Trying to get hired to teach in Japan...

For about the past year, my wife and I have been applying at various companies to teach in Japan but we haven't had any luck so far. We'll be reapplying for the JET Program later this year among other places, but I had a question that I hope you all will be able to shed some light on.

What's the deal with getting TEFL/TESL certification online? I've been thinking that having the certification would greatly increase our chances of finding employment.

I'd prefer to get it through traditional means, in a classroom and all, but the courses I've seen take 4 weeks or more and none of them are offered anywhere near us.

However, I don't know if the online certifications are legitimate, like from accredited programs and such.

Are there any online TEFL/TESL certifications that are legitimate? If so, where can I go to find more information on them?

Nope you cannot get a real TEFL/TESL certificate with just online study alone. I would say it's as good as printing one out with your own printer. A real deal one would come with on that has class room instruction, role play, and evaluation from a real instructor.

Then again none of that is required for Japan.
The JET program is extremely difficult to get into, also being a husband & wife team there's no guarantee that either of you will be assigned together or even if one gets assigned.

Sorry to hear that you haven't had success so far, but please take a look at the current Japanese economy - it is not booming at all, to put it mildly, and schools (at least the English conversation schools that grownups go to, as against high schools/junior high school) would not really be hiring a lot of new teachers.

I am currently not a teacher, but went through the 4-week "traditional" certificate course in the UK some years back, and to me it was very useful, specifically because I learned to interact with the students (practice sessions are integral part of such courses, in my view). So... I admit that online courses can help with theoretical bits about the grammar basics, the kinds of difficulties that non-native speakers of English tend to have, "typical" mistakes, etc., etc., just an overview, but does not help you with the in-class interaction.

I'm afraid an online course won't greatly increase your chances- in the TESL/TEFL world they aren't really considered to have any value, because there is no actual teaching component. It doesn't matter which institution they are offered by.

On the other hand, more and more employers these days are asking for a qualification of some sort- to really increase your chances you should look at doing a CELTA, or any other recognised course with an observed practical component.