3 ms·

How did you get your job in Japan?

by kqr2 18y ago

patio11 18y ago
I got my current job by overdelivering on a project for a customer of a previous job. When my previous contract ended, I called up the customer and asked if he knew of anybody who needed work. He offered to hire me on the spot and immediately started contacting his customers to see who could use another body (he runs a consulting shop). One of the customers wanted me on a permanent basis rather than as a contractor -- promises were exchanged, bows happened, and the matter was resolved. Some time after that I wrote up a resume and had a job interview, but these were formalities which only existed to ratify the decision made previously. That's pretty much how you get your job anywhere, right? Be good at what you do. Network. My one Japan-specific tip: you can be successful in America without a set of business cards. You can probably be successful in Japan without them, too, but I'd really fork over $20 for a nice set of bilingual ones. Whenever you meet a Japanese businessman, make sure you get his and he gets yours. This is not hard. (I'd get REALLY good at self-introductions too. Also not hard.) Then, when that businessman hears one of his salaryman buddies complaining that the project is failing because nobody speaks English, he's going to remember the one American engineer he has ever met who speaks Japanese. And presto, you just got a job offer. Bonus points if you're one of the folks who worries incessantly about outsourcing: India graduated in excess of 200,000 engineers last year. It also had approximately 500 people pass either level 1 or level 2 of the JLPT, which is pretty much the minimum for successfully working here in a professional capacity. Draw a Venn diagram of those two groups -- the number in the middle is in the dozens, if that. (If you are one of the people in the middle, please, send me an email. I want your business card.) (Actual quote from my future boss at my job "interview": "I hadn't realized you'd be white. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Its just, when $ADVOCATE was describing you, he said your Japanese was great for an American and I assumed you were probably half-Japanese or something.")
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]

How did you get your job in Japan?

by kqr2 18y ago

How did you get your job in Japan?

I got my current job by overdelivering on a project for a customer of a previous job. When my previous contract ended, I called up the customer and asked if he knew of anybody who needed work. He offered to hire me on the spot and immediately started contacting his customers to see who could use another body (he runs a consulting shop). One of the customers wanted me on a permanent basis rather than as a contractor -- promises were exchanged, bows happened, and the matter was resolved. Some time after that I wrote up a resume and had a job interview, but these were formalities which only existed to ratify the decision made previously. That's pretty much how you get your job anywhere, right? Be good at what you do. Network. My one Japan-specific tip: you can be successful in America without a set of business cards. You can probably be successful in Japan without them, too, but I'd really fork over $20 for a nice set of bilingual ones. Whenever you meet a Japanese businessman, make sure you get his and he gets yours. This is not hard. (I'd get REALLY good at self-introductions too. Also not hard.) Then, when that businessman hears one of his salaryman buddies complaining that the project is failing because nobody speaks English, he's going to remember the one American engineer he has ever met who speaks Japanese. And presto, you just got a job offer. Bonus points if you're one of the folks who worries incessantly about outsourcing: India graduated in excess of 200,000 engineers last year. It also had approximately 500 people pass either level 1 or level 2 of the JLPT, which is pretty much the minimum for successfully working here in a professional capacity. Draw a Venn diagram of those two groups -- the number in the middle is in the dozens, if that. (If you are one of the people in the middle, please, send me an email. I want your business card.) (Actual quote from my future boss at my job "interview": "I hadn't realized you'd be white. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Its just, when $ADVOCATE was describing you, he said your Japanese was great for an American and I assumed you were probably half-Japanese or something.")

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]