Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone has any advice about this. I'm a JET ending my contract in July and applying for jobs in Japan with major companies like Rakuten, AEON, and so forth. I went to the Winter Career Forum in Tokyo run by DISCO and got an interview with AEON Retail and am waiting to get a second interview with them. I might also have an interview with Rakuten but doubtful since I most likely didn't do so well on the screening test. The thing I'm troubled about is whether I should be looking for a job that starts in the summer or if I should go ahead with applying for jobs that start in April 2013. By far most of the new graduate recruitment seems to have ended for 2012. And it just seems like it might be smarter to go with trying to get into a company through the new graduate program because mid-career hiring in Japan is a lot more competitive.

I don't exactly have a whole lot of skills or experience to work with, I've been teaching English for the past year and a half and have a degree in Japanese. The question then becomes what do I do for 9 months. I'd rather not go back home to the States because my language ability will falter and I'll lose money on pointless flights. I can't work a part-time job in Japan because I won't have a work visa after JET. I'm really interested in China and I've started to think seriously about study abroad there in the meantime since I'd like to study the language more (I've been taking a very basic Chinese class once a week here). This could be useful for a job because a lot of Japanese companies are moving into China now. Anyways, has anyone been in a situation like this? Would it be smarter to be more conservative and patient, or risk it and go for immediate employment after JET?

I`ve heard some foreigners at my University talking about 短期滞在（就職活). Assuming they knew what they were talking about, they assured me that it permits you to stay here even after you 留学ビザ is expired. Maybe there is something similar for your visa...or maybe you can just enroll a language school and keep searching within the 留学ビザ period and then apply for the 短期滞在（就職活). Moreover you can consult your local ハローワーク. I`ve heard they help also foreigner to find a job in Japan.

As you said, mid-career hiring in Japan is very hard. In addiction you graduated in Japanese so you don`t have a specialization as marketing or what else to rely on.
However given the fact you`re teaching English, I assume that your first language is English or that, at least, you`re a near native English speaker.
That`s definitely an huge thing you can make an appeal of yourself.
So...Risk it! Risk it!
From my experience (I`m in the middle of 新卒採用 so these are just my 2 cents) to succeed you need to:
-be able to speak a fairly good 敬語.
-be able to prove them you can learn from your fault, you`ll never give up and that you can overcome everything, no matter what.
-be humble and show them you know Japanese customs and manners.
-be very very very very lucky, the matching process is crazy.

I`m attending those Career and Job Fairs in Tokyo too. If you want to share information just drop me an email, we may be able to help each other!

edit: typo

My current company, Heart Corp. is looking for new ALT's now. The pay isn't the best, but it's a pretty good company here in Ibaraki.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Heart-Corp...4431095662

I think he was trying to move out of the dead end career of ALT into something that could possibly grow. Not another ALT spot.

EDIT: Posting too fast and not reading enoguh. *sigh*

Quote:This could be useful for a job because a lot of Japanese companies are moving into China now. Anyways, has anyone been in a situation like this? Would it be smarter to be more conservative and patient, or risk it and go for immediate employment after JET?

Some are moving to China but I think vast majority are moving to places like Singapore and Indonesia if I"m not mistaken. China is set for a hard landing economy-wise here pretty soon. They have an asset bubble running right now which is going to pop here in next year or so. People are predicting a hard landing this year but we'll see I guess. What this does for China's economy is hard to say.

They won't be interested in you for China ops because you have no skills and do not speak Chinese. And if you were paying attention at the DISCO career forums you might have noticed the thousands of Chinese people who speak better Japanese than you do (well I know they blew me out of the water and I've had N1 for a year), would happily take 1/2 your pay, and probably speak English too.

Another option you have is to continue JET and bail out of your contract if you get a job somewhere else.

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I'm definitely not looking to continue the ALT thing as Heart or JET. I have thought about the possibility of bailing out of the ALT position on JET, as I have a friend who's leaving his contract early to start a job as a professor in Kanagawa (he has a PhD in bioinformatics and speaks N3 lvl Japanese). But personally I feel a little bit bad about bailing on my BOE at the last minute. I guess they could get an alternate JET to come in, but I just want to leave on the best terms as possible. At any rate it's already past the deadline.

Kitakitsune, it's true the foreigners at CF are largely Chinese or Korean (I was surprised how much Korean ability is in demand from companies) and I may never speak Japanese and obviously not Chinese like native Chinese people. However, there is also a huge lack of Americans or just North American/European whiteys like me at the convention (at the Winter forum I saw only one white guy out of hundreds of Asians) and in someways standing out like that can be an edge. For 新卒 it's really more your personality and growth potential than immediate skill level (although that certainly can factor in) which leads to an offer or not. Japanese companies are looking for people they can invest in and enjoy working with, not purely a resume with a long skill set. I hate to harp on some of the asians at these conventions but there are those who clearly do not know what it means to work in a Japanese company and have some pretty bad etiquette and even dress attire. I was told in fact that personality and passion is far more important than pure skill set for entry level jobs by a high level HR rep at Rakuten. Mid-career recruitment is obviously a more complicated story, which is why it scares me.

As far as language ability goes, it's not exactly true that just because you don't speak Chinese natively you won't get sent to China or another country. For example, I've heard of Chinese people in AEON working in Europe on assignment and their jobs having nothing to do with China in general. Apparently a lot of the Japanese on assignment in China just use interpreters to do their work (from by a Chinese HR rep at AEON) and that language ability is not a question when moving personnel overseas. I'm not saying that it doesn't make sense to use native Chinese speakers to work in Chinese ops but also that big companies value rotation and putting their employees in different cultural environments which challenge them and help them grow.

Anyways, studying Chinese is also just a personal goal of mine and spending some time in China would be a nice life experience.

Sorry, I misunderstood you. I thought you were trying to get a new grad job for immediate placement in China. A company might consider sending you there without language ability if you were in a more senior position but they would never consider sending you without a few years of experience.

Anyway, the biggest hurdle for landing a new grad job will be your Japanese ability, not your personality or growth potential. IMO

I learned these lessons after going to a few Tokyo and Boston career forums.

1. Being white is no help, Japanese companies are not interested in increasing racial diversity - when their literature mentions increasing diversity, they are referring to women and not race.
2. Mid career is actually easier if your Japanese is not flawless. Think of it this way, if you were a Japanese company, would you hire and invest in training a person who can only read at the 6th grade level?
3. HR managers go to the fairs looking to hire these specific applicants for new grad jobs, in order of importance.

1. Japanese people who speak English.
2. Japanese people who speak Chinese or Korean.
3. Japanese people who speak another foreign language.
4. Japanese people with no language ability.
5. Chinese and Korean people who Speak Japanese.
6. Other Asians who speak Japanese.
7. Foreigners who are STEM majors who speak Japanese.
8. Foreigners who are STEM majors who cannot speak Japanese.
9. White guys with liberal arts degrees who speak Japanese.

Not one HR manager goes to a DISCO career forum with a mindset of looking to hire someone who fits into category 9. It's really a uphill battle from the start.

*note, of course there are a few unique exceptions to this rule - like the investment banks at the BC and a few Japanese companies looking to staff American operations.