How to Ace an Interview: Basically, Just Stay Calm

Thanks to guest contributor OnlineMBA for today's post content:

3 Tips For Your [Job] Interview

"People who interview well seem to do so effortlessly. While the rest of us waste time studying single-use, canned answers we’ll probably never use in the actual interview, these lucky few come in and rattle off brilliant responses without any preparation at all.

Prospective employers can present these breezy interviewees with surprise panel interviews, hairy logic problems, or uncomfortable salary questions and they’ll handle each thoughtfully, without panicking. Now, most of us aren’t like that, but we can learn a few things from those that are.

One distinguishable difference between these candidates and the rest of us is that they come into an interview without expectations of how it will be conducted. They go with an aim to learn and discuss if they’d be a good fit for the organization, not to prove that they will be. So, instead of pouring over a laundry list of stay-cool tips the days and night before your interview, check out the latest video from OnlineMBA to learn three easy-to-remember tricks to both appear and actually be more relaxed during your interview."

Job Spotlight: High School ALT Spots Across Nagano Ken

For the last two years, the Nagano Board of Education has listed direct hire ALT positions at high schools across the prefecture. These are cream-of-the-crop jobs, on par with the JET Program in terms of salary and support.

The jobs were first created as Nagano began to pull away from the JET Program, and they are often occupied by 5-year JETs who weren't quite ready to go home. But, the positions are open for anyone to apply.

However, because the package is nice and there is no shortage of applicants each year, the qualifications are steep. For starters, you need to be in Japan and have a valid landing permission for work.

Job Spotlight: www.top-us.com

TOP is a recruitment consultant that specializes in Japanese-English bilingual job positions with (usually large) Japanese firms. They advertise positions both within Japan and across the U.S., and they have branches in Tokyo as well as 5 major U.S. cities. Their listings also include some English- or Japanese-language-only jobs.

Job Spotlight: ALT Spot in Houfu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture

Last year around this time, Houfu City in Yamaguchi Prefecture advertised two direct-hire ALT positions with a competitive remuneration package.


If you're looking for specific figures about ALT working conditions, or if you're looking for a direct-hire gig around Yamaguchi to apply for, here's the lowdown and the link to watch over the next couple weeks:

Job Spotlight: Gifu City CIR Position

Gifu City is hiring for a contract Coordinator of International Relations (CIR, 国際交流員) position beginning April, 2011. The application window begins soon. Judging by the compensation package, this job is tailored for someone who is already in the Gifu area and looking for part time work. If that sounds like you, take a gander:

Application Deadline: Feb. 28, 2011

Job Spotlight: Kanuma City ALT Position

Kanuma City in Tochigi Prefecture is currently accepting applications for an ALT Position. This is an elementary-level position with remuneration comparable to JET, and it is open to people who are not currently living in the Kanuma area but are willing to relocate there. The deadline on this one is coming up fast, so if you're interested, take a look below then get cracking!

Application Deadline: Feb. 7, 2011

Job Spotlight: Maebashi City ALT Position

'Tis the season for hiring, in the world of April-start contract jobs, anyway. We got a heads up today on an ALT position in Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture. Unfortunately, the deadline for the job is today. However, the package on this one is pretty nice: Maebashi might be worth looking into next year if you're in the market.


Application Deadline: Jan. 27, 2011

Job Spotlight: Tsukuba City CIR Position

Tsukuba City has posted a hiring notice for a Coordinator of International Relations (国際交流員) position on their home page. CIR jobs are generally positions within a city hall or other municipal office arranging community events and international awareness. Some CIR positions include teaching community classes or visiting public schools as a guest teacher. Here's the scoop:

Application Deadline: Jan. 22, 2011

Job Spotlight: How to Get a Gaijinpot Job

Although I think there are other, better resources available for job searching, the well-trodden sites of the Internet are still worth a look; they are often well designed and because of their popularity, new jobs appear on them almost every day.

Today we're going to take a look at Gaijinpot Jobs.

(But, this advice is just as effective at other big job-listing sites, too.)

Most readers have already heard of Gaijinpot Jobs, so I'll keep the site description short: You create a profile on the site, write and save resumes, browse jobs, and send resumes with cover letters. Most of the jobs listed on the site are ESL teaching gigs, from small local schools to corporate giants like Interac. And Gaijinpot's ability to store your resumes means you can apply for a load of jobs with very little effort.

And that right there is what I want to focus on.

Think about it: If you can save one resume and one cover letter and send those off to a dozen companies in five minutes, so can everyone else. So, if you want to get in for an interview, the name of the game at Gaijinpot is quality and speed. Read on...

Job Spotlight: Shigaku.or.jp

For those of you who are interested in teaching English, but just want to escape the yearly-contract, no-bonus, no-pay-raise ALT quagmire, here's a site to keep an eye on.

Job Spotlight: Careerforum.net

One of the best places for foreign nationals to look for jobs in Japan are career forums. Career forums strip out a lot of the traditional Japanese hiring practices of attending compulsory seminars, filling out entry sheets, and attending up to eight rounds of interviews before a job offer finally arrives. They concentrate employers in one convenient location, so you can gather information and talk with recruiters at a dozen companies all in one afternoon.

11 Useful Vocabulary in Your Job Search (Part 2 of 2)

Knowing just a few particular terms can double your readiness to tackle a professional job search in Japan.

Continuing from our last post about job-search vocabulary, here are six more words that you ought to know as you embark to find work outside of ESL:

11 Useful Vocabulary in Your Job Search (Part 1 of 2)

If you're determined to find a job outside of the English teaching industry, it helps to familiarize yourself with the Japanese job-seeking world: A whole subculture exists for university juniors and seniors in which they identify the companies they want to pursue, attend seminars for those companies, climb a pyramid of four or more progressively more demanding interviews, and finally get hold of an offer for a job that won't start for another year.

Accompanying this subculture is its own special vocabulary. Here are the first five of eleven words you ought to know when venturing into the Japanese job market, and what they mean:

Resources for Finding an ESL Job in Japan

Pretty similar to my post on "How Much Will I Get Paid Teaching in Japan?", here are some resources for finding yourself some employment on this radical island.

All of my experience has been in finding teaching positions, so most of the information is geared towards that. However, you can use the links at the end of this post to find a great variety of different careers, some with no language requirements at all. Check them out.

In the future we'll go into more detail of how exactly to approach applying for a job, give a rundown of the different companies and advise on other career choices.

Job Spotlight: Japan-Career.jp

Looking for work outside the English teaching industry? Here's a nice Tokyo consulting firm where you can start:

Japanese Resume (Rirekisho) Forms

In Japan, there is a standard format for resumes/CVs. It's called a 履歴書 (rirekisho), and employers outside of the ALT and Eikaiwa arenas often require that applicants prepare a resume in this format.

Traditionally, applicants are supposed to fill every resume out by hand, so the employer can see that you specifically poured time into the application for his or her company. A handwritten resume also serves as a way for employers to peek at the quality of your handwriting. (And trust me, your application will be judged on this fact; if you proceed to the interview phase of hiring, almost every Japanese employer will make a comment about how they felt about the handwriting on your resume.)

Blank resume forms can be purchased at any convenience store, and often at department stores and grocery stores, too. They shouldn't cost more than 10 or 20 yen per sheet.

Or, you can print your own resume forms. We've hosted forms in a couple formats here at AccessJ: