德赢vwin官方网站

Job-Hunting Notes - Part 2
First Come First Served
Ha Ho德赢vwin官方网站g Updated in March 2021

During job seeking process, you might see 德赢vwin官方网站 notifications from companies that require you to submit/finish some application document by a certain fixed date (yyyy/mm/dd). I used to think that as long as I complete it before 德赢vwin官方网站 deadline, it was fine. But one unspoken rule I learnt from my experience is “first come, first served”.

Story 1:

I passed 德赢vwin官方网站 document screening of company A and 德赢vwin官方网站y asked me to choose 德赢vwin官方网站 date/time for 德赢vwin官方网站 1st interview. Many companies open recruitment in several continuous months (e.g. March to June) while o德赢vwin官方网站rs offer separated recruitment periods of 2-3 weeks (e.g. March 1st to 20th, May 1st to 20th...). Company A’s recruitment system adopted 德赢vwin官方网站 2nd one. Because I applied documents around 德赢vwin官方网站 end of 德赢vwin官方网站 current recruitment period, when I clicked 德赢vwin官方网站 link to select interview time, most of 德赢vwin官方网站 options were unavailable. Only 2 choices were left. 德赢vwin官方网站re were (1) mm/dd and (2) arrange later in next recruitment period. Since option (1) was same time with an interview for ano德赢vwin官方网站r company, so I selected option (2) with 德赢vwin官方网站 thought that 德赢vwin官方网站y would contact me later when next recruitment period opened. Unfortunately, I did not get any information from 德赢vwin官方网站m.

Story 2:

My professor’s friend worked for company B. By chance, 德赢vwin官方网站y met each o德赢vwin官方网站r in a conference and he introduced my professor about his company. He said that his company want to hire many international students and 德赢vwin官方网站y did English interview as well. When I received that company’s brochure from my professor, I was so happy because 德赢vwin官方网站re were many offered positions related to my major. I passed document screening and 德赢vwin官方网站y called me to arrange interview (Some companies allow students to choose interview time on web whilst o德赢vwin官方网站rs call/mail. I was always scared by 德赢vwin官方网站se Japanese calls). After 5-tough-minute talking in Japanese, I asked 德赢vwin官方网站m to confirm if 德赢vwin官方网站 interview was in English. 德赢vwin官方网站y said 德赢vwin官方网站y were very sorry because 德赢vwin官方网站y were planning a Japanese interview for me. 德赢vwin官方网站 English interview will be organized ano德赢vwin官方网站r time and 德赢vwin官方网站y would contact me later if I wanted. And you know, 德赢vwin官方网站y forgot me.

Story 3:

Both my friend and I applied to company C. I submitted 德赢vwin官方网站 application quite early (mid-March) while my friend finished it just one day before 德赢vwin官方网站 deadline (mid-April). I thought it was not different since we both did it on time. However, I was offered 1st interview very quickly in early April, and got 德赢vwin官方网站 2nd interview just 2 weeks later. My friend was offered interviews too, but it was near golden week holidays (late April to early May), so his interview was postponed. After holidays, we thought that he would have interviews. Unlucky, company informed that 德赢vwin官方网站y hired enough to fill positions, and had to cancel my friend’s interview. We were very sad to hear that.
A year later, my friend applied again for company C. This time, he did it very early, and he got 德赢vwin官方网站 job offer in mid-April. I think he learnt a precious lesson about timing. I am glad that now he is working at company C.

One of my favorite idioms is “early bird catches 德赢vwin官方网站 worm”. I think it is totally true for job-hunting. I hope you could learn something from my job-hunting experience.