My way to job in Japan - Part 2
Rahul Maroju Updated in March 2024

I was stuck in a paradox - I wish to work in a company to gain experience whereas the companies want to give a job only to candidates with work experience. So, it is only the trust of the companies in the skills of the students which can help. Though the University of Tokyo is one of the most reputed institutions, I struggled to find the right companies to avail this advantage.

As my final hope to work in this field, I approached my supervisor for help with this situation. He expressed the same that it would be difficult to get without Japanese within this short time. He referred me to a contact from a company, but never got a reply.

In a confused state during my job search, I was anxious. I changed my approach and began to look for IT jobs as I have found many students being successful in such roles. From my experience, the job search results showed up in a good number for software engineers and related roles. In this area, though I could find many roles for which English was sufficient, most of them demanded concrete IT skills, and desired prior experience. So, I couldn’t get much luck with this approach too.

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As my graduation date was approaching, I lost my hope of working in Japan. I didn’t wish to extend my visa for 3 more months to search for a job, as that was not a prominent recruiting period. Also, it has been long since I met my parents in India.

The turnover of events happened just 1 month before expected to leave Japan. Using LinkedIn, I found a role in Rakuten Mobile and applied for it. The company was actively looking for candidates for roles which require good English-speaking capability. I applied for the “Open Position” role, which was the only entry-level role during that time. In early September, I got a call for a preliminary interview, followed by a technical and HR interview, just a few days before my departure. The final day has come, and I headed back hoping to find luck with work after I return.

After reaching India, there was no response from the company for more than a month. I gave up my hope on it and was looking for jobs in India. It was a tough time as many companies have greatly restricted their hiring. My lack of significant prior work experience added to the woes.

After around 2 months, I was surprised to get a call from Rakuten Mobile, where they invited me for a HR discussion. A week after this interview they offered me a job. I couldn’t describe in words the feeling of the long job search that finally provided me an opportunity. I never imagined that I could visit Japan again! I applied for my employment visa to re-enter Japan to work there. Moreover, this duration provided me with a nice vacation of around 4 months at home. Finally, I started my duties from February 2023.

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