Hey! I’ve been studying abroad for uni here in Japan and is in my senior year atm studying business management, I want to stay and work in Japan after I graduate but I’m hitting obstacles after obstacles. I tried to apply to Japanese companies on websites like マイナビ, リクナビ, I’ve also explored options that specifically targets foreign applicants, even registering for their consultant’s service to recommend me job openings and helping me with interviews etc., but either the companies straight up ghost me or they interview me once and ask me all the basics and reject me straight up despite my best efforts. I don’t think that my educational or language background is causing the issue, I can speak basically fluent Japanese and scored almost perfect marks on JLPT N1 just last year, but companies just doesn’t seem to be interested no matter how much energy and emphasis I try to put in to how much I want to work in Japan and specifically for the company. I feel like I’m running out of time and ideas and I feel desperate.
14 comments
Your university here should have an entire department dedicated to helping students find jobs. They run workshops and teach sessions on interview skills, the application process, etc. They should be your first stop!
Here’s my two cent:
– Talk to your university career division, they’ll help you.
– N1 certificate isn’t quite enough to strengthen your background, you need another certificate, i believe you can do high score on TOEIC(Japanese recruiter really like this)
– Discuss your 自己分析/志望動機 with your advisor or someone that you can talk in your university.
I believe it’s really stressful being in senior year and didn’t have any job offer yet, but you still have time until April/graduation, wish you the best of luck!
Did you have 就職活動 sessions at university? It seems to be pretty heavily pushed from like 3rd year onwards, I thought. The window is closing (closed?) for 2024 new graduate jobs, is that what you’re applying for or for general jobs?
Everyone struggles, and this is an especially awful job market… not much to say except keep at it. Since you’re bilingual, have you been to any of the Career Forums? If not you can at least reference the list of participating companies at the latest one and maybe apply to them: https://careerforum.net/en/event/osk/companylist_349/
If you have the time and are desperate just go down the list and fire off an application to them all.
Any particular industry you’re interested in?
Have you tried LinkedIn? Your profile might be more interesting for 外資系 and the best way to reach them is through LinkedIn.
But as others have said it’s a tough market right now. I really struggled finding a job out of university and it drove me nuts. (Totally different situation though as I was in Europe, but I empathize with your situation.)
are you due to graduate in april?
you might have missed the 就活 window jan to may (start on december, get offer in may) and I would assume HR is now busy conducting training for this year’s april cohort, hence companies not reviewing your application
while some companies do year round hiring, from observing my circle of uni friends SMEs and startups hire the most under this
Are you from the top public uni? Or waseda/keio?
I was wondering if you are graduatng this March as many of Japanese universities ask undergraduate students to spend(在学) 4 academic yearswithout leave of absence(休学).
If you are in fact graduating in March, I highly recommend that you talk to one of career support people at your uni to weigh things carefully. Going 特定活動 after graduation is on of the options, but once you graduate you would not be able to apply to some companies via 新卒 intake.
Are you getting to the interview phase? If so, you are probably answering the questions wrong. Try some Japanese guide books. For common questions, don’t answer honestly, answer correctly. Same thing with entry sheets if that’s the bottleneck
Hi, I was in basically the exact same position as you (N1, graduated from four year uni here w humanities-type degree, trilingual) and it took me over half a year to land something decent so I guess my best advice is to just keep trying. Being a foreigner is definitely a disadvantage and it feels super discouraging at times so I totally get how you feel.
I found my current job on Indeed so maybe take a look there? If you’re not already I’d also focus specifically on shinsotsu application postings. I wasted time applying for a lot of non-shinsotsu postings that allowed people inexperienced in the industry but required English/other linguistic skills thinking I’d stand a chance but no dice.
Good luck!
Apply to 100 jobs and get 1~3 offers
Try a recruitment company.
Japanese main: Doda, uhhh forgot the rest
English main: Robert Walters, Michael page, Robert half
Even Japanese people apply to about 30 companies, so you have to do a number of interviews anyway.
It may be difficult in one year. However, English is your strength, so if you work hard, I am sure you will get a job offer.