About
Jobs
Job Hunting In Japan
Searching jobs in Japan is widely known as “Job Hunting” and is a well organized process. Usually it starts around January-March, a year before graduation (both Undergrad & Grad School) and most students ensure jobs 3 to 6 months before their graduation. Companies provide information through job fairs/seminars or through recruitment websites. Students can apply during those seminars/ at university/ at company website/ at recruitment website.
CURRICULUM Vitae (Rirekisho)
CV in Japan is unique. Most of the companies in Japan, still ask for hand written CV (in Japanese). Students need to write their basic information along with few short essays. Essay topics varies from company to company but common questions are: #Activities during university life, #Strong/favorite subjects and future plan, #An episode/ story, from which applicant has learnt some good lessons, #Strengths and weaknesses of the candidate. Some universities or companies have their own format for CV but in general the format is same all over Japan. CV can be bought at convenience stores, stationary stores and at university stores. One page CV is used for part-time jobs and two pages CV is used for full-time job application. Recently online submission of CV is getting popular too.
Interview
Most of the Japanese companies ask for 3 to 5 interviews. Candidates need to pass each level to go for the next and upon passing the final interview they receives the job offer (“Naite” in Japanese) . Candidates may need to face group interview (3 to 5 candidates at a time) during first or second level and then one or multiple individual interviews may occur in the process. Final interviews may take 30 to 45 minutes. Some popular questions from interviews: #Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?, #Why you have selected this company?, #What can you give to this company?, #What kind of extracurricular activities you did during university life?, # What kind of part-time job(s) you did during university life?.
SYNTHETIC PERSONAL INVENTORY ( SPI TEST)
SPI test is one of the most common test candidates need to sit for during the application process. Adding SPI test among the selection process varies for company to company. This test is usually consist of Japanese Literature, Math and Personality test. Some companies may add English. 65% of the companies (companies which ask for SPI) use test centers for SPI. Candidates need to visit the test centers to sit for the test (around 65 minutes, 35 for skill, 30 for personality). Some companies arrange paper test at their own facility (around 15% companies, takes around 100 minutes, 70 for skill, 30 for personality). Some companies ask for simple online SPI test (around 15% companies). Really few companies (around 1%) arrange computer based SPI at their own facility.
For achieving a better score in SPI tests it is better to practice from practice test books. There are also books available with complete guideline of SPI or books focusing on a particular part.
Language Certificates
Japanese language skill is compulsory for most of the companies in Japan. For full-time jobs N2 (JLPT level) or N1 is highly recommended. If the candidate is really good in speaking (N2 or N1 level), some companies may consider JLPT level N3 too.
English skills is not a requirement but appreciated in most of the Japanese companies (for some job, its a requirement). TOEIC (Test Of English for International Communication) score is used as standard to measure English level. Total score is 970 (listening 485, reading 485) and 800+ is considered a good score in Japan. A score above 900 will definitely impress the company.
Dress code
Japan has strict rules on attire for job hunting. A common scenario during job hunting season is to see hundreds of students in black suit.
Suit: Black suit is highly recommended for job hunting. Candidates can also wear Navy or dark grey suits. Exceptional case can be made for fashion designing companies (grey, blue). Most of the suit stores have job hunting suit and usually they are cheaper than other suits.
Shirt/ Blouse: For job hunting white shirt / blouse is recommended.
Tie: It is recommended to wear striped or dotted ties. Color can be selected from red or blue groups.
Shoes and Belt: Black or dark brown shoes for men and black or navy court shoes for women with around 5-7 cm heel. belt should be matching color of the shoes.
Bag: Black or Dark colored business bags or briefcases are recommended. Simple looking job hunting bags are available is stores (2500 yen to 8000 yen).
Hair:
Photo
4 cm x 3 cm is the standard photo size for job hunting.