I hope that weird title makes sense?
I understand there is a hiring season for university graduates however I wondered for mid-career people like me is there generally a good time to look for work?
I’m in international sales and hate my company with a burning passion and fury. I’m going to update all my job searching stuff and try to find something but I just wondered regarding timing if there’s generally a better time to do so?
サンキュー！
16 comments
If you are not a new grad, there is no good or bad time. If you are specialized in an area with experience, you can find a job anytime.
If you are in sales, most roles will require high fluency in Japanese as the customers are mostly Japanese.
I think being on a passive hunt is the way to go nowadays.
Time it so that you can receive a big bonus. For example, if you get a big bonus in August, time it so that you can tell the company you’re quitting as soon as you receive the money.
This is the worst possible time. Everyone is basically checked out until mid-January. A lot of hiring cycles start in January/February though so you won’t have to wait too long.
I noticed some (not all) company bonus are based on the calendar year. This means January hires are better off than December. Also competition seemed less on Oct-Nov-Dec.
On the flip side later hires have higher leaves due to companies not adapting the leave on your hire date but based on calendar year. So weigh on what you want leave or bonus 🙂
My expierience is different to the other replies here, Japanese companies I have worked at in the IT field hire all year round and are desperate for sales folks and engineers. The huge amount of recruitment companies advertising all year round should be an indicator.
If you’re staying in the same industry with experience in the job itself, I think you can be looking year round.
For new grads, the other time of year for mass hirings is August; the ones that got a job in April finish their probation period around July, and if they decide it’s not for them, they can quit and look for a new job instead
For mid carrier moves now is always a good time. Hit up places like hello work and see if anything strikes your fancy. LinkedIn gives me a huge list of job openings here in Japan in my field every week.
Anecdotally I have noticed people tend to quit or move jobs around major holidays here in Japan (usually right after receiving a bonus) so there may be more openings around then. No hard numbers, just something I noticed with people around me. Just watch out for places with a high turnover rate.
We hire people year round, though for a lot of places April 1 start dates are important due to budget concerns
I don’t think there is any particular time as I get offers in LinkedIn all the time throughout the year but times when their budget for that year gets approved or they have remaining budget from the previous year seems to be the best time, usually around July-August and December-February. Sign up with some job searching services where they assign you an agent and the agent can bring in a lot of offers. Best of luck for your job hunting and hope you can go to a better company.
For mid-career in Japan, I don’t think there is such a best time thing. There are both international and domestic companies that don’t follow the traditional fiscal year calendar, and most of them should have a budget cycle throughout the year if they have good recruitment practices, workforce planning structure etc. If I were you, I’d try to contact some recruiters to get to know which industries or companies are likely to hire in the near future and consider leaving after getting your bonus.
If you’re a gaijin it won’t make a difference.
The best time was yesterday, you next best choice is today
I’d recommend waiting to start applying after January 3. Cause right now is the worst time since as another member said most have essentially checked out for the holidays. You could use this time to update your resume and such and then start applying after then.
Most gangsta move I made is quit just before receiving bonus, mentally could not handle staying another month. If you have the patience to endure a little bit , maybe it’s worth waiting for the bonus or make sure you are eligible for a retirement allowance
April and October are the typical months for people joining a company, so I would like Jan-Feb and July-Aug are the best time in starting job hunting