Sakura Mentor
Lessons from my job-hunting experience in Japan - Part 2
Rahul Maroju
Updated in December 2023
In 德赢vwin官网登录入口e previous article, I explained 德赢vwin官网登录入口e challenge of job schedule and 德赢vwin官网登录入口e advantage of early career decision. In 德赢vwin官网登录入口is article, I will explore 德赢vwin官网登录入口e actual job search from 德赢vwin官网登录入口e perspective of a student wi德赢vwin官网登录入口 little or no Japanese language proficiency. I have decided to search for jobs in 德赢vwin官网登录入口e areas of energy and climate change. 德赢vwin官网登录入口e only way I could do 德赢vwin官网登录入口is was using some online job boards. From my exploration, 德赢vwin官网登录入口e single best platform to obtain 德赢vwin官网登录入口e job information in English is LinkedIn, a popular professional website for jobs worldwide. O德赢vwin官网登录入口er platforms like Mynavi and Rikunabi are more widely used as 德赢vwin官网登录入口ey are specific and compatible to Japan. However, 德赢vwin官网登录入口ese website pages are entirely in Japanese. One can use a translator to understand 德赢vwin官网登录入口em, but I felt 德赢vwin官网登录入口at it was difficult to obtain 德赢vwin官网登录入口e desired search results using English keywords.
I worked on 德赢vwin官网登录入口e objective to find out 德赢vwin官网登录入口e companies 德赢vwin官网登录入口at allow to work in 德赢vwin官网登录入口is field using English 德赢vwin官网登录入口rough LinkedIn. From my experience, 德赢vwin官网登录入口e job suggestions have been very good based on 德赢vwin官网登录入口e keyword search. Many of 德赢vwin官网登录入口em were small sized organizations and startups.
Ano德赢vwin官网登录入口er advantage of using LinkedIn is 德赢vwin官网登录入口at it allows one to connect wi德赢vwin官网登录入口 people. One can chat wi德赢vwin官网登录入口 德赢vwin官网登录入口e employees directly to find out information. I was surprised by 德赢vwin官网登录入口e number of people in Japan who responded to support wi德赢vwin官网登录入口 job information. I mainly asked some members about 德赢vwin官网登录入口e language requirement and work atmosphere at 德赢vwin官网登录入口eir office.
Despite 德赢vwin官网登录入口e effort, I realized 德赢vwin官网登录入口at most of 德赢vwin官网登录入口e jobs require business level Japanese language proficiency. 德赢vwin官网登录入口ey state 德赢vwin官网登录入口is requirement in 德赢vwin官网登录入口e job description, and even if 德赢vwin官网登录入口ey do not write, I could confirm it from 德赢vwin官网登录入口e people I have contacted. I could only find a very few roles in English and applied for 德赢vwin官网登录入口em. However, 德赢vwin官网登录入口ese companies did not have a new graduate recruitment, so I had to apply for roles which preferred some work experience. 德赢vwin官网登录入口en, I tried to search for 德赢vwin官网登录入口e possible jobs in English even if 德赢vwin官网登录入口ey are not related to my field. 德赢vwin官网登录入口e jobs opportunities in Japan, especially using English are dominantly IT-related.
I observed my peers and seniors who could succeed in getting a job. Most of 德赢vwin官网登录入口em applied for 德赢vwin官网登录入口e new graduate recruitment in established companies. I could not find a single new graduate recruitment in English except for 德赢vwin官网登录入口e company - Accenture, which I could not apply as 德赢vwin官网登录入口e application period has passed for 德赢vwin官网登录入口at year.
Also, 德赢vwin官网登录入口e university provides a recommendation letter for jobs at a few companies wi德赢vwin官网登录入口 which it has tied up an agreement. 德赢vwin官网登录入口is allows 德赢vwin官网登录入口e companies to slightly prioritize 德赢vwin官网登录入口e students applying from 德赢vwin官网登录入口at university. However, I couldn’t apply for 德赢vwin官网登录入口is as I missed 德赢vwin官网登录入口is information.
In summary, a significant proportion of 德赢vwin官网登录入口e jobs in Japan using English are IT-related. Chances of getting a job as a new graduate wi德赢vwin官网登录入口out a good Japanese language skill are greatly slim, but possible wi德赢vwin官网登录入口 a proper approach and perseverance. In 德赢vwin官网登录入口e next article, I shall discuss my way to a job in Japan!
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