Advice for Bilingual Job Interview

13 comments

1. Given the complete lack of details, how can you expect any advice other than “Be very bilingual”? At least share some information about the role and the industry.

2. Be yourself, don’t look stupid, flex your Japanese when you can.

3. You don’t need to worry at all, I’m quite sure.
   I do interviews a lot but as long as you are foreigner, we don’t expect excellent Japanese like Keigo. If you can communicate with Japanese colleague in Japanese, it would be totally fine.

4. Background info: They asked for my resume in both languages when i applied. This position wasn’t anything technical.

   My first interview started with japanese greetings and small talk, continued in english, and concluded in japanese. I’d say about 90-95% english? It was pretty relaxed and i felt good about it.

   My second interview was 100% japanese and zero english. The atmosphere felt more tense because the interviewers had the highest company positions. Felt more corporate than the first interview.

   Overall, i didn’t feel the need to “flaunt” being bilingual. They asked me how I learned japanese and how comfortable i am with it, and i answered accordingly. I got the impression that they structured the interviews to observe my natural mannerisms in both languages rather than using weird tactics to test my skills.

   *This is my limited experience and your case may vary.

   Edit: wording

5. Make sure you practice your chopstick skills just in case they ask.

6. Was interviewed by 4 people, one was a foreign staff who was there to check my English. Started the interview in Japanese, then switched to English halfway through, then ended in Japanese. This was 3-4 years ago.

   – The whole interview was a little over 45 minutes.
   – It was held over Zoom before I came to Japan
   – I was the only one being interviewed
   – It was for a hotel, Japanese-owned but many foreign guests pre-covid. (I don’t work there anymore)

   I guess just follow the general advice for first interviews. Be polite, pleasant, and engaged. Do your homework about the company. Show off what skills you have, and how it applies to the job position. Prepare good questions to ask them about the company, the job, etc.

   As you said, it differs from company to company; some interviewers are turned off by textbook answers (e.g. “I intend to work here forever,” “my weakness is actually a strength” etc), and other interviewers accept it as a formality.

7. In my experience, I have had different interviews (or interviewers) for each language. Let the interviewer pick the language and follow their lead.

   In my experience (IT) it has been common to have the technical questions (non language skills) be evaluated in only (or mostly) one language, with the other language being more general / behavioural questions (where do you see yourself in 5 years etc) but I don’t know if that would apply to other fields. Depending on availability this means you can end up getting interviewed by people with little/no relevance to the day to day role.

8. My trilingual interview was with three members of staff and each member asked me some questions in their respective language one at a time (the other people would throw in comments if they were able to follow the conversation). Basically we talked in all Japanese for some time, then switched to all English and then to my native language, and I guess then we finished up in Japanese again.

   Prior to the interview I’d only communicated with HR via email so it was the usual keigo stuff as well, but especially the first interview was very relaxed as it was with people not that high up on the corporate ladder who don’t care that much about formalities.

9. I had one in mainly Japanese, then they switched to English later for like 5-10 min just to assess my English ability. Communication was done in English up until that point, with a person from HR from that company.

   So it really depends case by case I think. But why don’t you just ask? This is one of those things I usually ask the recruiter so that I can prepare accordingly.

10. Very much case-by-case and depends on the motivations of the company.

    I don’t even look anymore at job ads that say “Native level Japanese, business English” because that translates to “we want a Japanese person but legally can’t say that”.

    You also can’t go by the foreign company or foreign interviewer anymore. Many foreign companies used to be pretty relaxed on the bilingual requirement depending on the job, but over the past 10+ years there has been a shift to hiring local. And by local, I mean again Japanese.

    So no one can really advise you. You might walk in and they really would like an English speaker and hence they take it easy on the Japanese skills. Or, you might have an hour long discussion in Japanese and hear later that you don’t speak Japanese well enough. I’ve seen both happen.

11. I’ve interviewed for a bunch of companies in Japanese.

    Basically, just assume the entire interview will be conducted in Japanese, and be grateful if they speak any English.Otherwise, prepare the same as you would any other interview.

    Prepare your answers for “weaknesses/strengths, 志望動機, 退職理由, industry competitors” etc etc

    ​

    Otherwise I’m not sure what other advice you’re looking for.

    Just google 就活 面接 質問 and read that advice, not reddit

    ​

    edit:btw, you said the industry doesn’t matter, but it certainly does.I’ve interviewed for a bunch of major consulting firms in Japanese “Deloitte, Mckinsey, Accenture, etc) and they will ask really random questions in Japanese.”What’s the latest book you’ve read, sell me it to me. How many golf balls do you think can fit in a bus, why?How many lawson’s do you think are in the Kansai area, why?

    What kind of problems do you foresee our company facing in the next 5-10 years? How do you think we can confront them?”

    etc etc

12. What they will be looking up on you its that you can speak both languages well and have the knowledge for the job in both languages. So make sure you can reply a costumer request in both languages. You pretty much have to be able to explain everything you know about the job you are going to do in both languages.

13. Chances are even if the interview itself is in English, those interviewing you will probably be Japanese and hence not be native or fluent as you think they’d be.

    My advice(s) is to use simple English. Nothing IELTS level. Maybe throwing in fancy words here and there but nothing (too) extravagant.

    Also, good luck!