TLDR: Miscommunication with future employer because I’m a バカ外人 and not very literate in Japanese. I had the career center help me write a response in Japanese. They wrote it in a way that was apparently not proper (emails in Japanese in the comments). Was only told months later by a friend that the email could be considered rude and that I messed up. Trying to figure out how to fix the impression and how to handle asking for more employment/contract information.
All interviews were in English, but essentially all email communication is in Japanese. Questions I have asked in emails in English have been ignored (everyone speaks English). I asked about if they’d support Japanese lessons for me (they support English lessons for their employees) and they said no.
Was given an offer. Career center told me that “you can ask to take time to think about it, that’s the response they will expect” and I followed their advice, I trusted that they knew what they were doing. Career center had done me dirty when writing that response and to say I’m livid would be an understatement. The career center told me I’d probably sign documents in early October so I’ve been waiting. To be clear, I haven’t received any paperwork other than the email I had where the offer was accepted. I showed all of the emails in Japanese to that friend and they said “this is a very バカ外人 mistake, and was written to allow for borderline rude implications that you clearly didn’t intend to make”. Now I’m second-guessing absolutely everything that career center ever told me. I’ll never consult with them again.
Finding all of this out almost two months late doesn’t help my case. Still, I am desperate for advice.
1. When is it appropriate to message them to ask about paperwork and the hiring timeline? (Should I be waiting until October to message them again, per career center’s guidance?)
2. What is the best way to address this miscommunication?
I am seeking wiser perspectives. Hopefully perspective will help me clear my head and address this appropriately.
EDIT: Trimmed some of the fat in the post. Will also say that my response to their follow-up email was to immediately accept the job and that email of mine was acknowledged. No other documents such as a naitei have been received.
EDIT 2: Trimmed again. Check comments for additional context.
16 comments
IME people working at university career centers, though they mean well, often have very little to no practical experience looking for jobs themselves.
This is the Internet. If you want help you gotta learn to write shorter stories.
It’s so hard to help you because your post is too long. Can you simplify or even show examples of the emails or whatever stuff you’re confused about?
You haven’t even accepted the offer yet? I would email the HR contact person at the company (whomever you have been dealing with), tell them you accept the job offer, and ask what the next steps are…
What’s the big secret bro show us what they wrote so we can see it ourselves
Man, please write something a bit more concise…..
You have gone through shinsotsu so you should expect to get naitei or the official offer on October.
As you should know it is a very rigid process so anything you do won’t change the schedule.
Honestly I was reading the story but I got lost seems like well written but I dont understand what is going on.
Just to confirm, did you get a naitei yet? Or what exactly are the documentations that you have received?
Companies all have different processes and so comparing with your friends timeline wouldn’t be of help
I would be second guessing if I want to go work at a fully Japanese company if you guys can’t even work out the offer process at all
TL DR
I would just ask in English if I got the interview in English.
Not sure you can blame a free career service when you are relying on others to do everything for you in regards to Japanese.. you make your own choices.
I have no help to give, but them paying for English lessons for Japanese staff and no Japanese language lessons for you would make me really annoyed. Are you really sure you want to work with this company? You haven’t even started yet and it’s a headache.
Hey just quit
I think you misunderstood what naitei means. If they give you an offer and you accept it then that is a naitei. At that point your position at the firm is secure and you will be expected to move forward with the actual signing of paperwork. I think your boss was confused because you said you’d accept their naitei but still wanted time to think. That’s like saying I accept your job offer but also I don’t. Your mistake was that you didn’t ask for the information you needed to make a decision *before* you accept their naitei.
Don’t they know you can’t speak Japanese? Just write the email In your level of japanese. That way it’s less confusing for you and probably them as well.