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7 Ways To Prepare For And Pass A Japanese Job Interview — 11 Comments

    • Great tip. It’s those small things that people usually don’t think about that can make a difference!

  1. This isn’t so much a tip for performing well during a Japanese job interview, but applies to performing well in any pursuit that you’re likely to feel nervous (as a result of the stakes involved): Be honest with yourself.

    This means to not try to deny the emotion you’re experiencing. When you deny an emotion, you intensify it. Instead, acknowledge what you are feeling. Tell yourself you seem nervous. This often serves to decrease the intensity of the emotion.

    Finally, if you can, look for a way to frame that emotion (or the reasons for it) positively. If you go back to why you’re nervous, for example, it might be because landing that job would be hugely positive for you. After thinking about that, you could validly tell yourself that you’re excited, and go in with that attitude (or more of that attitude) instead.

  2. I’ve had soul-crushingly bad interviews followed within days by encouraging ones; it’s not always your fault. Like with English speakers, some Japanese are harder to understand than others, slurring, using dialects, slang, and just plain old obtuse Japanese. After several recent disheartening interviews, I had a recruiter interview me over Skype and she said my Japanese wasn’t so bad at all, and moreover that she was particularly impressed with the naturalness of my Japanese demeanor and attitude over my language (I’ve been living in Japan a while). She said that for her clients that was a big selling point.

    Oh, so if you do have to do a phone interview push for Skype or some other video chat. It really takes the edge off!

    • I agree that you definitely run a wide range of Japanese interviews regardless of your ability. Glad to hear in the end everything finally worked out for you.

      And good advice about trying to get a Skype interview instead.

  3. It really helps me,a guide for my first job interview via skype..next month..thank you so very much..im very excited but feeling nervous.because i have never been to japan eversince yet..but iam JPI student here in philippines..

  4. >Why can you speak Japanese?

    Now there’s a question I wasn’t expecting. What would be the “correct” answer to that one? I wouldn’t even know what to say… “because I learned how to speak it?”

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