I’ve been invited to an interview recently with the understanding I am a forienger with beginner japanese. The company is asking for a hand written resume – my (japanese) wife says not to bother because companies that ask for hand written resumes probably operate by strict traditional old methods. She says these style of operations will be unfavorable / un-enjoyable work places for a westerner. I was thinking about going through with it to gain more interview setting practice.
Does anyone have experience providing hand written resumes and are traditionally operated Japanese companies as bad as I read about on reddit? Can anyone share their experiences? そんなの仕事は空調などです
Edit: i decided not to go through with the interview, thanks everyone for the advice, opinions, and experience shared.
26 comments
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I agree with your wife. And what about interview practice? If they want hand-written resumes, they probably also want more traditional Japanese style interviews where you wear a specific job-hunting suit, let them read your resume, and you make lots of big promises with lots of enthusiasm. Then they ask for proof of your current salary to undercut you then to overwork you.
Hand written ones are supposed to be for university students searching for jobs before graduating but many places have stopped asking for hand written CV. Most of the places I applied to as a student would have you write on their hiring sites (?) instead.
But as an adult, hand written CV is just weird. Definitely red flag.
I honestly don’t think interviews with them is gonna be fun, but if you’re desperate for interview practice give it a go I guess. You can always call it quit halfway anyway.
I had a company asking me to take half a day off to come to their office for the final interview early in the morning.
Before the final interview, there was a 2 hours long “test” asking me to write an essay on why I want to join the company. I didn’t let the HR lady finish her explanation and told her I was no longer interested.
This is exactly the kind of company that asks you for hand written resume. They think they are doing you a favor by giving you the immense privilege to work for them. Chances are that they impose overtime and terrible working conditions on their workers because “they should be happy we gave them the opportunity to work for us”.
Handwritten = red flag
TBFH old jiji as an interviewer = red flag
Listen to your wife. What are you hoping to gain from all of his except below minimum wage and zero future prospects?
The further you can get away from a traditional Japanese company the better for your mental health it will be. Believe me.
> The company is asking for a hand written resume
Not a chance.
I would never do this, and I’m from here.
Companies like that are doomed to fail eventually.
Worked for 2 old traditional Japanese companies. Don’t do it. Not worth your time. You won’t be valued.
Unless I was completely desperate for this job, I would ask then if it was really necessary. Especially since they know you have beginner’s Japanese.
Maybe they are just clueless and assume that hand-written resumes are the norm. Perhaps that’s what the interviewer needed to do when they got their job 40 years ago. Some people in Japanese companies tend to think “that’s how I did it, so it must be normal now”.
If they don’t budge, I would look for another place.
A company not accepting a pdf in this day and age would be a big red flag for me.
Agree with the wifey. If a Japanese person says that, then you gotta take that advice.
And here I am thinking that the most traditional form of Japanese company is still asking for the boring Japanese resume template with picture and age.. The nonsensical rules of Japanese company never ceases to amaze me
Hand written resume? I wouldn’t even do that in English or German, let alone in Japanese. Any company asking me to go out of my way to hand-write any part of an application… yeah no. I don’t wanna work there.
Don’t bother. The pay will likely be shite also.
I think your wife is right!
if your japanese wife says it’s a red flag, believe her
Traditional Japanese Companies with beginner Japanese? Goodluck ! Lower your expectation on open minded. Might get bullied by your 20/30 yrs experienced senpai as well because not knowing japanese but want to work in Japan. You’re brave bro!
I will add, it may be a way to just weed out non-natives. Who invited you to interview? Was it through a recruiter?
A handwritten resume is outdated and also not a way to attract a diverse/international workforce.
Listen to your wife.
I work for what you would consider a traditional Japanese IT company (medium-sized). It’s been about a year, but here are a few examples of a lot of red flags I’ve noticed.
* Everyone at the top is related to the president in some way, shape, or form. His son (mid 20s) was promoted to vice-president. I’m not sure what merits he has since he always takes forever to respond to my messages.
* Every morning we have a sort of cultish stand-up where we don’t discuss the projects, but recite the company’s ideals.
* 90% of all of our software is coded in Visual Basic. Anything new or modern is changed to fit within this environment.
* You will get Hou-Ren-Sou beaten into you and every mistake you make, you will be reminded to properly Hou-Ren-Sou. Also, don’t expect the higher ups to Hou-Ren-Sou properly.
* The micromanagement. You will not get your own cubicle. Your desks are all connected in an open space, and people can see what you’re doing for the most part. Your boss will come around to give you things to do (sometimes unrelated to your job position) just for the sake of “learning/having something to do/testing your hou-ren-sou skills.”
* The paradoxical environment. Despite being told to communicate and how important it is to do so, a lot of Japanese communication is done via “reading the air.” Expect to know how to do something without explicitly being told how to do it.
* A guy took his own life and no one spoke his name ever again. There was no funeral information. Even when the news came out, everyone continued working without any emotion. It was like he never even existed at that company.
There are so much more, but these are just some of the red flags that come to mind when I think “traditional Japanese company.” Like everyone else said, definitely look elsewhere.
EDIT: Forgot to add that I didn’t have to turn in a handwritten resume, but my opinion still stands on these traditional companies.
These types of companies are un-enjoyable for every rational human being who’s not willing to be a underpaid 社畜.
Why would anybody want you to handwrite kanji in the first place? That just seems unnecessary in general. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy writing it as a hobby but it’s not exactly a requirement if you can type and actually select the correct kanji when it pops up on the computer. This just reminds me of when I took the JLPT the other day and the guy was telling me I can’t use a sharpener… I was like what if I need to sharpen the pencil? The guy was just like NO, DAME DESU. Seriously? Don’t use a pen, bring a pencil but DON’T USE A SHARPENER. Wtf man.
RUN AWAY.
RUN FAR FAR AWAY.
I am a recruiter with 12 years experience with recruitment in Japan.
This is a major major red flag and you need to drop this right now.
This company will be nothing but a miserable experience.
As a general rule, just listen to your wife.
Most traditional jp companies have this attitude that the applicant have to absolutely love their company when applying to them as if it’s some world savior or something and you’re just a mere insect who were given the wonderful opportunity to be reborn as forgiven being in their benevolent company.
Avoid like the plague. Even those who don’t do written resumes are mostly shit.
Or better, avoid any Japanese company in general and apply only to gaishikei companies, if you don’t want to start hating living in Japan altogether.
Mine is an experience as a new grad hire:
The first company I joined required a hand written resume. I also had to complete a “common sense” test along with one to test my skills. I laughably failed the common sense one, but I passed the skill test.
I got in trouble for leaving on time every day, not wanting to serve clients tea just because I was one of the few women in the company, not dying my hair back to its original color, wearing headphones while working, etc.
When I secured a new job a year later, they made me rewrite my 退職届け because the first one I submitted wasn’t hand written, and they told me it wasn’t up to me to decide my final date.
They also had a history of bullying new grads for quitting (one quit from my branch, and three quit from the other), so I lied that I had to move back home to get married. They accepted it right away and congratulated me.
I skipped out of that shit hole.
Bottom line is, don’t fucking do it.