Hello!
I’m experiencing a lot of anxiety right now so I would appreciate it if you guys could take it easy on me.
I’m in the midst of new graduate job hunting right now and I received my first 内定 from a Japanese company. It’s an office job but, it allows me to use both Japanese and English in the form of interpretation and translation which is something I’ve always wanted to do.
I was really excited to accept the 内定 when they first offered it to me but now I’ve having really horrible anxiety. I don’t know if it’s imposter syndrome or what but I’m just worried that I won’t be able to do the job well.. I passed N2 over a year and a half ago and I’m hoping to pass N1 this upcoming July. This job requires a lot of writing in Japanese and I’m just worried about making a lot of mistakes.
I’d be the first American working at this company and I’m just worried that I won’t live up to their expectations.. I’ve worked part-time here in Japan in customer services positions so I’d like to think I kind of maybe understand how to 空気読む and what not but I’m sure working in an office is completely different.
If anyone who was hired via new graduate job hunting could tell me about their experience I would love to hear! Thank you!
TLDR: Having anxiety about starting first real job ever at a Japanese company working using almost all Japanese.
EDIT: I forgot to mention even though I applied as a new graduate I’m actually graduating next month and they’re going to let me start working as soon as I graduate.
13 comments
The company won’t expect you to be perfect when you start the job, and they’ll be expecting to train you up. Congrats on the offer.
I’ve trained my fair share of fresh grads and have seen many colleagues train fresh grads and by far the biggest thing we look for is a good attitude. Most of them had zero knowledge in the work. Like, I trained an agricultural studies masters grad in full stack programming. Didn’t know what a variable was. Great attitude though so it was fun to train him.
I think you’ll do great. Unless the company has a horrible culture in which case it won’t be your fault.
As someone with over a decade of experience in translation and interpreting, all I can say is: you don’t know how to do it until you do it, but once you do it, then it’s just a matter of doing it again, but a little bit faster and with fewer mistakes next time.
No amount of testing or classroom learning can replace real experience. And you’re lucky to have an opportunity to get that experience fresh out of college. Don’t worry about the last document that you translated; worry about the next one.
Don’t worry, your company has no expectations regarding your performance. If they had, they would have hired an experienced interpreter. They will just expect you to learn your job the way they will be teaching you. Nothing more.
It’s been a horrendously long time since I graduated, but if it’s any consolation even after all that time I still suffer occasional imposter syndrome.
Couple of things I’ve noticed over the years – in general, reliablility and competence combined with the ability to admit to and learn from mistakes will get you a long way, and it’s the cocky arrogant know-it-alls who usually don’t last long. Hopefully you’ll have a reasonably sane, supportive environment (and if it’s not, treat it as a stepping stone to something better).
I can’t offer you any new grad specific advice but i passed N1 six years ago, and sometimes i still feel like i know zero japanese. I still ask my spouse to make phone calls for me when i’m anxious, sometimes i look at a book and say ‘i can’t read this, it’s too hard’. It’s anxiety; that’s how it works. Once you actually start doing the thing it often gets much easier, especially if it’s something you want to do.
I have a similar job. And I often feel like an imposter.
One thing that helps me feel like I’m doing all I can is that I treat each task like a study opportunity, time-permitting.
Instead of just looking up unknown words and moving on to translating, I’ll write them down, check the readings, include the meanings and so on, actual pencil on paper.
Pretty soon the same words keep popping up, especially with jobs for the same department, so I learn them and get faster and more confident.
I hope this helps.
Nothing’s going to go good, let alone great, for a while. That’s why they talk about the May Blues (5月病) after the Golden Week holidays, particularly among new hires.
Keep notes, be quick to apologize for mistakes, and even faster to learn from them, and stick to it.
If possible, establish air superiority in the first week, should all else fail.
1. if you’re new to the company, know this: they have low expectations for you for the first 2 years. Your job is to make mistakes and learn.
2. if you make mistakes (and you will), what the company wants is for you to acknowledge your lacking, apologize and propose a way you’ll better yourself. That’s one of the main points foreigners tend to be oblivious to when working in a Japanese company.
3. about writing in Japanese, chatGPT is a great help for those mails in keigo. I said “help”, not “replacement”. Pay attention to the mails you receive and copy the structure/expressions to sound professional.
4. All in all, pay attention to what others are doing and imitate them.
Good luck!
There are plenty of low-competence workers getting by, if you’re a positive team player then people will like you. This is a country where ‘old retired office grandpa who does nothing’ is a culturally recognised job, the bar is not high.
All you can do is work hard and put your best foot forward. They hired you for a reason. You got this.
It’s that nervous energy of worry that will give you the drive and motivation to succeed. Harness it like a battery to power your studying and work!
I bought a recurve back in a checked suitcase once. As far as I know, there’s no issue…