Japan Work Benefits
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126)
Sun 2008/06/22 12:33
In a previous article I spoke about looking for work in Japan and today thought I should talk about the typical work benefits by taking the current opening position at Good Smile Company and my past experience as examples.
Good Smile Company are looking for a general administrator to manage the human resources book keeping and also to manage the finances.
Qualifications needed for this position are...
Some companies provide OJT (On the Job Training) or a few weeks of training before your regular schedule starts. And then theres companies (like Amazon) who will expect you to hit the ground running with minimum guidance on your first day. If you know your job description well then you should know what questions to ask.
Most companies look at your education history as a criteria for deciding whether to proceed with an interview or not. As a hiring manager, I personally never paid attention to the education and was more interested in skills and achievements.
Many companies that I've worked in over here tend to favor folks who have an MBA and pay them loads of money regardless of their experience. Dont know what it is about an MBA but I've never thought much about it when hiring somebody - especially after seeing many hiring mistakes of poor performing MBA holders.
I know that many folks do an MBA and then a PHD just for the purpose of getting paid more when they land themselves a job. Do you plan on doing an MBA or PHD?
Good Smile Company are looking for a general administrator to manage the human resources book keeping and also to manage the finances.
Qualifications needed for this position are...
Certificate in book keeping, can use "word, excel and email" and also has a drivers license.
Yes you would be surprised how many young folks in Japan who cant use mail. Anyway the qualifications needed are not particularly high and GSC mention that they provide training.Some companies provide OJT (On the Job Training) or a few weeks of training before your regular schedule starts. And then theres companies (like Amazon) who will expect you to hit the ground running with minimum guidance on your first day. If you know your job description well then you should know what questions to ask.
Most companies look at your education history as a criteria for deciding whether to proceed with an interview or not. As a hiring manager, I personally never paid attention to the education and was more interested in skills and achievements.
Many companies that I've worked in over here tend to favor folks who have an MBA and pay them loads of money regardless of their experience. Dont know what it is about an MBA but I've never thought much about it when hiring somebody - especially after seeing many hiring mistakes of poor performing MBA holders.
I know that many folks do an MBA and then a PHD just for the purpose of getting paid more when they land themselves a job. Do you plan on doing an MBA or PHD?
Photo below was taken in 2001 when I was at a recruitment company called Job Dragon. They were based in Omotesando which had great office views.
The CEO of Job Dragon contacted me because he liked my designs of dannychoo.com which I spoke about in the history of dannychoo.com article.
The hiring process at Good Smile is as follows.
The job was based in Tokyo and the description was "Web marketing in SE Asia." I said to myself that I had to have that job and even told my wife on the day I applied that "we are going to Japan" - she gave me a smile.
A few days later, I got a call to meet the general manager (David) of Nature Japan who had come to the UK for to do interviews. I met with him for an hour and the interview included a task to read a scientific article in Japanese ^^;
After the first interview, I went home and stayed up all night to make a simple Nature Korea website - they didn't have one at the time and discussed how it would be strategically important to have one during the interview.
I saved the files on a floppy, printed out a screenshot and found out what hotel David was staying at.
I got to the hotel, slid the folder under his door and left.
That night, I got a call from the recruitment agency who said that David wanted to meet me again and that "he was surprised by your delivery".
Met up with David who said that he wanted to send me to Tokyo for a round of interviews with the staff. I said to myself that I was going to get the job and was confident.
A week of interviews and tests proceeded for a week. I was doing forecasting which I had never done before and had to think of an algorithm that made sense. I was also doing translating of scientific articles which they don't teach in university for some reason ^^;
The end of the week came and I had a meeting with David expecting an answer but he said "We will give you a decision after you get back to the UK."
I started to imagine the pain of sitting on a plane for 12 hours worrying about the decision and said "I probably wont have any finger or toenails left after biting them all off through thinking about whether I got the job or not - I would prefer an answer before I go back (smiles)."
David laughs and says "I understand."
My time was up and I done everything I could. All I could do was to wait for his call.
The hotel phone rang on a rainy Sunday morning - it was David. "Danny, we would love you to join us."
My dream came true. I was going to live and work in Japan.
Went back to the UK, handed in my notice to Japan Airlines, packed two suitcases and bought a one way ticket to Tokyo.
The CEO of Job Dragon contacted me because he liked my designs of dannychoo.com which I spoke about in the history of dannychoo.com article.
The hiring process at Good Smile is as follows.
1. Submit resume online.
2. If your resume looks good then you are called for an interview with their hiring staff.
3. If the hiring staff is impressed then you go back again to meet the boss.
4. You get "congrats!" or "thanks but no thanks" message.
I think I may have spoken about this before but cant find the article. While in the UK working for Japan Airlines, I applied for a position that was in Tokyo working for Nature online through a recruitment company called People First. They have many connections with Japanese companies so if you are in the UK then you may want to give them a whirl if you are looking for work in Japan.2. If your resume looks good then you are called for an interview with their hiring staff.
3. If the hiring staff is impressed then you go back again to meet the boss.
4. You get "congrats!" or "thanks but no thanks" message.
The job was based in Tokyo and the description was "Web marketing in SE Asia." I said to myself that I had to have that job and even told my wife on the day I applied that "we are going to Japan" - she gave me a smile.
A few days later, I got a call to meet the general manager (David) of Nature Japan who had come to the UK for to do interviews. I met with him for an hour and the interview included a task to read a scientific article in Japanese ^^;
After the first interview, I went home and stayed up all night to make a simple Nature Korea website - they didn't have one at the time and discussed how it would be strategically important to have one during the interview.
I saved the files on a floppy, printed out a screenshot and found out what hotel David was staying at.
I got to the hotel, slid the folder under his door and left.
That night, I got a call from the recruitment agency who said that David wanted to meet me again and that "he was surprised by your delivery".
Met up with David who said that he wanted to send me to Tokyo for a round of interviews with the staff. I said to myself that I was going to get the job and was confident.
A week of interviews and tests proceeded for a week. I was doing forecasting which I had never done before and had to think of an algorithm that made sense. I was also doing translating of scientific articles which they don't teach in university for some reason ^^;
The end of the week came and I had a meeting with David expecting an answer but he said "We will give you a decision after you get back to the UK."
I started to imagine the pain of sitting on a plane for 12 hours worrying about the decision and said "I probably wont have any finger or toenails left after biting them all off through thinking about whether I got the job or not - I would prefer an answer before I go back (smiles)."
David laughs and says "I understand."
My time was up and I done everything I could. All I could do was to wait for his call.
The hotel phone rang on a rainy Sunday morning - it was David. "Danny, we would love you to join us."
My dream came true. I was going to live and work in Japan.
Went back to the UK, handed in my notice to Japan Airlines, packed two suitcases and bought a one way ticket to Tokyo.
Now we look at the terms at Good Smile. They have a probation period of 3 months which is the standard in Japan meaning that you are out if you do not perform.
Japanese law protects the interests of the employee more than the employer which means that its extremely difficult to fire folks after 3 months - good for the employee but very tough for the hiring manager who is trying to get rid of a poor performer. Japanese labor laws do state that a hiring manager can fire somebody within the first two weeks without reason.
If an employee starts to perform poorly after 3 months, the company needs to provide evidence that they have done everything possible to help the employee improve their performance.
This is better than some of the horror stories I've heard through colleagues working in web companies in the US - some folks would come to work one day to find their desk empty - they had been laid off.
Job Dragon had to lay me off too due to restructuring but it wasn't the "go-to-work-to-find-empty-desk" tactic. But as Job Dragon was a recruiting company, they introduced me to a few companies. Got job offers including one from Ebay but chose Amazon even though Ebay ended up bidding more. Getting more than two job offers through the same recruiter is good because the companies start a bidding war and offer you a "why you should join us" call from the CEO ^^;
Coming back from a tangent, there are companies however which keep poor performers by moving them around to different departments. These companies typically provide lifetime employment - and many Japanese folks stay with the same company from graduation until retirement. This is the reason why Good Smile dont have a contract - once you are hired you can potentially stay until retirement.
Foreign Capital companies in Japan are called Gaishikei [外資系] and they tend to have a contract which is renewed every year.
Picture below of me in my office at Amazon. Used to be more of a Star Wars person back then ^;
Japanese law protects the interests of the employee more than the employer which means that its extremely difficult to fire folks after 3 months - good for the employee but very tough for the hiring manager who is trying to get rid of a poor performer. Japanese labor laws do state that a hiring manager can fire somebody within the first two weeks without reason.
If an employee starts to perform poorly after 3 months, the company needs to provide evidence that they have done everything possible to help the employee improve their performance.
This is better than some of the horror stories I've heard through colleagues working in web companies in the US - some folks would come to work one day to find their desk empty - they had been laid off.
Job Dragon had to lay me off too due to restructuring but it wasn't the "go-to-work-to-find-empty-desk" tactic. But as Job Dragon was a recruiting company, they introduced me to a few companies. Got job offers including one from Ebay but chose Amazon even though Ebay ended up bidding more. Getting more than two job offers through the same recruiter is good because the companies start a bidding war and offer you a "why you should join us" call from the CEO ^^;
Coming back from a tangent, there are companies however which keep poor performers by moving them around to different departments. These companies typically provide lifetime employment - and many Japanese folks stay with the same company from graduation until retirement. This is the reason why Good Smile dont have a contract - once you are hired you can potentially stay until retirement.
Foreign Capital companies in Japan are called Gaishikei [外資系] and they tend to have a contract which is renewed every year.
Picture below of me in my office at Amazon. Used to be more of a Star Wars person back then ^;
Picture below of me at Nature just starting out in corporate life. I hated that Mac which gave me a bad impression of MacOS!
Back to the position at Good Smile. Folks with no office experience will get just over 180,000 yen per month while experienced folks will get 200,000 yen. Evaluation of salary is once a year and there is a bonus twice a year - each bonus is usually 2x monthly salary but depends on company performance.
Bonus time is usually middle and end of year which is why there are many ads on TV by companies who want a share of your bonus by selling you another refrigerator.
While most Japanese think of salary in terms of "per month", I always thought of salary in terms of "per year" and I think that's still the UK way of thinking - same in your region?
I started off with a salary of 5,000,000 yen and at about 27 I thought I hit the jackpot ^^.
I soon discovered that I was way below market value in Japan through talking to recruiters and other folks in the industry.
The 200,000 yen at Good Smile is good for an entry level position but I recommend that folks (no matter where you work) keep your options open and be aware of your own market value based on your increasing experience and skills. Speak to as many people as you can in the industry of your interest and meet up with recruiters even if you feel comfortable in your current job. Feeling *too* comfortable in your current job is a sign of danger though - I know many folks who want to leave their current job because of different reasons but they feel that they can't because the pay and benefits are good.
Do you feel that you have a grasp of your own market value? Are you currently underpaid for what you are doing?
Knowing your market value is not just about getting more money - its about getting rewarded more in monetary terms doing something that challenges you. Being rewarded more also means that you are being recognized for your experience, skills and achievements. So if you feel too comfortable in your current job, then it could be time to look for something more challenging - life is short.
The Job at Good Smile requires you to be be living in the Tokyo area and already speak Japanese - folks interested can apply here.
I've mentioned it many times but in my experience, folks who speak both English/Japanese *and* have a core skill get better paid jobs in high positions - its as simple as that. The management team I was on at Amazon was comprised mainly of non Japanese - all excellent speakers of Japanese - two folks from Canada (one originally from Hong Kong), one from China, one from the US and one from the UK (me ^^;).
Learning Japanese is fun if you are passionate about the language and not so fun if you feel that "you have to." 30 - 40 people took the same Japanese course as me in university but only 3 or 4 made it through to the end as many took the course because they thought "Japan is where all the monies is" and not because they were passionate.
How many folks here are currently learning Japanese and what tips can you offer to your fellow reader?
Other standard work benefits at Good Smile are health insurance (you pay 30% of medical bills if you are sick), employment insurance (you get money if you loose your job for whatever reason) and they pay some of your pension too. Pension is partially payed by your employer/yourself and theoretically you get money when you are retired. Unfortunately it looks like 50 million Japanese may not get money that they are entitled to as I wrote in my previous Japanese pension article.
Good Smile only mention the standard holidays which are Golden Week and national holidays. There are quite a few national holidays in Japan and I was incredibly shocked to see the lack of them when I was in the US for a while - does your region have a load or lack of national holidays?
Amazon and Microsoft provided about 12 days leave per year while Nature provided about 20. If you joined Microsoft in December, you would be given 12 days for the current year and receive another 12 days come January. How many days of leave does your company provide?
Another benefit are staff discounts - Good Smile don't mention it but I'm guessing that employees get free figures ^^;
Amazon and Microsoft provided some sort of employee discount card which enabled us to get discounts for hotels and trips around Japan - hotel rooms were discounted from something like 12,000 yen down to 1,200 yen. The best benefit I has was the staff discount at Microsoft which enabled me to get something like 12% off *Apple* products - yes Apple products because we made office and messenger for the Mac. Does your company provide staff discounts?
And for those thinking of the job at Good Smile and who haven't seen it yet, my previous tour of the Good Smile offices is in the video below and photos in this previous article.
Finally, if you have solid plans of living and working in Japan, do feel free to share them.
Back to the position at Good Smile. Folks with no office experience will get just over 180,000 yen per month while experienced folks will get 200,000 yen. Evaluation of salary is once a year and there is a bonus twice a year - each bonus is usually 2x monthly salary but depends on company performance.
Bonus time is usually middle and end of year which is why there are many ads on TV by companies who want a share of your bonus by selling you another refrigerator.
While most Japanese think of salary in terms of "per month", I always thought of salary in terms of "per year" and I think that's still the UK way of thinking - same in your region?
I started off with a salary of 5,000,000 yen and at about 27 I thought I hit the jackpot ^^.
I soon discovered that I was way below market value in Japan through talking to recruiters and other folks in the industry.
The 200,000 yen at Good Smile is good for an entry level position but I recommend that folks (no matter where you work) keep your options open and be aware of your own market value based on your increasing experience and skills. Speak to as many people as you can in the industry of your interest and meet up with recruiters even if you feel comfortable in your current job. Feeling *too* comfortable in your current job is a sign of danger though - I know many folks who want to leave their current job because of different reasons but they feel that they can't because the pay and benefits are good.
Do you feel that you have a grasp of your own market value? Are you currently underpaid for what you are doing?
Knowing your market value is not just about getting more money - its about getting rewarded more in monetary terms doing something that challenges you. Being rewarded more also means that you are being recognized for your experience, skills and achievements. So if you feel too comfortable in your current job, then it could be time to look for something more challenging - life is short.
The Job at Good Smile requires you to be be living in the Tokyo area and already speak Japanese - folks interested can apply here.
I've mentioned it many times but in my experience, folks who speak both English/Japanese *and* have a core skill get better paid jobs in high positions - its as simple as that. The management team I was on at Amazon was comprised mainly of non Japanese - all excellent speakers of Japanese - two folks from Canada (one originally from Hong Kong), one from China, one from the US and one from the UK (me ^^;).
Learning Japanese is fun if you are passionate about the language and not so fun if you feel that "you have to." 30 - 40 people took the same Japanese course as me in university but only 3 or 4 made it through to the end as many took the course because they thought "Japan is where all the monies is" and not because they were passionate.
How many folks here are currently learning Japanese and what tips can you offer to your fellow reader?
Other standard work benefits at Good Smile are health insurance (you pay 30% of medical bills if you are sick), employment insurance (you get money if you loose your job for whatever reason) and they pay some of your pension too. Pension is partially payed by your employer/yourself and theoretically you get money when you are retired. Unfortunately it looks like 50 million Japanese may not get money that they are entitled to as I wrote in my previous Japanese pension article.
Good Smile only mention the standard holidays which are Golden Week and national holidays. There are quite a few national holidays in Japan and I was incredibly shocked to see the lack of them when I was in the US for a while - does your region have a load or lack of national holidays?
Amazon and Microsoft provided about 12 days leave per year while Nature provided about 20. If you joined Microsoft in December, you would be given 12 days for the current year and receive another 12 days come January. How many days of leave does your company provide?
Another benefit are staff discounts - Good Smile don't mention it but I'm guessing that employees get free figures ^^;
Amazon and Microsoft provided some sort of employee discount card which enabled us to get discounts for hotels and trips around Japan - hotel rooms were discounted from something like 12,000 yen down to 1,200 yen. The best benefit I has was the staff discount at Microsoft which enabled me to get something like 12% off *Apple* products - yes Apple products because we made office and messenger for the Mac. Does your company provide staff discounts?
And for those thinking of the job at Good Smile and who haven't seen it yet, my previous tour of the Good Smile offices is in the video below and photos in this previous article.
Finally, if you have solid plans of living and working in Japan, do feel free to share them.
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Raven, AMV & MAD maker, Otaku
wants to live in japan , , but the work looks strict e.o the Congrats and thanks but no thanks part really shook me
(ID #219118) Posted on 2008/06/22 12:44
Director/代表取締役
That part is not literal by the way.
(ID #219124) Posted on 2008/06/22 12:52
Danny, you should make a "report typo" feature. I often spot a typo or two in your articles and always wish I could say something...
(ID #219125) Posted on 2008/06/22 12:55
Director/代表取締役
Why not use the comments?
(ID #219127) Posted on 2008/06/22 12:56
I figure you don't always have time to read every comment ^_^ But here goes: "This is better than some of the horror stories I've heard through colleges" I assume it should be colleagues "different reasons but they feel that they cant" cant -> can't "not because they were pasionate." pasionate -> passionate "(you pay 30% of medical bills of you are sick)" second "of" should be "if"
(ID #219136) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:10
Director/代表取締役
Thank you sensei! All corrected. I need to speak more Engrish.
(ID #219139) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:14
Yeah, with the amount of languages you know I imagine it's impossible to keep all of them perfect ^_^ I even find with just learning one language right now that I make more and more English mistakes.
(ID #219194) Posted on 2008/06/22 14:29
Judging from the video above...do you speak with the funny japanese accent to be polite to the locals or to fit in with the locals? Cant hear any Brit accent from it at all. OOps...i meant Can't, or Cannot.
(ID #219930) Posted on 2008/06/23 14:09
Gamer, the hardcore kind
I also see this one a lot ^^; Loose --> lose
(ID #220170) Posted on 2008/06/23 22:36
Online Shop
Great story from your experience Danny, you are always so determined to achieve your goal. I'm so envious of your sheer determination :) I did hear that some Japanese people can't use Microsoft Words or do some basic PC duties which makes them hard to get a decent job and so they live in those internet cafe and such. Hard to believe it sometimee. I want to live in Japan but so far don't have much a solid plan, sigh. My general plan is to work and save up money for few years and then move to Japan maybe. Give me some of your dedication to me Danny!
(ID #219126) Posted on 2008/06/22 12:55
Stigmata Martyr
interesting read Danny. would very much love to work in Japan especially when you mentioned the whole "lifetime employment" thing. I could imagine being set up for life working in an otaku-related company like GoodSmile. pure bliss
(ID #219130) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:01
Since the Japanese tend to stay in with their employers till retirement, how do people see quiting and joining another company? I think I heard that this is not done at all, but how can you advance yourself if you are in a position that doesn't move? Or are you basically stuck being a low salary individual going no where? Personally I would love to learn Japanese though I hear it is one of the hardest languages to learn. So I am kinda hesitant because I might start to lose interest due to difficulty learning.
(ID #219131) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:04
Speedgrapher
A lot of companies in California have "MBA required" in their job postings. Some companies have "or x experience" but I'm finding a lot of companies don't even have that anymore. Some have "PhD required" for mid-level jobs. Which I think is crazy for some of the jobs I've seen that required a PhD or MBA. Now I'm all for higher education, but some of these guys with PhDs have NO experience in the corporate world. They have their own pace. I'm generalizing, but this is from seeing guys coming from a pure academic background and join an environment that expects quick turnaround. There's always exceptions, but that's my experience. People with MBAs pass that first door where guys with BAs are ignored.
(ID #219133) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:07
Yup, I'm sincerely interested in living & working in Japan. That's why I started taking Japanese lessons last Oct. I've had 2 friends who didn't made it pass the elementary 1 and 2 course simply cause they weren't motivated enough or had that passion. I'm determined to be able to converse normally by mid to end 2009! That's rather high for a starting pay (SGD 2,500). Fresh grads here get round SGD 2,700 monthly. And the 12 days leave for Dec alone?! We prorate it here. It's 14 days annual leave a year, not including sick leave, child sick leave, maternity leave and what nots. Danny, I think you're a role model cause you're very focused and motivated when you have a goal. Hope to be able to intern at Mirai Inc. in the future cause I know it'll be a successful company ^^ I should learn from you. I'm a tad too lazy at times.
(ID #219135) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:09
and it was starting pay for 10 years ago too, dont forget about time value of money. I was doing a polytechnic course and thought getting SGD 2,000 at the time was pretty good =x
(ID #219359) Posted on 2008/06/22 19:50
Email & Network Support/Administration
Knowing my "market value" is a little tough. Even though I'm the network administrator, we don't use Active Directory so that hurts me, although I do get to try and figure out problems in this mixed platform network (Mac & Windows) and admining email and web servers. I am learning Japanese by learning on my own and using an online school. This fall, I'll sign up for the second level Japanese course at my local community college. I had thought about working in Japan, but have seen a few job ads listing 35 as the max age (missed that requirement by a bit). Oh well, there's the eikawa's I guess. But I intend to have fun learning Japanese and have plans for a visit in Novemeber (we have to accrue our vacation time at my current job)
(ID #219144) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:22
Policy & Research Officer
Nice sharing Danny. My goal is to live in Japan by the time I hit 30. Sad to say, I've no proper plans yet, but my intention is to achieve JLPT 1 first and maybe get a MBA or something. Meanwhile I'd just get the most out of my job in Customs and probably gain some useful working experiences there.
(ID #219147) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:29
Huhu, 180,000 yen per month eh, its about MYR 5++k, which is a salary for engineer, programmer here in Malaysia. In Malaysia, we use "salary per month". About living and working in Japan, actually I'm currently interested in going to Japan for holiday, not living or working there, yet :P
(ID #219153) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:35
Well, the truth is that I began paying attention to Japanese stuff 8 months back, in that time I was not very excited about the idea of living or working in Japan. But now is totally different and I have 1 goal on mind and I think of it everyday. I'd love to work and live in Japan, is like a dream, call me «adulator» but Danny Choo has been the strongest inspiration, and believe me, now I really know what I want to do in the short-term. It's gonna take some hard work but it will be worth. Now I'm amazed with Japan and I won't let my opportunity pass by, living/working in Japan is something that I really want to do so for the first time in my life I'm gonna be responsable and follow my dream haha. Thank you Danny for the inspiration and the cool stuff you share in your blog ^^
(ID #219156) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:37
Given the widespread use of email in the business world, I'm surprised many working adults in Japan do not know how to use email. Basic proficiency in Microsoft Office is also expected when you apply for an office job in Singapore. In Singapore, a fresh general degree holder seeking an entry level position in the Civil Service can expect a gross salary of about 220,500 Yen per month (keep in mind Tokyo is ranked 3rd among the cities around the world with the highest cost of living. Singapore is ranked 14th). Generally speaking, the government takes 20% from your gross salary as compulsory savings. The employer also contributes an additional 14.5% to that compulsory savings. The savings can be withdrawn when the employee hits 55 years old, ensuring that there's some kind of retirement fund. This also eases the government's burden when there's a growing aging population to take care of. Sadly, lots of people waste that sudden windfall.
(ID #219164) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:52
Great tips Danny... would love a job at GoodSmile, but that one's not for me. :P No certificate in book keeping, no (japanese) driver's license, don't live in Tokyo, still dunno japanese... what a failure! XD I voted no because my plans are not yet solid. I could say I dream of living and working in Japan, I'd say I really have the intention to go at some point in my life, but now it doesn't depend only on me, and it's not the right time yet, though I realise I'm getting kinda old already. About japanese though... I've already gonne to some japanese language schools here where I live. Intend to start taking classes soon. I specially wanna learn how to read and write..
(ID #219166) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:54
Medical Research and Design
An amazing story, Danny, and kudos to you. You've done damn well for yourself and you have your own hard work to thank for it. Luck and skill is with you, and I have to say you've achieved what I'm trying to as well. To answer your poll, I do have plans to work in Japan and move there. Currently I'm working the angle from within the company I already work for which seems to be lightly promising at the time, but regardless of the situation I will end up in Japan wether it is with Cardinal Health or not. It's my dream - and nothing is going to stop me except something absurd like a war or whatnot. You work what I would have dreamt to work. For that you have both my envy and profound respect. :)
(ID #219168) Posted on 2008/06/22 13:58
You work for Cardinal Health? I've applied to their site at Michigan State University 4-5 times, only got one interview, didn't get the job. How many attempts did it take for you to get in? To answer the poll, I would like to visit Japan, maybe even work there. But I did kind of badly in my first semester of Japanese in college. Would have to take a refresher course. Maybe I'll get one of those Rosetta Stone programs once I get a job.
(ID #220620) Posted on 2008/06/24 09:45
Student, Opportunity seeker
I plan on going for an MBA sometime in the future (after I finish my BBA in marketing that is, hehe). Usually, it's an unwise decision for a student to go for an MBA directly after getting their bachelors'. From talking to various executives, it's far better to get some experience under your belt before hand. Also, if you're lucky, the company you work for may pay your way to get an MBA and might increase your pay/position upon obtaining it. In anycase, it's important to have an MBA if you're hoping to reach the executive levels in corporate america (world?). Atleast that's what I think.
(ID #219178) Posted on 2008/06/22 14:11
always find your articles motivational.. worked and still working at an multinational IT computer after got my degree started out as a contractor with around MYR 2K salary, found an opening for a permenant position which payed MYR 2.5K. Now 2++ years in the same computer, i am getting around MYR 3.5K without OT. The OT are quite good, and since its an American company - benefits are good as well Really interested in learning Japanese language but is currently self learning via books (Genki I), online resources, and from Dannychoo (where i pick up all the naughty words). Any advice here would be greatly appreciated. And oh yea, might be going to Japan end of this year - all the more reason and chance to learn up. Have a bit of the too comfortable symdrome as I think my company is paying me good buck and OT. So i am looking for opening in different department or team within the company that may present a change of working in Japan. Thank you Danny for yet another great article...add oil ganbaru yo!!
(ID #219182) Posted on 2008/06/22 14:17
Amazing story from your experience! I'd love to live and work in Japan, but I still have a couple years until university and so on and my opinions might have changed by then, but other than that, still have the dream of living and working in Japan...
(ID #219183) Posted on 2008/06/22 14:20
Aurora (Registered on 2006/12/26 08:49)
I love these stories on how you get to where you are now. You always give me hope! Now time to work harder towards to my dream.
(ID #219184) Posted on 2008/06/22 14:20
Web Developer/ウェブデベロッパー, Photographer/写真や
I think it's skills and what you can do is very much what differentiates you from the rest of the folks. Of course qualifications do play a part but it's more than often experience and work attitude that will bring you further and paid more.
(ID #219186) Posted on 2008/06/22 14:23
Part human, part student, 100% loser
I would like to work in Japan but I don't know if I'll be able to take on the challenge... For now, I guess I have to study hard so that I'll be able to go to Japan!
(ID #219195) Posted on 2008/06/22 14:30
IT engineer
good read..! sadly now i find myself underpaid T.T but at least i fufill my dream of working here ^^;
(ID #219223) Posted on 2008/06/22 15:08
study
kool
(ID #219224) Posted on 2008/06/22 15:09
part time illustrationist, doll clothing seamstress
To be honest, as much as I like japan I'm not sure if I really want to live/work in japan (I think I will spend too much money on things which I shouldn't be too much temptations lol), I don't mind visiting Japan for vacation/sight seeing tho ^^;
(ID #219226) Posted on 2008/06/22 15:11
I've just finished a Technique Informatique(sorry, not really sure what it is called else where) and I'll be entering university in September to get a Software Engineer degree. I haven't made up my mind yet about if I'll want a master degree or not but I know I'm not aiming to get a Ph.D. I'd like to be able to go and live in japan, I can't say yet if I'll want to spend the rest of my life their until I've been able to go, but I know I'd like to at least spend a few year. Once I'll be in Montreal, I will try to get Japanese class to start learning the language. I tried to take some class in my city but since it not big, it had to be private lesson and was too expensive for me. One thing I would like to do is to get into an exchange program with my university and be able to go to an Japanese one a semester or a year. But other than that, I don't really have any solid plan on how I'll get to Japan. Btw Danny, do you know if for Japanese company, knowing French is an asset? Or it something that not really worth more than any other extra skill you could have.
(ID #219233) Posted on 2008/06/22 15:21
Too bad I decided to change my business route when I entered college. I could have become a great accountant like my father (I did a lot of work for him). I would probably meet all the qualifications except for the actual certificate and the license (too lazy to get right now).
(ID #219242) Posted on 2008/06/22 15:39
JR. College Student
I don't care where my job is... I just need one. >_>
(ID #219243) Posted on 2008/06/22 15:39
Admin in the egg
I don't see me working in Japan anytime soon. I don't know any Japanese aside from babbling anime lines, learning a language for hobbies is beside the point to me. I like to do the job I like (with acceptable pay of course), the place only needs to be comfortable and that's not necessary Japan. I might change my mind in the future though, who knows. Danny, you're impressive, being firm and confident in archiving your goals. Being a human feeling jealous is inevitable. I, only the other hand, tend to play around and losing my focus lol. To be honest, I have had to repeat one year and a half at my university due to my laziness (otakuness is partially at fault here XD); my marks are also erratic, ranging from very good or even perfect scores (subjects I like) to repeatedly failing some subjects (subjects I'm not interested in) and then somehow managed to get by them. But "thanks to repeating" like that, I landed myself on the thesis (building a system to centrally manage lab usage for students, including user accounts, time and disc space quota, and some other services with linux and windows clients alike), instructed by the head of my department, for various reasons and also had to do it alone again for various reasons. Then some time ago he just asked me: "It seems you like to stay here (funnily sarcastic joke I guess), so do you want to continue to stay here as an admin?", and so I had an interview and we came to a closure. I'm going to work starting this July, still have two presentations to do for this thesis, but the preparations for these have been practically done already. The salary is not high as you would expect from working in school. Still it should be about average for just graduated students like me. To cover that up though, it's flexible and comfortable IMO like I can stay home if I'm tired no need to phone in, providing the network and system in school are working; I can also go in and out as I like. It also has a lot of opportunities like continue learning (plan to take on the M.Eng certificate as why not), scholarship, doing contracts for companies for additional income. Guess I'm very different from the typical hardworking ppl, and my life has been driven by luck a lot. Even when getting into this university, some of my friends had to work their ass off and still failed, I took it moderately and barely passed. I need to shape up and take this chance seriously this time (had told this to myself a bunch of times lol). Good luck to myself. If any of you are still learning in school and stuffs, don't try to imitate me to be honest. It has some very sour memories (real life and love life) and I did lose a better job opportunity due to not being graduated at the time.
(ID #219246) Posted on 2008/06/22 15:42
Interactive design, web 2.0 entrepreneur
Long and interesting article. Me and my partner in biz are considering moving an office to Tokyo or creating a branch there by early next year. We are heavily involved in we 2.0 and modern website dev. Is this a very tedious process? As in will it take a load of money and or a load of time to do?
(ID #219282) Posted on 2008/06/22 16:21
Great tips you have here Danny, I'm still in university year 1 in Canada but looking to get a BAsc in Mechanical Engineering then on to a MBA perhaps. I just started learning Japanese by myself as well, as I do plan to work and live in Japan *someday*... the general pay/salary there looks really good, and plus if I make good use of my English and Chinese I might get more priority in finding a job there :). I look forward to more of your "Japan" related articles as they're very thorough and helpful! Ganbatte!
(ID #219308) Posted on 2008/06/22 17:00
I'm learning Japanese more as a hobby, a recreational activity that gives me something positive to focus on. My goal is to eventually be able to watch anime without subtitles and read untranslatede manga. While I do hope to visit Japan in the near future I do not have plans to go live there. Working in the support branch of information technology, the available jobs, demand and pay varries with the market, since a prolonged slump, demand has been again quite high since last year, which is good as it gives more job opportunities and possible higher pay. My pay is fair but not great, I do have a company car, which is a definite plus and saves a lot. Since I lack any computer related degrees (I studied for something else originally) most companies will use that to either veer you away from higher or interesting positions or to offer less pay, this is saddening since in my carreer so far I have noticed that having degrees aren't always indicative of a good employee. I've seen plenty of downright lazy, incompetent people and a whole load of people who were able to bluff their way into a higher position or a higher pay and when you're working with them, you discover they're made of air. ^^;;
(ID #219309) Posted on 2008/06/22 17:03
great article danny. playing devils advocate tho.. pay in japan is pretty bad >.< i guess you get by in life with the benefits.
(ID #219316) Posted on 2008/06/22 17:27
I would like to work in Japan. I just need to learn enough of the Japanese language. MBA is hard to get here. When I'm ready and get some work expereince, I would want to move to Japan.
(ID #219317) Posted on 2008/06/22 17:27
student
I would like to work in japan for awhile, like maybe a year or so to get a feel of how different it is than working in the US. Right now, that idea is probably nothing more than a dream as my academic goals doesn't coincide with traveling to Japan u_u.
(ID #219320) Posted on 2008/06/22 17:41
I've thought about being a linguistic translator if I can't be an artist or animator so if I do that I do want to learn Japanese and maybe I'll work in Japan. But it's too early to tell right now.
(ID #219321) Posted on 2008/06/22 17:51
yeah, I don't have any solid plans to work in Japan. Of course it would be nice to be able to line in Japan, but I'm kinda missing the motivation. Although I did take Japanese lessons last semester and Will continue to take more. I think that going to Japan as exchange student would be more timely because I haven't even started College/University yet, so I have plenty of time to decide.
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