Career Forum FAQ

Who is the CareerForum targeted at? li>At what time in my Education should I go?
What types of companies are represented?
How long is the Forum? And what is the process like?
Which majors are better off?
Exams?
What are the informational sessions like?
What about résumé's
Is it necessary to send résumé's ahead of time?
What about the other CareerForum locations?
How much Japanese do I need to know?

I had the opportunity to attend the October 2000 CareerForum in Boston and this FAQ is written mostly from that experience, and the experiences of my friends.

Who is the CareerForum targeted at?

The CareerForum seems to be mainly targeted towards those Japanese students graduating from American universities. A side effect of the CareerForum seems to be to also recruit non-Japanese people, who can speak Japanese, and would like to work in Japan. There were a few companies present who did not require employee candidates to speak Japanese, and there were even a few who were looking for people to work in the states. These were however, very few, and you would be severely limiting your chances to get a job offer if you only look for companies hiring for America, or do not require Japanese. This CareerForum is for you if you want to work in Japan, and if you can speak Japanese at a semi-conversational level.

At what time in my education should I go?

At the time I attended I was a Junior in College. This was a little early, as I would say that roughly 75% of the companies I interviewed with were looking for employees who could start the following May. There were a few companies however, that were looking for people graduating as late as December 2001. Attending the CareerForum early however is a good idea, because then you will always have the chance to go again the following year, after you have gotten your feet wet, and the extra practice can really help.

What types of companies are represented?

The majority of the companies attending the CareerForum are large businesses... and lots of them. I would definitely say that there will be more than 100 major corporations attending the CareerForum every year for a long time. There is a list of companies who plan to attend on the CareerForum website. The year I attended, I noticed that a few companies that were on the list did not show up, and there were also a few major companies that showed up and were not on the list.

Which majors are better off?

Most of the companies attending are in fact looking for employees to do business type work. There is also a very large portion of companies looking for IT people, and even some companies looking specifically for graduate students, or older people with a few years of work experience. Most of the companies are in fact looking for people to do business type work, however, Japanese companies are known for their strong training programs. If a candidate shows a strong interest in working for an organization, if their grades are good, they will be considered even if their major has nothing to do with the industry the company is involved with. In other words, even if you are an English major, you can still get a job with IBM Japan if you show interest and are motivated.

How long is the Forum? And what is the process like?

The CareerForum takes place over the span of one weekend. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Depending on how 'genki' you are, or how much energy you have, will determine how many companies you can speak to during these days. Some people are able to interview with as many as ten companies, while others take it easy and only talk to about five or six. It is strongly suggested that you are sure to get in the companies whom you really want to talk to on Friday, the first day of the event. The companies who attend the CareerForum usually have quotas. That is, they have come to find 'X' number of new hires, and after they do, they leave. On Sunday there may be many empty booths where recruiting companies used to be. There will probably even be a few empty booths on Saturday for that matter.

The CareerForum is very fast paced. The typical progression happens like this. First you will wait in line for the opportunity to talk to a recruiter. While you are in line someone may approach you with a survey about yourself and how you heard about the company. After you finish that survey, you will be asked to have a seat at a table in front of an interviewer. The interviewer will take your resume, glance it over for a few seconds, and then proceed to ask you questions.

The questions are usually along the lines of, "Tell me about yourself", "Why do you want to work for this company?" "How did you hear about this company?" "What do you think this company does?", "What do you study in school, why?" and other introductory interview questions of that nature. After this quick interview, if the company is interested in you, they will invite you to a second interview session to be held within a few hours in a private room in the same building as the CareerForum. The second interviews vary, some of them are one on one, while others are one on three, three being the company people. These interviews are more detailed, and ask deeper questions about your education, and why you want to work for the company. They may also share information about the company to you, so it will be an informational session of sorts. Again, at the end of this interview, if they like you, they may ask you back for a third interview.

The third interview sometimes takes the place of dinner outside of the Trade Center hosted by the company. These dinners tend to be informal (though everyone is still dresses in their business attire) with many students and a few company people at each table. With my personal experience, I honestly did not know that the dinner session would have much to do with the interviewing process. There were just so many students (40+) and so much food! It was hard to pay attention to anything else. After dinner however, I was approached by one of the company workers and asked to come back the next morning for another interview. In other words, the company people watch you during dinner, so be on your best behavior, and ask lots of questions. Try to strike up an interesting conversation.

My final interview was interesting, though I'm sure that the experience was highly personalized and your experiences may vary. Basically the interviewer grilled me for about 10 minutes on whether or not I really wanted to work in Japan or not. Some of the questions were quite surprising. One question I remember was along the lines of 'aren't you afraid that you will experience some discrimination in Japan?'. I just answered the questions honestly and everything seemed to work out okay. Immediately after the interview (even before I realized it was over actually) the company started discussing salary information and handing me papers. The hiring decision was made all in that one weekend.

I heard from other people at the forum that after their third interviews the company said that they would call them back. I never heard whether or not they actually followed through however. I do know of people who have come back from the forum, talked with companies they met at the forum on the phone and landed jobs however.

One thing all the companies had in common was that they all asked when I had heard of their company, and wanted me to tell me what I knew about it. There are brochures about every company attending the career forum available during the event, and it is a good idea to read them before stepping up for an interview.

Companies also hold informational sessions during the day, where you can go listen in on a presentation about the company, and what they are looking for in candidates. If you learn what time a company you are interested in, it is strongly suggested that you attend the information session. This will give you a chance to learn even more about the company, and also give you a chance to ask questions to the recruiters.

Exams?

Some of the major companies came to the CareerForum with a common Japanese tradition in recruiting, the exam. Personally I interviewed with many companies, and I did not encounter any exams, but I heard that Oracle, among other companies did have exams during their interviews.

I have heard that the exams include mathematics, and questions about the Japanese language. These questions are geared towards native speakers of Japanese, and I did not hear of any special exams for non-native speakers.

What about résumé's?

Since you will speak to many recruiters, and have many opportunities to drop your resume off with employers. Bringing at least 30 resumes is a good idea.

You will have the opportunity to prepare a Japanese resume, and an English resume as well. At the Boston CareerForum, I was never asked if I had a Japanese resume. This may have been because I am American and they didn't expect me to have one, but most of my Japanese friends who attended the session did not have a Japanese resume as well.

Printing your resume on quality paper is highly recommended. Take the trip to Kinko's and get some heavy paper to print your resume on and make it look nice. It will be worth the effort.

A friend of mine who attended the CareerForum in Tokyo however mentioned that she wished she had brought a Japanese resume with her.

Is it necessary to send résumé's ahead of time?

The Careerforum website suggests that you use their website to submit your résumé's to companies ahead of time. In my experience, I have found that this occasionally helps, but it is no excuse not to hand your résumé's directly to the companies during the event.

I have on occasion been asked if I 'pre-registered', or turned in my résumé online before the event, but answering 'no', and just turning in my resume at the event has not seemed to hurt my chances of landing a job. However, I have heard of people submitting their résumé ahead of time, and actually receiving personal email from companies inviting them to the company booth during the forum. If this happens, it can definitely be to your advantage.

What about the other CareerForum Locations?

As you can see from their website the CareerForum takes place a few other cities other than Boston as well. Since I have only had the opportunity to attend the Boston Forum, I cannot very well comment on the other events. I have had friends who have attended the Tokyo CareerForum, so I can make a few commends about that one.

I have heard that the Tokyo Career Forum has fewer companies present. This is surprising because one would think that it would be easier for the companies to attend the forum in their home country. I have also heard that since the forum is in Tokyo, the numbers of companies looking to hire for work in America are minimal.

During the Boston Career Forum most, if not all of the interviewing takes place within the World Trade Center in Boston. In the Tokyo Career Forum however I have heard that it is common for second and third round interviews to happen in the actual offices of the companies. This is good because you can see the place where you might end up working, however time that could be used visiting with other possible employers will be lost during the travel time. Even the Boston Career Forum is mostly Japanese people, however according to a friend of mine the Tokyo Career Forum in 2001 was 99.9 percent Japanese people. My friend recalled seeing three or four foreigners throughout the job fair.

How much Japanese do I need to know?

As much as possible!

Seriously though, that is the obvious answer. The amount of Japanese that you use at the careerforum will completely depend on you. As a foreigner, the interviewers at the forum will expect you to speak little to no Japanese. In my experience I even had some people approach me while I was in line to remind me that this interview was in 'Japanese only'.

It is up to you to show them how much Japanese you really know. If they ask you if you would like to proceed in Japanese or English, tell them you can do both, and Japanese will be fine. Once the interviewer sees how much Japanese you really know, they will undoubtedly be impressed. If you begin to speak in English however, the interviewer will too, and it will be hard to get them to switch back to Japanese if they are comfortable with English.

If you are at least semi-comfortable with holding a conversation in Japanese you are in good shape for the forum. Don't worry if you are not a master of keigo, the employers will not expect you to know it. It is advised to use 'desu' 'masu' as much as possible however, and be sure to speak clearly.

My advice is to begin every interview in Japanese, and speak to the best of your ability. If you don't quite catch a question, feel free to ask the interviewer to repeat it, there is no shame in that.

Ganbare!

Random Tips

Wear comfortable shoes. Shoes that match your business attire of course. You will be standing for the better part of the day during the Forums, amd nobody likes sore feet.

Do not bring a bag with you on the day of the event. Usually they will pass out some kind of bag for you to keep your fliers and brochures that you collect in, and you don't want to have the extra baggage to lug around.

Don't expect to party until Saturday night. There just isn't time for that.

Pack extremely light.

Take the opportunity to visit with people you notice interviewing for the same companies as you. This can be a good opportunity to possibly meet future co-workers. Even meeting people who will end up working for other companies can be beneficial if you keep in touch. Networking Networking.

Job Resources: JET Opinions: CareerForum Opinions: Tokyo Nova Opinions: CareerForum FAQ: Interview Questions