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This video segment is designed for people who are interested in living or working in Japan but who may find difficulties finding a suitable job in their preferred field of expertise.
While Japan really is a safe an interesting place to live, sometimes the harsh reality when it comes to finding work is that regardless of your previous skills, qualifications, experiences (or how good you may look in a suit and physically present yourself); there are actually many hidden things (which are completely beyond your control) that often prevent highly qualified foreign and even Japanese candidates from landing suitable employment no matter how hard they actually try.
These images and perceptions are deeply rooted in the Japan “island culture” mentality (keywords for this discussion) that tend to spill over to the business client side when it comes to hiring suitable workers. Unfortunately, even exceptional recruiting agencies cannot assist candidates in attaining the job that they are looking for 90% of the time.
Common obstacles that job seekers consistently run into are the following:
– Race/Ethnicity (in contrasts to the Japanese mental image of a “perfect candidate” for particular roles and job industries)
– Nationality (certain nationalities have certain advantages in specific industries that you may not be aware of)
– Age
– Gender
– Natural hair color
– Eye color
– Skin tone & features (light, dark, freckled – also connected to the deeply-rooted Japanese ideology of “perfection”)
– Body shape (particularly for female candidates)
– College name/ Alma Mater (which tends to carry more weight than what you studied or your actual scores)
– Sempai/Kohai (senior/junior) relationship – which particularly affects Japanese candidates who have previously lived abroad
for an extended period of time.
– A driven and results-oriented personality
– Prioritizing personal goals for job performance (in contrast to having a simple “worker-bee” mentality)
– Client company leadership (age group) – which also relates to sempai/kohai structure in regards to who has the final say-so in
candidate hiring. While a younger Team Leader, Manager and HR staff may love you and think you are perfect for the role,
an older director or CEO may not think that you “fit the image” of their brand or company. This often happens to qualified
candidates everywhere in the world, but you`ll find that it is more of an issue here in some ways.
In this video series, as well as with the consulting that I`ll be providing, we`ll start taking a look at some of these hidden issues to identify main problems and differences between Japanese culture and ideology to see if we can actively identify, fix, or find alternative solutions to some of these problems. We will also look at the root causes of why Japanese companies think this way.
After looking at these issues and comparing them to your personal situation, we will discuss how to:
1) Start increasing your chances of getting picked up by a company in Tokyo via resume editing and creating an online profile
2) Find ways to stop searching for jobs or sending resumes altogether by improving your online profile to where companies
search for you instead.
3) Use your natural skills and talents to earn money by starting your own small side business while you are looking for a job in
Tokyo (eliminate the “mental load” of job hunting so that you can avoid jumping into unsuitable job roles simply our of
financial desperation).
4) Find spaces and support to launch your own private business in Japan in order to eliminate the need to work for a company
altogether.
Of course this doesn`t mean that Japan is not a great place to live and there are no suprable jobopporunities for foreigners. With the Tokyo Olympics just around the corner in 2020, Tokyo is hot to hire candidates… Companies just tend to have underlying “preferences” which are very hard to overcome due to cultural reasons.
If you are interested in seeking a group or private consultation, please feel free to contact me anytime via the Contact Form Link here or by emailing wyldeblade@gmail.com with your most up-to-date CV/resume.
Have a great week and stay tuned for the next video!
