Frustrated with Job Hunt

22 comments

1. It’s almost always an issue of language ability.

   From the context of your post, I’d be willing to wager that your Japanese ability isn’t nearly as good as you think it is.

   Companies aren’t interested in being schools for lacking employees. You need to convince them that you’re a useful tool that can be used shortly after hiring.

2. What is “business level Japanese” to you? Can you effortlessly do a whole job interview in Japanese without needing the interviewer to slow down or explain words to you?

   If so you are ready to apply to normal mid-career jobs that Japanese people apply to. Look for ones with TOEIC requirements, it’s obviously one of your best strengths compared to the typical Japanese applicant, and will make you stand out. They will also never ask about JLPT since none of them will have ever heard about it.

   If your Japanese is not actually that good, then you’re not actually at business level yet, and should either continue studying or be more realistic about your job prospects.

3. I would try the JLPT. If you have business Japanese, you should be able to pass N2 or N1 with ease. At the very least, this could help with getting interviews.

4. Take the Business Japanese Proficiency Test – you can do that any day, and slap your score on your CV.

   I have the highest level (J1+) and that has helped me get through to companies at the resume level. It’s quite hard however!

5. Hey OP, don’t fret too much. Job hunting is just a difficult process in general. I’m currently going through it myself actually.

   Could you give a bit more context? How many places have you applied to, and for how long? Are you getting rejected at the resume stage, or interview stage?

   If you are not even getting interview invitations, then there is definitely something wrong with your CV. There are a lot of free recruitment agencies you can contact and they will take a look at your stuff and help improve it.

   If you are failing after the interview it may be a general lack of Japanese ability as others have said.

   At the end of the day though, job hunting is a fickle and almost seemingly random process. I have had interviews where I answer all the questions thoroughly and fluently in Japanese, shown my knowledge of the industry I work in and given specific examples of what I would do to improve the products or games the company I’m interviewing with make. Even then a few days later I get rejection emails due to “Lack of experience” or “Lack of skill”

   But I don’t take these kind of responses to heart. A lot of the time the real reason is they just found a better candidate, or a candidate with similar skill but asking for less salary. You will rarely know the true, detailed reason a company turns you down. The important part is not to take it to heart and try all the harder for the next company.

6. Is your job terrible other than not being given dev work?

   If I get the timeline right, is this your first job out of university? And you’ve been there 6 months? Why not think of it as a free way to polish your business Japanese while you work on side projects that beef up your resume and keep you relevant?

7. if you are willing to learn mobile development (to be specific, Flutter) hit me up

   edit: and willing to move to tokyo haha (seems like you are based in osaka)

8. If you’re at business level, take a jlpt test, N1 or N2, then you might get a look in.

9. > I do not have a JLPT certification
   >
   > do not understand what else can I do to improve my CV

   Oh but you clearly do have a reason. There’s no question as to WHY you can’t find a job.

10. How are you looking for a job? Do you use job hunting agencies? Agencies will pay premium if they get their hands on you.

11. You consistently talk about being given a chance. It’s hard to say this, but companies don’t want this – they want an experienced professional who will be able to join and contribute quickly.

    Also, with your age and presumably years of work experience, companies likely assume you are exaggerating.

    Finally, self assessed business level Japanese doesn’t mean you have business level Japanese, nor that you can do business in Japan successfully (these are two different things btw).

12. We’re looking, no Japanese required but we need a Linux base and the C++ requirements are quite high. We can also use Python developers but again, you’ll need to be comfortable with Linux.

13. How long have you been job hunting? I was in a similar position as you a couple months ago, and it took me about 3 months to get a decent offer that I was willing to accept.

    Anyway, brush up your CV and 履歴書・職務経歴書. Be as specific as you can regarding your tech skills. What kind of projects have you been working? How long did it take to complete them? What tech did you use? Did you work in a team or just by yourself? Use concrete numbers and detailed descriptions when you write about your tech skills and experience. You can put this into the 職務経歴書 even though these skills would be something that you learned outside of your work, that’s what a Japanese recruiter recommended me to do.

    Also, make a portfolio website, tidy up your GitHub page and get TOEIC and BJT/JLPT certs.

    Good luck! I’m sure you’ll find a decent job soon enough when you keep putting in the effort.

14. Bro I feel you.

    I am in same boat as you. At my current job I have been doing mundane job even though I have 2 years of experience in Software Development.

    I have interviewed with Recruiters but they offered me same job as my current one. Not worth it.

    I changed current goals to improve my skills. Here is list what I aiming for.
    1). Get JLPT & TOEIC certification.
    2). Get TensorFlow Certification from google.
    3). Improving CV and networking on Linkedin.
    4). And build more personal projects.

    Be strong brother.
    We can make it.

15. I have a few concern reading your first paragraph.

    ​

    > I learnt business level Japanese within 6 months

    You will have to prove this to the employers. With a certificate or something if you gonna use this as your strong point, else anyone can say this.

    ​

    > I developed projects on technologies that I had never worked before working completely alone without a team

    I used to throw this at interviewers as well, but they rejected me on the basis that they prefer a team player than someone who excels at working alone.

    ​

    > I can understand and speak decent Japanese but I do not have a JLPT certification. I do not understand what else can I do to improve my CV.

    How about getting a JLPT certification? That will improve your CV.

16. How able are you to read and write in Japanese? Can you handle all of your day-to-day work email in Japanese? That’s going to be what they are looking for.

17. One other thing to think about is salary expectations. Currently I been job hunting loosely but looking and just no positions really in the range I want. Even if you are a dev the dev pay in Japan is not so great and if you are looking at Japanese companies many still take age into account. 23 is quite young so low on the pay bands. especially if you are going for over junior dev roles.

18. Have you tried applying in IT startup companies? They don’t usually require Japanese. But it’s kinda difficult if you don’t have enough software development experience. Also, maybe you can try companies like Rakuten or Amazon. Or try checking the tokyodev website for job openings that may suit you.

19. How are you answering the interview questions? I recommend you buy some Japanese interview books and answer in the expected way for the common ones (self intro, strength and weaknesses).
    Also based on your age you have taken the SPI and personality tests? Those scores could also be a reason. Would be good to practice more.
    As a general rule, when answering interviews, focus and direct your answers to what you can bring to the company. Stay away from answers that says how the company can help you develop, etc.

20. Instead of changing to a new company where you will be on probation period for 3-6 months while using technologies that you have no experience with and in a different language, you should stay in your company and try to get projects related to whatever you are interested in.

21. also adding that if you graduated college at 22 and are looking for a new job at 23, that’s a red flag even at foreign companies. You better have a damn polished answer on why your leaving your current job after less than a year.

22. If it helps, I was told by a company that the reason they rejected me was because I don’t have permanent residency 🤷‍♀️