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Foreign women working in Japan

Karakuri

後輩
6 Oct 2007
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Hi, I'm 20, female and in my first year of computer science at uni. My goal is to find a job in Japan so I can live there while pursuing other interests (I'm interested in manga as an art form). My Japanese is nearly at the level of a professional translator, so no problem there. But I have a social anxiety problem that prevents me from taking a job like teaching. This is why I figured my only chance is to complete my computer science course and work for a foreign company in Japan. However, I've been worried that once I'm out of uni, it'll be hard for me to live and find a job in Japan (being a woman). Do you guys have any advice? Thanks in advance.
 
Same as anyone else (and even myself) - your best bet is to get experience in Australia before coming over.
 
The fact that you don't want to teach is in my opinion a lost opportunity to settle yourself in Japan for a while so you can find a job. There may be some other short-term jobs alternatives though like working as a waitress. Ofcourse there are some adds online but your chances will be smaller cause a lot of companies want someone who's already residing in Japan. But you can try to start working for a company in Australia that has connections with Japan, and cause you are already pretty fluent in Japanese you should have a good chance to get transfered.
 
Whats wrong with going to Japan then finding/starting work? It worked fine for me...
 
Did I say that it's wrong ?

If you can settle yourself for a year or so in Japan as a teacher, you have plenty of time to find a suitable job. If you have money enough to stay in Japan as a tourist for 3 months then that's fine.
 
Ewok,
You have admitted your situation was pretty special, although yes, people can come here and get hired.

Karakuri,
If you want to explore things here, come on a working holiday visa. No degree needed.
If you want to get a job in IT, think about the barriers. You say language is not one of them. Good. However, a freshly minted degree is not really prime material for a foreigner, even with stellar language skills. Thousands of locals are in that situation, and they have problems getting hired, too. You need to stand out from the crowd. That means showing some experience that others don't have. I'd say poke around with WHV after you graduate, or get hired where you are now by some company that has branches here; you'll need a year with them to qualify for an intracompany transfer visa, but that only makes sense from the company's POV, not just from immigration's.

As for issues related to women, I would suggest looking at the site www.being-a-broad.com or reading the book that started it all.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I didn't like the idea of having to work in Australia first as I want to move there as soon as I can, but it looks like that's what I'll have to do.

Glenski: By experience others don't have, do you just mean work in my own country, and is there anything else that could help?
And thanks a lot for that link!
 
By experience others don't have, it means any experience. Have an interview and they care very little about what you studied, its what experience you have working and the details of that work that is going to sell you.
 
Ewok can explain his starting out to you if he pleases, publicly or privately. I just made my post because it looked as if he had written it was a snap to finding non-teaching work with your background, and I disagreed with that. The simple fact is, non-teaching jobs will usually require a fair amount of Japanese ability and enough experience. Look at places like www.daijob.com or Career Cross to give you an idea.

That is a general assessment, and there will be exceptions. For example, if you can land a job in your home country, and it has a branch in Japan, you may not need as much (or any) Japanese. It all depends on how they choose to operate here. But, newly hired people, especially in the lower ranks, don't usually have the opportunities to be sent overseas, certainly right away. Plus, to get an intracompany transfer visa, you have to work at your home office for at least a year anyway.

Experience is a big concern unless you are some top exec. Then, you probably have enough collective experience. For other positions, it is probably more a matter of having enough and the right experience. Enough, meaning plenty of years. The right experience, meaning something that local people here cannot do (or do easily).
 
Heres my 2 cents.

For non-Japanese firm, I have 2 friends that came here 1 year after graduated from a University and got a job IT related job with only JPLT level 2. So its not impossible and you could give it a try if you want to.

For a Japanese firm, in case of IT related Industry, It's really easy, and you don't need a professional translator level of Japanese Language proficiency to get the job. The only problem is most of them only wants 新卒(only apply if you graduated from Specialist College(専門学校)or University here in Japan). Meaning, you have to go through those annoying SPI試験 and stuff.

Oh, and one of my friend that got a job on the non-Japanese firm is a women, she graduated from a university in UK (she's Malaysian tho). She came on a 3 month tourist visa and got a job. Doesn't seem she had that much trouble finding and getting the job. "After" she got the job, is a whole different story.

Anyway good luck.
 
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