CareerCross is back for round 2! When the time comes, I can update my resume and start my job search right away!
A candidate, who successfully found a job via CareerCross, told us about his job search!
Interview
Former Job : Web Engineer at a foreign-affiliated translation company
Current Job : Web Engineer at a foreign clinical trial system company
Application(s) : 4 companies
Scout(s) : 8 companies
Job hunting period : 3 months
Job Offer(s) : 1 company
CareerCross: Please tell us about the work you were responsible for at your previous job.
Successful Candidate: My previous job was at a foreign-affiliated translation company, where I was contracted to translate the web pages of a major IT company into Japanese. I was in charge of the content management systems (CMS) for uploading translated web page content.
CareerCross: Were you also involved in the translation as part of the job?
Successful Candidate: I was not involved in the translation work. When I received the web page content, the translation and the proofreading was already done.
CareerCross: Please tell us about the work you are doing at your new company.
Successful Candidate: I’m in charge of developing clinical trial systems for a foreign company. It’s a system that allows doctors to directly input patient data, manage it in the cloud, and view statistics. I am also in charge of demonstrating the system to customers, helping with pre-sales, and reporting problems to the head office.
CareerCross: Do you use English?
Successful Candidate: Not so much at the moment, but all documents from the head office are in English. My supervisor is overseas, so we have group meetings once a week and a general meeting once a month.
CareerCross: Right now, you may not be able to go to your home country due to Corona, but is there any possibility in the future?
Successful Candidate: There hasn’t been much business travel in the past two years. Once the situation with Corona settles down around summer time, there will be an opportunity for the whole company to have a face-to-face meeting.
I think the opportunity to go abroad is one of the charms of a foreign company. It’s not easy to have the opportunity to go abroad on your own, so it’s nice to be able to do so on the job.
CareerCross: You’re moving from a foreign company to a foreign company, was that something you were aware of?
Successful Candidate: I liked the atmosphere of a foreign company, so I was aware of that. At my new company, as company policy, the hierarchy is flat, and I can talk to the CEO easily. The company has a flexible work schedule, although there are core hours.
Also, since I had good English skills, I wanted to go to a place where that was required.
CareerCross: Please tell us why you changed jobs.
Successful Candidate: I was in charge of engineering at my previous job, but my work was transferred to another country because it didn’t have to be in Japan. As a result, I lost my job and decided to change jobs, although I had been doing some work other than engineering.
I had been thinking about changing jobs for a while, but after this incident, I really started looking for a new job and I’m glad that I found one right away.
CareerCross: What did you focus on in this job change?
Successful Candidate: I wanted to be able to utilize my work experience and language skills, and to do something that interests me.
This is a different industry from my previous job, so I found it appealing. As for the annual salary, I focused on an environment where I could work comfortably, rather than setting an overly high goal and not being able to find a job. The company is growing, so it seems possible for the salary to increase after joining.
I wanted to work in a foreign company because I like the atmosphere.
I also liked the fact that it was close to my home and I could go door to door in about 30 minutes. I can choose to work remotely or in the office, so I go to work for a change of pace. There are only a few people in the Japan office, so the people are very supportive and friendly.
CareerCross: What are your thoughts on CareerCross?
Successful Candidate: I used CareerCross when I changed jobs about 10 years ago, and I’ve been registered ever since.
This time, I updated my resume even more and was lucky enough to find a company where I could utilize my experience and find a company that interested me.
Thoughts after the interview
I think the key to the early success was that the candidate had already registered with CareerCross and was able to start searching for jobs immediately after updating their resume. The candidate also had clear priorities in terms of what they wanted to focus on in a new job. Flexibility, such as increasing their annual salary after joining a growing company, seemed to be an important point, as well as a company where you can work comfortably. I thought it was wonderful.