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  • Job hunting in Japan

    After college I decided not to do job hunting (or shukatsu) in Japan because I've always wanted to workout overseas anyways.
    But, in Japan job hunting is really stressful which has a lot of pressure on students that are graduating.
    In Japan, most of companies only hire new employees once a year which is in April. So, when you begin the forth year of college you have to do all researches on companies, wear a black uniform suit, dye your hair back to black and have a daily life full of interviews forms, entries and interviews for a year until you graduate college.
    I saw many friends of mine stressed over it. Some applied for 100 companies interviews others decides to do graduate school just to avoid job hunting and many were shocked and depressed from all the Nos they received from companies. It can really affect you mentally because a lot of people are just trying to get a job at this point and not even pursue what they like to do either because they don't know what it is yet, or because what they want to pursue as a career is not a "realistic job" such as drawing mangas or becoming a translator (low paid unstable jobs).

    As for me, someone who had not done job hunting, I felt the pressure that I had to do it because people around me would judge me for not following that same path. It felt almost like I had to suffer like them so I could have the right to worry about my future. For people doing shukatsu it seemed like I was being an under achiever, lazy and a person that is too relaxed.
    It is an embarrassment in Japan if you graduate from college and don't get a fixed "well-paid" job. So, if you don't follow that path, you are categorized as an under achiever or a NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) who works in a part time job just to earn enough to live by.

    To me, this is a wasteful and sad system because job hunting in Japan feels almost like a competition giving students limited time to figure out what they want or would like to do as a job and the pressure is insane. Students could have really good potential and be talented in something but that would be wasted because of how shukatsu works. I also question myself, companies expects these students to follow a standard such as wear the same suits, have the sane hair color, behave the same at interviews yet, they want unique students with potentials to do something new in their companies. I think the shukatsu system only makes it worse for both students and companies to match well.

    There are only a few people that has figured out what they want to pursue as a career by age 22, I think it is more important to start to think about students and not stick to a strict, inefficient, pointless system in job hunting in Japan.

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  • #2
    I understand you because I am in university. I have seen many of my "senpai" seniors experience the stress full of the "job hunting" period. They have to prepare the black suit, similar shoes with Japanese, change their hairstyle (how to look most normal in Japanese eyes) and buy a handy-bag just for this case.
    My seniors called it "black sheep", means everyone looks the same with black hair, does the same thing and tries to not differences.

    I think this is not good at all, because you can not be yourself and how can people respect while we try to mimic others, right? (
    This is an uncomfortable process but it still happens. thatha , If you decided to work as an officer in Japan you have to be strong and get through this process as everyone did:'< Just prepare very carefully, I believe you can get the job!

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    • #3
      So the stuff in the drama series I watched in the past is pretty close to the real deal then. I thought it's a bit of an exaggeration when all fresh graduates wear almost the same clothes like all black and white when lining up to be interviewed. And how girls are so happy when their parents or siblings buy them a new pair of black leather shoes that looks the same as the previous shoes they have that got broken because of all the job hunting they had to go through. I never really thought it was the real deal and I'm happy that in our country we don't do that. I mean, I interviewed applicants before when I was a project manager and I normally keep an eye on the applicant's appearance when I interview them because for me it speaks so much of their character. If I interviewed applicants with the same outfit, hairstyle and everything else, it would be quite bias to just rely on how they speak and how they answer my questions because all that can be learned.

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