When to start applying?

Hello everyone,

I am looking to make the jump from English teaching to other work when the school year ends in March. I am interested in either trying recruiting, or general office/clerical work at a company. I am young and not super experienced so I believe these would be best for me to begin learning some more marketable skills and develop myself.

I am not sure when to apply for such jobs, however. According to the career advisor I spoke with, December or January is fine for a late March start. According to my friends (who are employed in a mix of fields), I should start as soon as possible. Searching the sub yields mixed answers. I am registered with Hellowork to see if they can offer anything, and using a few other sites such as My Navi and Rikunavi to look around for “entry level”, “inexperienced OK”, and “general office work” types of jobs. These services make it seem as though the hiring process doesn’t take so long that I would have to apply this early, however. In fact, it seems like these jobs are usually hiring year-round anyway. The recruiting jobs all seem quite straightforward too. My advisor also told me that since 3 years have not yet passed since I graduated Uni I am still able to apply as a new graduate as well.

For the record, I have N2, some office experience in my home country, and a not-so-useful degree (as it pertains to working in Japan, anyway).

If anyone has made a similar career change, I’d love to hear how it played out for you and what your advice is. Thank you!

Edit: forgot to mention that I’m planning on having an operation during the winter break, and would like to start working after that at the absolute earliest.