I applied online. I interviewed at ECC Japan (Toronto, ON)
Interview
It's a long 8 hour in-person recruitment session with other candidates in some office in Toronto. It's mostly a learning session about the job and living in Japan. Afterwards, there is a grammar test and a teaching demo. You are given some lesson plan and you basically have to teach the grammar point to the other candidates (roleplaying as students) without using other English words except the ones in the lesson plan. Finally, there is a 1-on-1 interview with the recruiter.
The recruiter at the session doesn't decide whether or not you get the job. Your file gets sent to some recruitment office in Japan and ultimately they decide who gets the job. The reality is ECC is mostly looking for white foreigners who can give the Japanese learners in Japan the "foreigner experience." So don't bother making the trek to the recruitment session unless you are not white. Even if you've spoken English your whole life and nail the teaching demo, it's pointless if the recruiters in Japan think you will scare away the Japanese students with the way you look.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Basic interview questions such as "name a positive thing about you/name a flaw that you have"
I applied online. I interviewed at ECC Japan (Los Angeles, CA) in Jun 2026
Interview
The interview was fine. But I feel that this job is biased towards people who are naturally extroverted. If you're in an introvert or are socially awkward, I recommend applying somewhere else. This job is for people who have a naturally bright disposition. There are people like me who can be in a good mood but won't be all sunshine and smiley, But that doesn't mean we're unenthusiastic or unhappy to be around others. I also speak conversational Japanese and have spent time in Japan when other candidates who spoke no Japanese at all and had never been to Japan probably got the job instead. Not mention I drove 8 hours from Reno, NV to Los Angeles, CA just to be told I didn't get the job. That's hundreds of dollars of gas and hotel money I'll never get back. If this company truly cared about its applicants, they'd reimburse candidates who were rejected from the job with the money they spent getting to the interview. Especially when San Francisco, CA is a much closer option for a lot of potential applicants. If my interview had been there rather than LA, I'd feel better about the rejection of the job considering how much closer the drive would've been.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What words would your friends or family describe you with?
I applied online. I interviewed at ECC Japan (London, England) in Apr 2026
Interview
They will give you a call and invite you to a recruitment day. This took up a whole day with a presentation about ECC followed by a grammar test and demo lessons. The recruiters were kind and answered any questions we had about the company, the job and moving to Japan. I enjoyed the experience but it was a long and tiring day.
Overly formal and stiff. A lot of commitment to commute to an interview that won't even tell you if you've done well at the end of the day. The day is incredibly long, and they should really tell you more information before you travel to a big city and wait 8 hours in a presentation before the interview even starts.