(2015-11-28, 9:41 pm)TheVinster Wrote: My immediate question is regarding the flow of hiring. I'm aware seniors in college have certain blocks during which they interview and so forth. As a foreigner exploring my options there, am I limited to specific months or seasons? Are there times which, if my company is not getting me where I wanna be, it's best to begin sending out applications? More importantly, what are the best go-to sites to develop my Japanese CV?
I'm going to assume your degree is related to your industry; because this will be relevant to work permits.
As far as hiring seasons and what not. Don't worry about it. That said, you might see more job openings around the Fall and Spring as companies try and line up with college graduates, but if you are aiming for more mid level stuff then you don't have to worry about that.
In terms of timing, this can be tricky. You want to be able be in Japan to do interviews, this increases your odds of getting a job. Something you might be able to do is dig around on the job sites (I'll post links below) and put your resume in for specific jobs you like, and also visit the recruiting sites and put your resume in their general system. Maybe give this a few days or a week and then find numbers on their web site and call them (use skype or something). Try getting in touch with someone about the jobs you already sent resumes in for, find out if they think you are good match, and then mention you are planning to be in Japan in the next few weeks. If you aren't a match, still let them know about your time schedule in Japan, find out if there are any other potential jobs you'd be a match for. You should also put your vacation schedule in your cover letter obviously. If its word, maybe even make it bold, make it stand out. I've never done this, but this is how I'm planning to do it in the future.
As far as CV is concerned. I can't offer up too much info on this. My suggestion would be to just convert your English resume to Japanese if you submitting stuff electronically. If a company wants a traditional Japanese CV then the recruiter will probably let you know and might even help you with it, but I suspect your translated resume would be good enough.
Sites:
http://www.daijob.com
http://jp.indeed.com/
https://www.careercross.com/en/
https://japan.careerengine.org/
Those are the good places to go digging for jobs specifically looking for bilinguals; HOWEVER, if you are super gungho about getting to Japan. Obviously try doing searches for 転職 and maybe some key words for the industry/job you are looking for. You will probably get other possible hits. How well your resume will be received will be case by case I imagine since some sites are probably only expecting Japanese people to apply. Same thing applies even with those recruiters on those sites though, find a number and call.
If startups are your cup of tea still though. Try doing google searches for ベンチャー 転職 or 求人 and any other keywords you can think of.
Couple of examples:
http://www.find-job.net/list/focus-2/1-1-1/
http://www.s-venture.jp/
This is kind of a round about method but also check out this podcast:
http://www.disruptingjapan.com/
Check the company names in each podcast and then find their website. See if they list jobs. If no jobs/career page can be found but you like the company, it still might be worth it to try and get in contact with the company somehow; either through a phone call or seeing if you can stalk someone important down on social media (LinkedIn/Twitter/etc) lol.
I think thats probably enough information. Bookmark these sites as well:
http://jobtalk.jp/
http://www.vorkers.com/
They are like the Glassdoor of Japan but crappier. You have to register and submit a review to be able to get access to most of the site I think.
Finally on the N1. If you've passed the N2 already, I wouldn't sweat the N1 so much. It'll open some doors, but I bet if you just put down that you know "Business Japanese" on your resume, no one will question it until they call you. Even then, you might be able to get by so long as you can show you can operate in Japanese conversation/correspondence without too much trouble. This is especially relevant to the non-bilingual websites as most Japanese people don't know what the JLPT even is. So listing you are N1 or N2 is useless, they'll judge you on how well you can actually communicate.
EDIT:
I actually forgot something relevant to the non-bilingual sites that I wanted to elaborate on. When I mentioned "case by case basis" I was mainly referring to the issue of "Wo this guy is a foreigner!" But re-reading my reply I completely forgot about another poignant issue: Visas. You can probably safely assume that most companies on bilingual sites will be able to handle a visa application, but most companies on regular sites might be confused, overwhelmed, or oblivious to the whole deal. A lot of companies often hire visa lawyers to help with the visa process, which is something that companies advertising on regular sites might not be interested in doing. Keep that in mind, but at the same time, don't rule them out.
Edited: 2015-11-29, 4:04 am