I just graduated university and due to some unfortunate circumstances, I’m back to job hunting.
However, I was also thinking of taking this as an opportunity to take a year off to study and hopefully get my foot in the door as a entry-lev dev (UX, Frontend, etc.). My major in BA has nothing to do with it but I feel this is something that excites me much more and I want to make a career out of it.
The thing is, I know how Japan’s job hunting goes and I don’t know if this is so good in terms of my status as a Shinsotsu (taking a year off). I know gaishi and some startups hire all year round and with less regards to shinsotsu status so I thought maybe theres not much to worry about.
Is this a bad idea? I know I might not be able to find a job with just a year but I feel thats an uncertainty for any career change. I just don’t know if that change is okay right after graduation, especially in Japan.
6 comments
Depends. If you’re switching to the engineer route, then I don’t think it matters. The tech industry is pretty lax on whether you’re fresh grad or not, and gaishis specially don’t give a fuck about it. All that matters is your GitHub, motivation and what you can do.
But if you’re looking into a career at an old-school Japanese company, where you’ll probably spending years of routine work, getting borderline harassed by dudes stuck in Showa era… then sure, being fresh grad is everything.
You can speak English, and the tech industry has a higher pay overall. Go for it.
I dunno where you got your information, but most gaishikeis definitely participate in the shinsotsu program like any other company. I’m at a big gaishikei and shinsotsu is the only way we hire entry level staff. All our mid-career hires are experienced.
Both JP and gaishi companies do all year round mid-career hiring these days but you’ll be competing as somebody with zero work experience and going up against highly qualified mid-career applicants. The odds of you getting into a good company will be extremely low.
That said it sounds like you don’t have much choice either way so good luck.
Gaishikei definitely participate in shinsotsu hiring, but junior positions are often available regardless (well, maybe not in this current economic climate).
Tech in general cares a lot less about the traditional processes. I got hired at my first job as mid-career with nothing but intern experience on my resume.
FWIW the vast majority of companies in Japan, Japanese or foreign, conduct their entry level/shinsotsu hiring agnostic to whatever you studied in university. I joined a huge technology company after studying politics and sociology and now I’m working as an engineer. A lot of my colleagues also studied humanities/soft sciences or other unrelated scientific fields before joining – the company expects you to learn the ropes through OJT rather than through whatever you studied at school. So I don’t think you have to think of it as “changing your career” so much as starting whatever career you want.
(WRT to applying shinsotsu even if you take a year off, see my other reply.)
If you just graduated, you already lost your shinsotsu card. There is no reason to start worrying about it now.
According to the [Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare](https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/houdou/2r9852000000wgq1-img/2r9852000000wgtr.pdf), the Shinsotsu ‘card’ is up to three years after your graduation. You can always apply as a ‘New Grad’ during this period. However, you need to note that not every office applies this, and you might need some solid justification in answering questions like ‘what did you do during your gap year?’
If you are considering joining BootCamps and turnover to entry-level dev, try accepting professional requests through websites such as CrowdWorks. This can be a plus when you finally decide to join a company and do office work.