Hello, new here on the board.  Found it by "googling" for "Jobs on US Bases in Japan".

I'm a 10-year Army vet who separated in 2009.  I spent most of my enlistment overseas, particularly in Korea.   Never made it to Japan but always wanted to.

Since I separated from the Army, I've been periodically applying for federal job positions overseas; mostly via USAjobs.gov. 

Recently, one of my applications for a job at Yokota AB was referred to the hiring authority.  I then received an email from them asking to do a phone interview, but informing me that there would be no relocation or housing allowance included for the position. 

That was a deal-breaker for me I'm afraid.  The position was a GS-7, and without housing allowance I did not think it would be worth the self-move to Japan (read: no relo either) so I replied informing them of this.

My question for the forum here is this:

Is what I described above normal or does it vary position to position?   In other words, when they are trying to fill these on-base GS positions, are they normally not including relocation and/or housing allowance for persons applying from the USA?

If the answer is yes, I'm curious as to how they fill these type of positions.  Are they relying mainly on the spouses of military members who are already in Japan to fill them?   Hence, not needing to pay for housing or relo since they are already in country? 

During my years in Korea, through my many civilian acquaintances and through my separation counseling (ACAP), I was always told that to land these GS jobs overseas (in Korea at least), you need to be "hired from the States".   

So I am somewhat befuddled at my recent experience with the job position at Yokota that I was looked at for.  Do people from the USA ever actually pick-up and move to Japan for a GS-7 paying job with NO relo or housing allowance once they get there?    Or is it like I said earlier that they count on hiring mil spouses already there on base?

If that is the case, I just wonder why they would even entertain applications from persons not already in Japan.  It's like, why even waste the time. 

Anyway, I'm interested to hear what some of you folks with more knowledge of the hiring practices and procedures (written & unwritten) for Japan base jobs might have to say.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I can tell you what my husband and my experience has been in moving to Japan.

My husband got out of the military back in 2002 (he put in 6 years). He lived on Yokosuka Base at the time when he separated from the Navy (I was on Yokota). We both loved Japan and wanted to return as civilians. We thought it would be relatively easy to return to Japan.....boy were we wrong! Stateside hires are rare here and hard to come by. In our AOB/ICR class (week long "intro to Japan" class), there was just one other guy in our class of maybe 80+ that was a stateside hire.

I think you are correct about a lot of military spouses picking up GS jobs......at least the low - mid grade ones. But, for the highly skilled jobs, it's usually difficult to find the appropriate people for the job locally, so they must hire from the states.

Finding a job through USAJobs is like trying to find a job on Monster. It's the bottomless pit of resumes and extremely difficult to get a callback. My husband works in the IT field, so there were plenty of jobs out here for him. But, we learned over time that it wasn't that easy to land one of those jobs.

It took us 7 years and a lot of persistence to finally get out here.

Plus, w/ the current economy.....you got e/one out there looking for a job.

There's no way in hell I would take a GS-7 job w/ no relocation / housing allowance! You would barely be able to keep your head above water if you had to live out in town......maybe if it was just you and you had no family you could, but it wouldn't be easy. Moving overseas is costly, and moving off base is very, VERY expensive. It just wouldn't be worth it. If you could live on base, then you probably could get by as a GS-7.....but, I still don't know if it would be worth it w/ no relocation allowance.

It just depends on how badly you want to live here. As in our case, persistence is key. Get your name out there and network as much as possible. I'm no expert on this, and s/one else might have had a different experience from us. But, from our experience, we were surprised at how truly difficult it was to get out here as civilians.

Best of luck to you and welcome to the forum!

Thanks for your reply and sharing your experiences.  Some of what you said is what I had figured.  Like you said, persistence is key.  I'll keep on plugging away.

Yes it is not as easy as it should be. Just to go through the whole job process from announcement to interview to getting the tentative offer can take 3 months or more. Definitely you dont want to come over here as a local hire from the USA. Even people who are already here and dont have to pay any money to relocate still barely scrape by as local hires. Local hires are generally at the mid to lower GS levels and are generally filled by (a) spouses or (b) Guys who have Japanese wives/gfs and are looking to stay in Japan at any cost (they can generally afford losing the housing money by living with their girl who has a job too or having her parents get them a place)

Then also, the few stateside hire jobs that do come available at lets say GS-12, you get all these people who are currently GS-13/14 and who want to come back to Japan applying for those. Then you have commands that are only looking to hire retired military officers or E9s or the most overqualified person they can find as some type of status symbol based on who/what that person "used to" be.

Also you have commands who prefer to hire someone from their USA Headquarters. Then you have the people already working here who decide they want to work at another office even if the job is the same paygrade. Some people are almost professional job seekers, they apply for anything and everything just to see what they can get, then when offered they turn it down. THAT is my pet peeve, Im trying to get a job to support my family and somebody just wants interview practice :-(

So you gotta fight all of those types of people, it makes it a pretty grim situation. BUT, if this is what you want, spend your time waiting to get some education, certifications and job skills specific to what kind of job you want. Bottom line, its not impossible, but not easy. I see new people coming in from USA every month so it can be done! Best of luck to you!

I have glanced over the previous posts. Here is a question. I just got offered a position as a GS-11 or possible 12 step 1. I am currently living in Japan, but am originally from Las Vegas. The reason why Im here is to help take care of my wife's parents. At first, I was travelling back and forth to the United States on a travellers visa. Since this became more of a hassle and dipping into added expenses that wasnt neccessary. My wife brought it to my attention to apply for a job or possibly start a business at one of the bases, in which I have done. Since business is slow, I then applied as a GS position and put the address in which my family currently resides. Then want to hire me as local hire.

However, correct me if Im wrong. Can one person explain to HR (human resources) that I have a stateside address and I am only here as assistance care and do a split shipment. Where that I have goods in the stateside that is in storage and will stay there under my own expense and ship the little goods i have here to my place of employment and still be considered as stateside hire?

Can anyone help????

The one nice thing is that is easier to get a GS-11 job as local hire then a state hire because you about 1/2 the price. You get post allowance as a local higher. That is it. No housing , US storage is not paid for, and your move is not paid. You would have to get with the HR and command that highered you. Once you start work you can't change this status. So it is spmething you need to get clarified before you accept anything. Good Luck Man. Stateside hire is the way togo.

This is a good post. We are a tateside hire. We were told we get housing and relocation during the tentative offer stage. We've run into a few 0roblems duing the medical screening. They are giving us a firm offer tomorrow after we threw some regulations at them. I will be sure we double check this offer to make sure it is all included. I thought it was a given but apparently not.

Being in the states and getting hired over there, you should be fine. Then they pay for your move and storage and housing. But people that are in Japan are assumed to not need that. So you do not get it. Alot of VETs come stay here on a Tourist visa after getting and think they automatically get housing and everything like they were in the Miltary. Once they get a job. Oh no my friend.

The original poster doesn't appear to be in Japan currently though and they don't want to pay housing for him. I would think it would be a given if you aren't already over there. Do some checking into the regulations. I'm too new at this to know if it is a given or how often it is supplied.

Though all services use the Joint Travel Regulations and similar personnel guidance, it seems that the long term nature of some at Iwakuni has led to real problems "breaking" in to the system. With all the new facilities on coming on line, perhaps it will just take some persistence to land a job their.

@jryram: Sorry, you would be considered a local hire. We all have stateside addresses; we all have varying reasons for being over here. The "system" is very unsympathetic to your situation. If you are in Japan when they offer you the job (or rather, outside the States) then you would NOT be considered a Stateside hire.

@JobHunter: Please explain what you mean by "real problems" at Iwakuni. This is the 2nd post where you've made such allegations and I don't know what you're talking about. There are many, many MCCS job openings in Iwakuni right now; it's actually quite easy to get into the system if you are persistent. There were some MCCS management issues last year, but there has been a large personnel turnover since then I'm I'm not aware of any persistent problems.

Greeting Everyone,
Right now, I am about a 16 months out before I move to Japan. I am finishing up my degree and my paramedic to. I am looking to get into industrial safety or healthcare. I currently work at a VA hospital in the Engineering Department. Any advice would help thank you for your time.

V/R Edward

Due to current budget constraints, there are fewer positions here where they will pay for housing and relocation. People who are in hiring positions here are sometimes restricted to local hiring requirements which usually means military spouses or a spouse of someone already out here. They are also being stricter on the 5 year overseas dwell rule.

Hello again,

I am already a federal employee. I am currently a WG11 step 3 right now. I have VRA also. Relocation is also not a problem because, I will be already in japan. I willing to go after any position. Thank you for your time.