2023.5.24
Introduction of job offers【２】
We not only introduce jobs at Japanese companies to bilingual foreigners who want to work in Japan, but also support them until they receive a job offer.
Find jobs in Japan that you can apply for from abroad.
The following support is available free of charge
① Job referrals
② Preparation of application documents
③ Appealing the candidate to the company
④ Japanese language lessons (interview preparation)
⑤ Visa support
⑥ Assistance with travel expenses to Japan
⑦ Provide housing
⑧ Lessons on business manners and culture
In this article, we will distribute information for bilingual foreigners who want to work in Japan, as well as measures and trends seen in successful cases.
If you are interested in working in Japan, please contact us here.
Introduction of job offers
Here is information about the person who received the job offer.
We cannot disclose all of it to protect his/her personal information, but let’s take a look at trends and countermeasures.
Name: Ms. B
Age: Early 20s
Occupation: IT engineer
Years of experience: 7 to 9 years
Japanese level: Passed N1
Ms. B has studied abroad at a one of the university in Japan for 4 years and has passed JLPT N1.
Even those who are currently living and working in Japan have only N2 level of Japanese or lower and cannot be said to be fluent honestly, but Ms. B has obtained N1 while studying at school.
If you want to work in Japan for sure, Japanese language skills are more essential than skills and experience.
Even if you have the skills, if you do not have the Japanese language skills to convey those skills, they will not be understood.
Trends and countermeasures based on the success of the job offer
We will provide you with detailed information about the candidate’s personality, skills and experience, as well as his/her Japanese language level and other abilities to be hired.
① About age
Ms. B, who received the job offer this time, is in his early 20s.
Although she is in her early 20’s, she is very firm in her responses, etc.
What is the age of the target applicants that the company is looking for?
When the age of the candidate is in his/her early 20s, some companies will hire a candidate in his/her early 20s and some will not.
In the case of candidates in their early 20s, some companies will reject them because they are considered inexperienced, while others will hire them because they are still young and can gain experience in the future, and they are willing to hire and train them.
Japanese companies have a culture of hiring young people and nurturing them for 5 to 10 years, so even if they have no skills, if they are still young, their youth is a valuable.
Of course, there are companies that place more importance on skills than youth, so it is a good idea to check the company’s web page to see if the emphasis is on skills or if you will be hired even if you are young.
② Skills / years of experience
Ms. B has 7 to 9 years of experience, so he is an experienced in the IT industry.
In a development position, she has of course experienced important positions such as supporting the team as a leader, participating in meetings with clients together with the project manager to define requirements, and so on.
Although she has no previous work experience using Japanese, she has passed N1 and can speak business level Japanese.
Having the JLPT does not necessarily mean that you need to have work experience using Japanese.
Who is the target that the company is looking for?
As for targets, they tend to hire people who have more than 3 years of experience in development and have experience in code review for teams as a leader or in testing.
They also target personnel who have been involved in upstream processes such as recruitment definition and UI/UX design as well as downstream processes such as coding and testing.
However, since there is a shortage of IT personnel in Japan, applicants need to have at least one year of experience.
The shorter the years of experience, the higher Japanese language skills are required. If you have one year of experience, JLPT N2 or higher is desirable.
③ Japanese language level
Ms. B has passed N1, so she has business-level Japanese language skills.
Having studied abroad for four years, she is able to read newspapers and other texts that contain difficult kanji characters, as well as engage in daily conversation.
Although her opportunities to use Japanese have decreased considerably since returning from her study abroad, she still maintains a high level of Japanese language proficiency through self-study.
I felt that the company appreciated her continuous study and effort.
What is the target Japanese language proficiency required by the company?
Level 2 or higher is required for either the JLPT or the NAT. Of course, N3 or lower is also acceptable as long as your conversational skills are at the N2 level.
The JLPT is only one of the indicators, and even if you pass N1, you will be rejected if your conversational skills are not good enough.
On the other hand, there are many people with only N5 who have been hired and are currently working in Japan.
Japanese language is said to be the most difficult language in the world because it has three types of styles such as kanji, hiragana, and katakana.
However you will be required to have opportunities to read kanji and to attend meetings and have the listening ability to understand conversations between Japanese people if you want to work in Japan, so anyway, you should speak a lot of Japanese and keep your conversational ability at N2 level or higher at least.
As long as you can converse well, you can actually get a job offer.
You can study Japanese that is not used on the JLPT or in interviews, and that you will never learn at school or in textbooks, but that Japanese people use every day.
④ Character / Personality
Ms. B is still in his early 20s, so she is energetic, bright, and makes a great first impression.
She has also lived in Japan for four years and has passed the N1 test, so she can speak with confidence.
When you speak with confidence, your facial expression becomes brighter, your tone of voice is higher, and you speak in a way that is easy for others to understand.
When you speak, try to speak with confidence.
What is the personality of the target person that the company wants to hire?
We have a very high hiring rate for people who make a good first impression.
*A good first impression is someone who can smile moderately, speak clearly, and politely.
It is important to make the interviewer think, “I would like to work with him/her.
To achieve this, you should always be conscious of how you interact with people with a smile and speak cheerfully and clearly on a regular basis.
It is difficult to smile and speak only during interviews, so make it a habit to do so on a regular basis.
⑤ Willingness to Change Jobs / Actions
Ms. B had a strong desire to work for a Japanese company, and I believe that this desire was conveyed to the interviewers, which is why she received the job offer.
Of course, her desire was also conveyed to the agent, so the agent was able to convey her desire to work for a Japanese company to the interviewer.
Reasons for wanting to work in Japan vary from person to person, but the employment rate is high for those who are changing jobs for positive reasons, such as learning Japanese culture and Japanese technology.
Please be aware that if your real reason for changing jobs has nothing to do with work (e.g., wanting to eat Japanese food every day, watching anime or manga every day, wanting to visit Mt. Fuji), your motivation for changing jobs will be weak and the interviewer will sense this and reject your application.
What kind of people do companies want to hire?
The person must be able to plan and act on his or her own, and not just wait for instructions.
For example, when you are asked to lend your lighter to smoke, you not only give him the lighter, but also an ashtray and gum.
By anticipating what the other person wants and doing what he or she wants in advance, you can make him or her think, “This person is good at his or her job.
Always think about what you can do and what you need to do, and act in advance, rather than just waiting for your boss to give you instructions.
What did we do to get the offer?
◆Interview Preparation
She was busy at work and started a Japanese lesson a couple of minutes late.
I understood that she was late because she was practicing in her time while she was working.
However, regardless of the circumstances, I told her that if she was going to be late, she should contact me in advance to let us know that she would be a little late.
In Japan, if you are late even by one minute, you are considered late.
Trains and buses are always on time, and if they are even one minute late, you can get a delay certificate from the station clerk.
In Japan, there is a word “Hourensou（報連相）” which means to report（報告）, communicate（連絡）, and discussion（相談） with others.
If you are going to be even slightly late for an interview, be sure to notify the company.
◆Japanese lesson
The level of Japanese was very high, but the way she communicated needed to be improved.
She only conveyed conclusions in response to questions, and there were no concrete examples of why she thought so or why she did so.
For example, when asked why she wanted to work in Japan, she only answered, “Because I like Japan.
So, we practiced to give clear reasons why she likes Japan and concrete examples.
Having JLPT N1 is not enough, the most important thing is the ability to convey what you want to say to others in an easy-to-understand manner.
If you want to learn how to speak and communicate in a way that is easy for Japanese people to understand, read this article.
How to find a job in Japan from overseas
If you want to work in Japan, please contact us first.
We are the only partner with companies that actively accept applications from overseas residents, so we have over 700 job openings throughout Japan.
We not only introduce you to jobs, but also provide extensive support until you receive a job offer, so you can come to Japan with peace of mind, even if it is your first time working in Japan.
Our experienced career advisors will assist you from your arrival in Japan to your first day at work.
