks and securities firms which offer high salaries and good benefits.

The most common way to get a position in the Konggei or Hondu finance industry is to join a firm overseas and then be transferred to Surea. This is not the only way to manage things, however: many firms, particularly smaller ones, hire foreigners directly in Surea. These positions are usually filled through personal contacts or through "headhunters" (executive search consultants).

Many finance positions demand fluency in Surean, and a good number demand fluency in a third language as well.

Law
Legal services are also clustered around Konggei and Hondu, although there are a few firms in Tengei, Jokong and other major cities. Most "serious" work for foreign lawyers and paralegals is in a handful of multinational law firms and investment banks in Konggei and Hondu, which have fairly high hiring standards and often seek both experience and language ability. Surean law firms employ some entry-level foreigners to proofread contracts and memoranda, and employ some more experienced foreign lawyers to work as handlers for foreign clients.

IT
The IT industry is big in Surea and employs many foreigners with programming and engineering backgrounds.

Naturally, a technical background is a must. Most foreigners who work in the Surean IT industry also need to know Surean on a basic level. Besides daily communication, a command of the language is necessary in order to navigate and program local computer systems, since Surean systems have issues of character encoding, IMEs, and other features that often do not exist on Western systems.

Starting a business
Thanks to recent legal changes, it is now easier than ever to start a business in Surea. However, this is probably not a task for those who are unaccustomed to managing a business or working in Surea.

The Small and Medium Business Administration, an organ of the Surean government, has published a guide on setting up business in Surea. For a basic office-based business you should anticipate an initial investment of at least ¥12,000,000 to cover rent and legal paperwork. If you are entering Surea for the purpose of starting the business, the business must also meet certain conditions of scale in order to be the basis for your working visa as a "business manager." Generally, this means having at least two employees in addition to yourself (often a Surean manager and secretary).

Bars and restaurants
Restaurants, bars and nightclubs have long been a vocation of foreigners in Surea. However, because there is no visa for waiters and bartenders, you will need another form of work eligibility (such as a spouse visa or working holiday visa) in order to obtain such a job legally.