I’m a graphic design major, next year I’ll be a 4th year and need to start job hunting. I speak good Japanese, but I also heard on how hard it is to find a job in Japan.
I’m about to begin Job hunting next month and am v anxious lol.
How long does it take to find a job? I heard that linked in isn’t really useful but should I make it just in case??
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There are new grad recruiting websites, which should probably be your first place to look. Regarding how long it takes, it depends on how quickly you get snapped up. All the companies have different deadlines for when they stop accepting resumes so look around for companies you’re interested in. I think I started sending resumes and ES in February a year before my graduation and started getting offers in June.
Linkedin is possible for domestic newgrads but it’s not where the companies in Japan generally go to for new grad recruitment. Couldn’t hurt to have a look though.
Good luck!
I was in yours shoes decades ago (univ student going through fresh grad recruitment), and although I had my share of criticism of the system, it’s still a fair system and if you know how to manipulate it you’re good to go.
My general advice,
– Use your foreigner trait at your advantage. Fully. You’re a bilingual at minimum, this is huge. How many Japanese students around you can speak English barely? Show these traits on your application form and in interviews. You’re not Japanese, stop trying to be like them. Tell how your diverse background could add values to the firm you’re applying. Impress the interviewer with you Japanese and English ability. Company loves those, diversity & inclusion is the rage these days.
– Your major unfortunately doesn’t really matter much here, unless you’re aiming for specialist job. As long you have a decent communication ability and looks like a good person, they’ll hire you. That say if you’re aiming to be a designer, I’m sorry it’s not my field.
– Check your univ career center, company sends job description (募集要項) to their employee’s almameter, so you can see what kind of companies your senpai went. And they’re keen to hire the same graduates.
– Some univ have recommendation system (for STEM grads), this is way easier than if you apply directly to companies. You can bypass a lot of screening (like SPI test, ugh…). But the catch is if you get naitei you can’t rescind them. Make sure it’s a company you really want to enter if you go this route.
– There are some career forum aim exclusively to foreign students. This is a good start since you know that the company that has a booth there at least keen to hire foreigners.
I could give you more specific advice if you have a more specific question. Good luck, I’ve been there, it’s a tough road but once you pass through it, your final year will be way more enjoyable.
Look up the Boston Career Forum–scroll down, they also have a version in tokyo (december?).
i’m a 4th year student and found a job a few months ago! i heard that linkedin is more useful if you’re looking for non-japanese companies. i used mynavi because my uni recommended it from the beginning.
just attend setsumeikai as much as you can, and if you feel like they’re a good company obviously you should apply. most likely you’d fail many times (which is completely fine, i did lol) but don’t think about it too much because everyone does fail so just keep looking until you find one. my other advice would be don’t procrastinate because i did and some companies just stopped hiring before summer break.
If you’re in a creative field, make sure you have a portfolio! One of my schoolmates who attended a creative undergrad didn’t keep one and he had a really rough time. A lot of companies will ask for a portfolio in the early stages and it will benefit you a lot if you have one. Personally I’m an IT grad and I still kept a Github with my exercise projects and from what I’ve been told it really impressed the interviewers. Most people don’t really bother these days.
+1 to most of what u/izayoi said, diversity is a big thing these days. Don’t bother applying to many of the small, old-fashioned Japanese companies. In my experience, they tend to **claim** that they want international talent, but they require you to take all of the testing Japanese people take, and you will be expected to compete with them directly in Kokugo and Japanese maths. In essence, they want someone who is a whole Japanese person in addition to having international skills, for the same pay. Do not recommend. The company that hired me was a big international one and was specifically looking for diverse staff.
Do not be afraid or discouraged if you get turned down a lot. It’s rough for us expats, even for a Japanese person it is completely normal to rack up a dozen or more rejections before they finally get in.