[noodle]

You guys are right. For a long time, as a kid, I was slightly depressed because I never put in a lot of effort at school! I didn't see the point, I thought that your final exams were the most important. Teachers always tried to convince me that effort was of huge importance in places like England because wherever you go, there will always be a reference required. Unfortunately, references were based upon your effort and rarely on your results as they believed that someones character is shown throughout the year, not simply at the final exam (in a sense, they are right, but it didn't make me happy).

Anyway, luckily for me, I had 3 older brothers who taught me about life better than any teacher I've ever had. They told me to continue in my beliefs because at the end of the day, when it comes to the world of work, Quality is far more important than Quantity. Now at university, it's half true. There are no reports, so to be honest, I don't really know what the teachers think of me, but whenever I get my results at the end of a semester, some of my teachers and secretaries always have a smile on their face. I guess they don't believe in "effort is most important".

With all that said, I hope, that when it comes to me starting a career, I will recieve amoung the highest starting salaries because I am amoung the best in what I do. If however, I don't get what I want at the start, I will not blame it on anything or anyone. Coming from a poor country, and knowing the value of things, I know that you have to work for what you want, sometimes for a lifetime.

To the original poster. I don't know much about the JET programme as I believe teaching requires a lot of enthusiasm, which unfortunately I lack. But, all those people that dismiss being overqualified so easily should check out interviews done by universities on companies. Many companies admit that being "overqualified" is an issue for them. For example (not really related to this), most companies don't like to hire someone with a Phd if they don't have any real work experience. The explanation is usually that people with Phd's and no work experience implies that the person in question was too comfortable with the education system and might not be suitable for a work environment. They can believe that this person was avoiding work for as long as possible (of course this is not always true, but thinking this isn't wrong either). Another reason is; people with Phd's will generally require a higher starting salary, which most companies will not take the risk in giving because having a Phd doesn't imply more suitable for the job.