About Job Hunting in Japan

It has been 2 years since I came to Japan. A lot of things had happened. I had even changed my career once.

I am very lucky to have a wonder life experience in Japan. I would like to share my Japan job hunting experience and hope I can help other foreigners in Japan, who are trying to get a job.

Please note that you won't find any tips of finding a language teaching job in this article. I am not a English or Chinese teach and I don't plan to become one. This article provides you a general idea of how job hunting is like in Japan.

There are many ways to get a full time job in Japan. There are 3 common ways:

1. New graduate recruitment

 Japanese corporates tend to hire inexperienced newly graduated students because they think those inexperienced young talent are easier to educate and are more flexible. Most of Japanese students and also international students start to apply for a job through a new graduate recruitment in their 3rd year in college. Most of these students will get at least one job offer before they graduate. If you cannot find a job before you graduate, the chances for you to get a job decrease dramatically.

(Notes:  The new graduate recruitment is 72% in August, 2013. )

2. From part-time to full time

I got my first job offer with this method.

Companies won't easily sponsor a visa to a foreigner without a working permit. If you can prove your value to a company, they are very likely to hire you and sponsor your visa. I started a part time job in a local small bakery. I was able to prove my value to the bakery's operating parent company, which is a venture capital company, by expanding its business scope internationally, so they offered me a full time job and they also sponsored my working permit.

If you have a student visa, which allows you to have a part time job. I strongly encourage you to find a part time job in a company instead of in a restaurant unless you have your reasons.

(Notes: I found my part time job here: Job Sense - http://j-sen.jp/  This site also provided me with a congradulation money when I got my job!)

3. Start from zero

I personally don't encourage you take this way. People from EU or USA enjoy a 90-day tourist visa automatically at their arrival at Japan. I have heard stories of people came to Japan to find a job on a tourist visa. If they cannot find one in 89 days, they will fly to Korea or other close countries for a few days, then return to Japan so the tourist visa will be valid for another 90 days. It is costly and risky. I have also heard people ended up in debt and they had to go home.

I hope above gives you general picture of how it is like to hunt a job in Japan.

Next time, I will talk about how I changed my career in Japan.