Internship＆career is a system in which students have practical training and gain job experience at companies. The period can vary from one day to more than one month. You should check out each company's program and choose the one that is compatible with your university life.

• Examples of programs:
• ・Visit to see offices and factories
• ・Experience the job at the actual work-site
• ・Take courses to learn the knowledge and approaches necessary for the work e.g., taking a course about “Narrowing down the area for a new shop” lectured by an employee in the store development department, followed by discussion and group work.

• The purpose of participating students
• There are two typical reasons; "To find a job with which they can make the most of themselves" and "Improve themselves through on-site experience in order to get a desired job”

• The effect of Internship＆career
• It strengthens your desire for a job with which you can make the most of yourself. As a result, you will voluntarily research the industry and the companies and become well prepared for job hunting, which naturally leads to a satisfactory outcome.

• The timing of participating in an Internship＆career
• It is roughly divided into the following 2 periods
• ・It is a good idea to participate in an Internship＆career held in the summer and the winter of the penultimate year of your education if you want to prepare for job hunting.
• ・In case you want to improve your abilities and skills, you might want to start in your first or second year. It might be a good idea to choose an Internship＆career that lasts a month or more during your long vacation. You should collect information and consult your university's career center (section where you can consult for employment).

At the early stage of job hunting, there are two actions “pre-entry” and “entry”. “Pre-entry” means that you have not fully decided to apply at that moment, but you will register to obtain information from the company that you are interested in. On the other hand, “entry” means that you would like to apply to the company and make a reservation for a company information session and submit the necessary documents. As you can see from this difference, you can be more relaxed in the “pre-entry”.

• Flow leading to pre-entry
• In advance, you should start narrowing down the industries and the positions you want to work at. Based on that, you would check job information sites and attend company information sessions so that you can find companies whose policies and future prospects you find attractive. Further, you will be able to research and deepen your understanding of the companies.

• Job hunting begins with pre-entry
• Be careful not to waste your time wondering “which company should I choose”. When you find a company that you are interested in, first access the company's site and register your personal information (= pre-entry).

An entry means that you make an action to inform the company of your intention to apply. The typical steps proceeding entry are “making a reservation for a company information session”, “submitting an entry sheet” and “taking a written test.”

• Flow leading to entry
• First, you will obtain the right to access company information available for job hunting students. Companies publicize information to allow pre-entrees know about them in depth. At the right timing, they also release the schedule of the company’s information sessions, the methods to access the entry sheet and its submission dead line.
  You should make a reservation for the company information session and submit the entry sheet to the company with which you want to apply. At this point, you have made the entry for selection.

• Importance of narrowing down the companies to which you make an entry
• For example, in case you make a pre-entry to 100 companies and make an entry to all of them, you are likely to fail in your job hunt. Because you will need a lot of time and labor to participate in the company information sessions, make the entry sheets and to take the writing tests; therefore, your job hunt will come to a stalemate by making too many entries beyond your capacity.
  You need to narrow down the companies to make an entry based on “future prospects”, “corporate culture” and “the conditions of your company selection”.

• Real job hunting starts after the entry
• Companies will provide the pre-entrees with the right to access information in a businesslike manner. For the next stage, they start the selection by reviewing the contents of their entry sheets. That means that real job hunting starts by making an entry.

Open seminars on the themes related to job hunting will be held earlier than company information sessions and selection periods (during your preparation period). Since it is not related to the selection, you can participate in a more casual manner.
The first step toward an unofficial job offer is to find a sector that you want to work in. The reason for that is companies are looking for people who are focused on what they want to work on. Therefore, it is recommended to actively join open seminars on the theme of "industry and job research", which is helpful to narrow down the jobs you aim at.

• Make a good use of Internship＆career seminars and open seminars
• First of all, you can expand your knowledge on the industry and the work through Internship＆career seminars held in the summer of your penultimate year of schooling. However, you can't research all of the many industries through these alone. So, you should participate in various open seminars for “industries and work research” held after the summer Internship＆career so that you can research about "industries and work" that you missed during your summer Internship＆career. And, if you are interested in industries or jobs that are different from those in the summer time, you should apply for work experience in a winter Internship＆career during your penultimate year. In this way, you can make your job hunting preparation more complete.

During the selection process, one question that receives the most scrutiny is “what you want to achieve after joining the company”; the answer to this becomes the presentation of “your job vision.” In order to enhance this presentation, it is necessary to proceed step by step; first "industry research", and then "job research into your desired company". It should be noted that people who stumble in job hunting tend to neglect this industry research.

• How to conduct industry research

You should start researching industries extensively by using Internet content and books. The purpose of this is to decide from which industries you should choose the companies for your pre-entry or entry.Generally speaking, it is ideal to narrow it down to approximately 3 industries in which you wish to apply.

Please refer to the Mynavi
“Industry research page”
• *You need to narrow down by industry type for industries with a wide range. Please read the paragraph on “industry type”


• Next, set up a goal such as to attend the explanations of companies which belong to those 3 industries you are most interested in or listen to the explanations of a few companies in each industry, you should come and join the Mynavi Career Expo and other joint information sessions. Through attending, you can learn about each company, and at the same time you will find out about “industry issues” and “aimed directions of the industry as a whole” by summarizing the information obtained from those explanations. As a result, it becomes easier for you to make your job vision.

• Checking the news is a part of industry research
• By keeping abreast of news about politics and economy as a whole, you can find out about forefront industries’ issues such as “5G”, “FinTech” and” Maas” in special editorials. You should take memos when you come across those uncommon key words and follow-up on the Internet. As a result of these assiduous efforts, you can become deeply knowledgeable on industries, and you will be able to speak about your job vision paired with cutting-edge trends.

Companies are made of individuals working in posts matched to his/her aptitude and the teams they form. The various posts inside a company are called “occupational categories”. The key word “occupation” might be called “role” inside the company. Some examples are “"Representative Director", "Manager", "R&D Position", "Technical Position", "Production Manager", "Sales Position", "Personnel Position", "Public Relations and Advertising Position", "Corporate Planning Position", "Product Planning Position"

• Three points to understand occupations
• You should check the following three points in order to understand each occupation.
• ・For Whom:  confirm what issues and/or hopes other people related with your work have.
• ・By What kind of abilities/knowledge:  Confirm what kind of abilities and/or knowledge you need to solve the issues and to realize the hopes of the people related to your work.
• ・How you can contribute:  Check actual examples of the issues solved and goals met. In this case, you can refer to articles of the employee’s introduction of the company.

• Two things you need to decide your desired occupation: Occupation research and self-analysis
• During the selection process, you need to tell yourself “I have confidence to work actively in my desired post” In order to promote yourself, you need to choose the job which meets the following conditions: You are suited in the position and you can make the most of yourself in that position.
  In the process of choosing a post/occupation, it is necessary to make a “self-analysis”. The analysis should make clear how you can make most of the things you have learned, such as your strengths and weakness, the things you are good/poor at, the knowledges and skills obtained at university, the know-how acquired from extracurricular activities. And, as you research occupations, you can choose a job which suites you based on the self-analysis. Companies reject applicants when they believe that the person’s features and his/her desired job are mismatched. You should also enhance the matching by getting advice from your family, fellow alumni and third persons.
Please refer to Mynavi
“Occupation research page”

Next to “What you want to do after being hired”, the question; “Why you want to work for OUR Company, and not OTHER companies” is the one that the company seriously considers in the selection process. Therefore, you need to apply after thoroughly researching about the company and grasping the differences from others. Especially, leading companies tend to take “the reason why you have selected them” more seriously. The reason for this is that there is fierce competition between the leading companies. That is; the first leading company never wants to lose the top position, and the second leading company never wants to lose against the third one and wants to seize the top position. They have a very strong rivalry among them. This type of intense rivalry binds the large number of employees together and becomes a driving force to overcome difficult tasks and innovate in the future. For this reason, they want to hire people who select the company as a first choice with a strong wish to work with them.
Refer to following to deepen your research

• Points to make companies’ differences clear
• ・Strength of each company, what business category is the company focusing on
• ・what are the original technologies and services of the company?
• ・Are the employees proud of his/her company and jobs?
• ・what are the mid-and-long term business strategies?
• ・How employees are promoted
• ・Business results（transition of sales volume in the last three years, rises and falls in sales profitability）
• ・Does the corporate culture fit you? (You may be able to tell from the employees’ conduct)

Self-analysis will make it possible to explain to others about yourself. Mainly, it consists of two points, which are disclosing your strengths (your weapon), and narrowing down the jobs which are suitable for you.

• How to proceed to disclose your strengths and advantage
• First, write down your own experiences after entering university, and start thinking over the reasons why you have selected them. Upon completing this self-analysis, you should become able to explain your strengths and advantages through some anecdotes and other’s evaluations.
  Write down your experiences by referring the following


• ・”Reasons”:   The reason that you had chosen the academic department you belong to, the reason you had chosen a small lecture group or laboratory, the reason you joined an extra-curricular club, part time jobs, or deciding to study abroad etc.
• ・”Goals・Achievements”:  Your past goals and achievements (regardless of size) , academic results (the percentage of “A”s), knowledge and skills learned at small lecture groups and through research activities, achievements in extra-curricular sports and activities, Actions appreciated at your part time job, things you have become confident about, areas in which you feel you have grown.
• ・”Hardships and difficulties” Explaining these give impact to your self-promotion:  hardships and difficulties you faced in each activity, things you have thought were difficult and tried to overcome, In the process of overcoming hardships and difficulties, the advice and encouragement obtained from your friends and seniors and the comments you have appreciated.

• Analysis on jobs suited for yourself
• Through an analysis of your strengths and things you are good at, you will be able to realize personal traits such as “I’m good at studying”, “I can solve problems by leading the group” or “I can support people and feel pleasure by being appreciated.” Based on the result, you should be able to find a job suited for you the most among various jobs.

Analysis by others is a method to learn from your friends and seniors about your own features and strengths. In this, you can effectively advance your self-analysis and notice previously unknown aspects of yourself at the same time.

• Things you want to learn from your friends and seniors with whom you have shared a lot of time
• ・Strengths:  You might be made aware of strengths you didn’t realize you had. You would find out in the situations he/she had noticed it.
• ・Passions:  Episodes in which you have felt passion will be an important source of your self- promotion. You should confirm which episodes you felt passion through others’ eyes.
• ・Credit・Trust:  A basis of criterion for a company to select a person is to see he/she is credible and trustworthy. It is an asset if you can confirm others’ appreciation of you as “your behavior being unbiased”,” you have greatly contributed to the team”,” You have acted with a strong sense of responsibility”. Using this you can promote yourself with great confidence.

• Things you want to learn from your adult family members and seniors
• Job hunting is an action to select a job. You should investigate thoroughly what job suits you the best to avoid the feeling “This job wasn’t for me” after employment. Therefore, you should consult adults who have working experience relating to the job which might suit you and should get tips and advice from them.
他己分析をお願いしてみよう！

Alumni refer to your seniors who have graduated from your university. The purpose of visiting them is to research their companies in depth by learning about the corporate culture and the job they are doing. In this, you can enrich your reasons for applying. You don’t have to limit to only alumni. You can ask the recruiting personnel for an introduction to employees of the company you want to apply. The reason why talking to alumni is emphasized is that they tend to pitch in and help you despite their busy schedules and they have some feelings in common with those from the same university.

• Visiting alumni is not only company research but also a self-promoting action at the same time
• The first purpose of visiting and talking with alumni is to enrich your reason for applying through research on the company/the job, and to increase the probability of success. Also, through the visit you can add the second purpose of displaying “your strong desire to enter the company and your good personality”. Therefore, one goal of the visit is to result in the alumni having a good impression of you, so they could report to their employer: “I have met my junior and explained about our company. He/she was a great student with a strong desire to work for our company.”

• Preparing questions to ask in advance
• When you visit alumni, you should study about the company in depth and prepare questions to ask them in advance. In case you ask questions which are answered in the company brochure, they might make a comment saying that you didn’t seem to have studied earnestly, and your visit might result in their opinion of you being lowered.

In the process of job hunting, you might hear the expression “you should see the person in the personnel department”, but this expression is not exactly right. Accurately, it should be said “you should see the recruiting personnel (in the personnel department)”. The personnel department is the name of the department where “evaluation”, “training” and “recruiting” are conducted. So, when you call that section to make an inquiry regarding recruitment, you should say “Can I talk to recruiting personnel” not “someone in the personnel department”
However, recruiting personnel don’t necessarily belong to the personnel department in all companies. In some companies, you might find recruiting personnel in the general affairs department. Also, the name of the person in charge of recruitment is different depending on a company such as “recruiting section”, “recruiting team” and “human resource hiring section”. You should check the name of the section where recruiting personnel belong to with accuracy, since using a wrong section name could be taken as impoliteness. You can check these in the entrance requirements of each company run in employment information sites such as Mynavi.

*The entrance requirements pertaining to the information with which you want to confirm to apply can be found. Information such as the number planned to be employed, names of universities with recruitment history, job opening types, and academic departments from which applications are accepted. You can also check the contact number or the mail address in the requirement. Also, you can check the record of hiring international students.

A recruiter is an employee who supports recruiting activities. Usually, a young employee is assigned to this task, and the assigned person will contact the students in the university that he/she graduated from. Then, he/she will induce the students and judge their desire to apply, and their characters at the same time. This contact with the recruiter is actually the first interview. (Some companies have this recruiter system, but some don’t)
In terms of meeting the senior who graduated from your university, contacting the recruiter is similar to interactions with alumni .But, in reaching out to alumni, you are the one who finds and contacts them; on the other hand, the recruiter is contacting from the company’s side. That is the difference.
In situations where you are acknowledged by the recruiter, in many cases you will receive strong support such as checking/correcting your self-promotion and your writing on the reason to apply, setting up a meeting with a middle level employee, which could lead to an unofficial job offer. So, it is very important to have the recruiter on your side.
You should submit the entry sheet at an early stage in order to establish contact with the recruiter. The reason for this is that the students to be contacted are decided in the process of document (entry sheet) screening. Each company has an allocated number of employment prospects for each university. Before the number is filled, you should act in a swift manner to get their attention.
Participating in Internship＆career is also another way for you to get in touch with a recruiter. When you apply to the desired company, you should make a pre-entry at the early stage while you are participating in your Internship＆career.

Recruiting personnel are the people who advance recruiting activities smoothly by making a company brochure, planning and implementing company information sessions, arranging interviewers, contacting applicants. They manage the education/training for the newly graduating students who have had an unofficial job offer and after the hiring new employees.
Generally speaking, recruiting personnel have the decision making authority up to the process of document screening or the first interview, but after that, they are in the positon to do the office work including contacts to applicants according to the pass-or–fail determinations made on-site employees and the executives in charge of the interviews. The purpose of this is to avoid the concentration of authority to only a very limited number of people (the recruiting personnel) and to decide employment based on the objective evaluations by the company as a whole.

• The closer to the final selection, the harder recruiting personnel focus on determining if the company is the first choice of the applicant

Recruiting personnel have the duty to meet a quota for employment planned by the company, and they wish to achieve it quickly and smoothly. However, it is not easy to achieve since the applicants are also applying to other companies. The further the interview process goes, it is not an overstatement that a recruiter’s the most important duty is to determine whether the company is an applicant’s first choice. For this reason, they give higher priority to those who clearly state “Your company is my first choice” than those who state “My first choice is another company” or “I’m still wondering which company I should work for”, and they proceed to the next selection step.

A resume is one of the documents you fill in with your personal information and submit to recruiting personnel at the early stage of job hunting. There are columns to write educational background from elementary school to the present, work experiences, qualifications, self-promotion, reason for applying, and hobbies.
The important matter emphasized regarding your resume is accuracy. In case there is an untrue statement in the qualification column, it is a mistake in the basic criteria for the decision making process toward employment. Therefore, the decision made based on the wrong information is totally ineffective, and you can’t protest if an unofficial job offer is invalidated. Thus, even if you have 100% confidence to pass any qualification test of which the result will be reported one week after the submission of your resume, at that point you should try to report this accurately as: “qualification expected to obtain”
Also, you should develop trust with the employer in relation to which important personal information is provided and received. Accordingly, the resume can be one tool in order to establish a trustworthy relationship. In the case of a hand-written resume, you should try to write it as carefully as possible. The impression of a resume which looks sloppy or carefully written makes a difference in the trust toward submitter felt by the receiver.

An Identification photograph is the face photo glued on your resume and entry sheet (or photograph data as an attachment) for the purpose of personal identification. The interview is conducted upon confirming the face of the applicant attending is matched to the identification photograph on the resume. Simply speaking, it is to prevent fraudulent interviews.
In document selection, the impression of the identification photograph will influence your evaluation. Thus, it is advisable to have a photo of you in which you are well groomed and dressed, and it is also better if the photo is taken by a professional photographer at a studio. Differences in the Identification photograph such as the adjustment of light, the angle of your jaw-line, gaze and facial expression can make a positive impact. A serious and firm expression tends to make an inorganic impression. So, it is better to keep this in mind and have a photo taken with a subtle smile.
In case you glue the photo to the resume, first you should write down your name and your school name on the back side of the photo before gluing it. It is a measure in case it comes off. In case you use a sticker-type photo you don’t have to do this.

A company information session is a PR event in which the company tries to attract applicants by informing them of basic matters such as their goals, their strengths, corporate culture distinguishing them from other companies, the type of employees they are looking for, etc. The purpose of the session is to check if the students actually come to participate, and it also aims to confirms if they have a seriously intension to apply.

• Applicants who stand out in a positive manner will lead in the selection race
• There are some people who are stand out in a positive manner among the participants in the company information session. Those applicants catch the attention of the employees, and a recruiter might contact them; thus, they have an advantage going into the selection. Those who positively stand out have some things in common, usually a high communication level. For example, they can listen to the employees’ talk and positively make eye contact.

• Participants in the company information sessions applying to the same industry are valuable allies and sources of information.
• If you have increased the number of these allies, you can exchange information on other companies’ process such as “Company “A “has started interviewing” etc. This makes it possible for you to act swiftly in your job hunt.
  Among the participants, some might form a group who exchange their contact numbers with each other after the information session. If you find this type of group, you should join them. Of course, if you want to make such a group, you should actively call out to others. In order to join the session, you spend time and travel costs. It would be a pity to not take advantage of the opportunity to gather more information than that shared by the company.

Job hunting guidance is a lecture held by the university career center in which you can get basic knowledge on job hunting. (The name of the section differs depending on the university).The guidance has various themes such as Job hunting as a whole, how to research industries, self-promotion including how to write the reason to apply, preparation for the interview, experiences of the seniors. There is a big difference in the results between job hunting with preparation based on guidance and one which simply follows the selection process with trial-and-error.
Universities hold the lecture events considering the job hunting schedule, so the students have enough time to prepare. An important thing is that you don’t finish the job hunting guidance by simply attending but, start researching the industry and prepare for self-promotion. Those who don’t take action thinking “not yet” don’t move until it is too late. The winners in job hunting are only those who give themselves plenty of time to move with intention of brushing up on self-promotion writing by asking career center staff for help.

• The start for job hunting guidance will be announced from the carrier center
• At the job hunting guidance, some students become aware of the existence of the career center for the first time. The announcement is a call to the student saying “please rely on us since we are willing to give you advice.” You should visit the career center once. There is a lot of valuable information such as companies at which seniors are employed.

The Mynavi Career Expo is one of the biggest job hunting events held in major cities in Japan by the Mynavi Corporation which provides job hunting information. Several thousand corporations including major leading companies and venture corporations participle. So, you can research many companies within 1 day, and make a contact with employees at the same time.
And, one of the reasons for its popularity among job hunting students is that there are many lectures such as “how to write an entry sheet and Job Interview measures”, “how to apply make-up for job hunting” in addition to popular companies information sessions. You might want to participate in the event to avoid a delayed start since several hundred thousand students are there and start their job search all at once. In order to join the event, you should register online in advance to enter smoothly. Also, you can check the participating companies at the each venue on the site. To make effective use of the Mynavi Career Expo, you should select companies in which you are interested in advance.

“Regular employment” means the positon in which you are expected to carry business-critical matters in a management positon, CEO or even president in the future, or expected to be an expert who can strengthen the company’s competitive power with your ability and skills based on experience in a leading position.
On the other hand, “administrative position” means the positon who assists a regular full-time positon mentioned above. Most corporations offer university graduates a regular employment position, and there is very small number of a positions limited to general office work. There are some companies which don’t have administrative positions any more. The reason for this is that it has become a mainstream idea that the assisting administrative work can be more systematized or be consigned to an outside company

• Expectation toward “a regular full-time position”
• In case you are employed by the company which has many branches all over Japan, you might need to accept a relocation in the process of moving up the career ladder. Also, They require you to have abilities to reach goals and the creativity to produce new value and systems for the company. Therefore, in a regular full-time positon, real ability is counted and evaluated based on your achievements and contributions to the company. It can be said to be a challenging but worthwhile positon.

• New “regular full-time position” with a diversified working style
• Nowadays, some companies offer “a regular full-time position” with work in one area without any relocation. This trend is based on the idea that a company can prevent losing capable human resources by accepting a diversified work style according to the employee’s circumstances.

In job hunting, there are some opportunities to visit companies such as participating in a company information session and going for an interview. But, when you visit the company to meet an employee for the purpose of company research, it is called “a company visit”. In order to visit a company, you must get the permission from recruiting personnel in advance. Contacting alumni for company research is a similar situation, but in the case of a company visit, you should not limit yourself to alumni, but ask the recruiting personnel to arrange a meeting with a personnel in the post or the department you have specified.
There are quite a few companies which turn down requests for visits with reasons such as that they can’t respond to all the requests, which might cause the trouble in the regular work. And that it would be unfair to approve only a small group of students. But, there are some companies which provide “Talk sessions with employees” or “Question and answer sessions with the employees” also in addition to the company information session. It is important for you to prepare some questions in advance on the occasion of a company visit or additional sessions.

• Example questions
• The following are some example questions. You should prepare questions related to your research on the company or the occupational category.
• ・What is an episode that exemplifies the best part or the real pleasure in your job?
• ・What kind of ability do you need to improve or what do you do for your self-improvement?
• ・What are the difficulties in your job and what is needed to overcome those difficulties?
• ・What is the corporate culture? Do you have any anecdotes that exemplify the culture?
• ・What was the most useful training?
• ・What was the reason you chose this company? Did find anything different from your image after working?

• Industry research is the first step and the conclusive factor to acquire an unofficial job offer when job hunting
• Job hunting students tend to start making efforts in self-analysis and promotion because those are easily approached. But it could be a pitfall since the conclusive factor to acquire an unofficial job offer is a substantial job vision for what you want to realize after entering the company, not self-promotion. In order to substantiate a job vision, you should conduct industry research in depth. The most effective way to deepen your industry research is by focusing on companies in approximately three industries and obtain forefront industry knowledge through explanations heard in company information sessions.
Please refer to Mynavi
“Industry research page”

• You need narrow down your desired companies by industry
• For example, we could try to predict the results of the job hunting of Mr. Y who applied to 3 companies, car manufacture “A”, shipbuilding manufacture “B” and motorcycle manufacturer “C” , and Ms. X who applied to 3 car manufacturers “A”, “D” and “E”. In the case there is not an overwhelming gap in the selection results, Ms. X is more favorable to the companies since Ms. X has more information related to her 3 companies in comparison with Mr. Y. (Mr. Y also has the information on his 3 companies; however, the information on “A” is not useful for B and C, the information on “B” is not useful for “A” and “C”, and information on “C” is not useful for “A” and “B”.
  If you thoroughly analyze this approach, you will advance your job hunting favorably by narrowing-down to companies by thinking about which company you can utilize your knowledge. For example, a company sending completed car to the market as opposed to a company evolving technologies specialized in breaks and lights.

A joint information session is an event related to job hunting. Its scale ranges from several dozen to several hundred companies participating, and the explanation of each company is repeated every 20 to 30 minutes. The Mynavi Career Expo is one of those joint information sessions. Besides the events held by companies providing job hunting information such as Mynavi, there are some sessions held by local governments or universities.
The merits for job hunting students participating in these events are that you can hear the explanations of multiple companies within a day. If you join the event at an early stage of your job hunt, you can expand your knowledge on industries in addition to the knowledge of each company.

• A joint information session is a valuable opportunity to have a casual talk with employees.
• Since job hunting is a selection process, it is basically carried out in a serious atmosphere. But, at a joint information session, you would feel an atmosphere in which you can have casual contact with employees. Because of this, it is the perfect opportunity for you to become used to communicating with employees. After the session, you should actively talk to the employees with topics such as your impression of the explanation. If you don’t feel “fear” any more but “affinity” towards employees, you have moved one step forward in job hunting.

• Check the joint information session held by your university
• The joint information session held by your university is only for the students in that university. At the session held by the university, mainly companies which have been hiring students for years will participate. Therefore, you have an advantage in that you can contact the companies where alumni are easily found. In addition to job hunting guidance, you should check the schedule of the joint information session held by your university. There is a possibility that the reservation slots for popular companies will be filled up quickly. You should act swiftly.

An entry sheet is a document to be submitted to a company to show your interest in applying for a job. Upon receiving your entry sheet, the company starts proceeding with the selection process based on the information on the sheet. Generally, you will qualify to participate in the company’s information session by passing the first step.

• Common questions on the entry sheet
• You will provide the following information through answering questions on the sheet.
• ・Your name and university including the name of faculty and department to which you belong
• ・Your small lecture group or what you research
• ・What university social club activities you are engaged in
• ・Your experience of part time jobs and/or Internship＆career programs
• ・Your English level (Many companies ask your TOEIC score.)
• ・Your experience of studying abroad if any
• ・Self-promotion (Questions may include “what have you challenges have you undertaken since you entered university?”, “what have you focused on studying the most?” or “if you work for us, how would you utilize the results you obtained and what you learnt at work?”)
• ・Reasons for applying (Questions may include “why do you want to work for us?”, “what dream do you want to achieve through working for us?”, “what business or project would you like to do?” or “why do you want to choose us in this industry?”)
• ・Current affairs (Questions may include “what social affairs are you interested in or thinking about recently?” or “what are your opinions and thoughts about that topic?”)

• Prepare the entry sheet with sufficient lead time to the due date
• We do not recommend that you rewrite your self-promotion and reasons for applying again and again up until the last minute before the due date. You would possibly join a long queue to be assessed even if you made a pre-entry in the earlier stage of the selection race.
エントリーシートの書き方をチェック

Self-promotion for entry sheets and interviews is a chance to show that you are a potentially capable candidate for the company. We recommend you prepare about three sets of a draft with 400 to 600 letters for entry sheets as well as a draft of a 2 to 3-minute speech for interviews.

• 3 themes to be prepared for self-promotion
• ・What you have focused on studying, such as lectures, small group lecture/research group or studying abroad
• ・What extracurricular activities you have focused on, such as university social club activities, part-time jobs or Internship＆career programs
• ・What you have achieved or what challenges you overcame in your studying and extracurricular activities The self-promotion should help the company understand your passions or enthusiasms; “I believe I will be able to become the hardest worker because I have been studying so hard like this” or “I believe I will be able to achieve goals at work because I am capable of achieving goals like this”.

• Points to be aware of when composing your self-promotion
• ・Include numbers in your achievements so that the recruiting personnel can see how hard you have worked. (E.g., “my TOEIC score increased from 600 to 850 within a year.”)
• ・Include evaluations from others to show an objective standpoint. (E.g., “one of my juniors said to me that ‘I want to thank you because I could maintain my high motivation with your support’. That increased my confidence.”)
• ・Include a challenge you overcame with how you felt, in order to win a sympathetic chord. (E.g., “when we planned to have a food stall in our university festival, our plan fell apart due to rule changes that happened one month prior to the festival, and I felt frustrated. Some of our members suggested we should give up this time, but I thought it over and believed we should not compromise easily because the sales from the food stall in the festival is a critical financial source for our club.”)

• Value objective evaluations from third parties
• Ask a staff member from the career center of your university and your family members to check and correct your self-promotion draft before submission because how others feel while reading it is critical. It is common that readers feel like “it is hard to understand” or “it jumps to a conclusion” even if you think you have composed it in detail. Brush up your self-promotion based on the opinions and suggestions from others.

Reasons for applying play a role in delivering thoughts like “I want to make something a reality and I believe I can do this at your company” or “I am confident to become a capable employee for the job opportunity” using entry sheets and interviews. Prepare a draft with 400 to 600 letters for entry sheets as well as a draft of 2 to 3-minute speech for interviews.

• 3 themes to be prepared for reasons for applying
• ・Why you choose the company over their competitors
• ・What you would like to achieve 5 to 10 years after joining the company
• ・You have knowledge, experiences or advantages that could be utilized for the job opportunity and are confident to become a capable employee.

• Companies seek talents that can talk about the future, not just one of big consumers of their products
• You may be interested in some companies just because you use their products regularly or because of their high brand-name recognition. Some students express their honest thought as a reason for applying, saying things like “I have admired your company since I was an elementary school student. That’s why I would like to join your company”. Unfortunately, such compliments for their performance are not what companies want to hear. Companies seek students who can talk about what they want to achieve in the future through working.
  If you want to enter a company that you admire, make an effort to prepare the reasons with your suggestions such as what you would like to do utilizing their brand power or what you think you can create through their global network.

• Value objective evaluations from third parties
• As is the case with self-promotion, how others feel while reading is critical. When you are almost finished preparing, ask a staff member from the career center of your university and your family members to check and correct your draft. It is common that readers feel like “it is hard to understand” or “it jumps on the conclusion” even if you think you have composed it in detail. Brush up your reasons for applying based on the opinions and suggestions from others.

Companies conduct a written test to assess whether you have basic academic skills for work. As an indication of the degree of difficulty, anyone with a high school certificate or equivalent academic level can pass. The test primarily consists of language (first language), non-language areas (i.e., math) and English. Many university students have not been studying these areas since they entered a university. We recommend you do some practice to answer the questions quickly.
The primary measure for this type of test is to purchase an exercise book and answer as many questions as possible. While many job-seeking students buy one of those exercise books and repeat this a few times, this practice usually requires a few months. We recommend you start the practice around the time of participating in an Internship＆career program during summer break when you are a penultimate year student so that you can have sufficient lead time for practice, and the practice motivates you for continuous preparation. Ensure sufficient time for preparation.

• Familiarize yourself with the test in the test center as well
• It is important for you to keep using an exercise book that allows you to practice at home or during commuting to/from university, on a daily basis. You will also need to prepare yourself to show your achievement in the test held at the “Test Center”, which many companies have adopted recently. In this test, students are required to go to a test venue that the company specifies and take a test there using a PC. We recommend you try out the test in the test center as soon as possible when you start job hunting, in order to familiarize yourself with the time-limit for answering questions as well as the rule that you are not allowed to go back to previous questions once you have answered and continued to the next question.

An aptitude test is a means of measuring your abilities to perform specific tasks. This is generally a two-alternative question format where you pick one of two options; “I am good at public speaking” or “I would say I am not good at public speaking”, for example. You will have only a short period of time to think and answer, which requires you to make an intuitive judgement. Your behavior, willingness, emotion and social nature are assessed, and the company will make a decision whether you proceed to the next step or not with that assessment, as well as the results of basic academic test that was mentioned earlier.
The criteria for this test are based on the personalities of targeted human resources for the company. Take the test while visualizing the following personalities who are thought to be ideal to work with, for example:

• The following personalities who are thought to be ideal to work with
• ・a person who sets a goal and makes each day productive
• ・a person who values team work and contributes to other members
• ・a person who does not give up easily to meet obligations
• ・a person who reflects on failure but does not dwell on those feelings for a long time, and strives to recover at the next chance
• ・a person who is trying to be creative at work
• ・a person who makes an effort to meet new people to expand his/her network
• ・a person who is able to make a decision and put it into action

• If you vacillate over the choice of answer, pick one through intuition
• Many questions deliberately make you confused over the choice of answer. When you vacillate over the choice, pick one through intuition and move on to the next question quickly in order to answer as many questions as possible. If the number of questions that you answered is overly lower than average, the company would determine that the reliability of answers is low.

A web test is an on-line test that students take at home or university. Compared to a test at the “Test Center”, the advantage is that you can choose the time and venue. However, you are required to complete the test within a limited time because the company designates the time duration. Also, be aware that you are not allowed to stop the test once you have accessed and started. You need to choose a venue ensuring a high internet speed and stable connection.
Currently tests at a “Test Center” is more common because that makes it impossible for “a body double” to take the test for you. More companies may adopt web tests in the near future if identification technology at the time of testing improves using a web camera or any other relevant devices.
In either case, we recommend you prepare for the test to obtain higher scores. The acceptance line becomes higher in popular companies with more applicants. If you fail this test, you will not reach the interview stage.
The primary measure for the test is similar to the test at the test center. Purchase an exercise book and answer as many questions as possible. Ensure sufficient time for preparation.

An interview is a part of the selection process that recruiting personnel, personnel from other sections and managing directors use to meet students in person to check for the student’s qualities and willingness through a question-and-answer session. While the number of interviews you have to get through varies among companies, 3 interviews are common but some companies with more applicants conduct 5 interviews to reach a final decision.
Communication and presentation skills are keys for interviews. You will be asked about your university life, reasons for applying and current affairs in which you are interested. You need to be aware that each interview is a great opportunity to promote yourself, not just answer questions. The questions are usually based on the entry sheet that you prepared. Check for your self-promotion, reasons for applying and what you have focused on at university before the interview to get ready to talk about yourself clearly.

• Interview styles
• Largely, there are two styles: group interview and individual interview.


• Group Interview
• A group interview is to interview several applicants at a time; 3 to 5 students are interviewed by 1 or 2 interviewers, for example. Group interviews are commonly used at an earlier stage of a series of interviews to check for the content described in the entry sheet. The questions include “tell us about what you have focused on your student life” and “tell us why you would like to join us”, in general.


• Individual Interview
• An individual interview is to interview you alone; you are interviewed alone by 1 or 2 interviewers, for example. Usually applicants who passed a group interview proceed to this type of interview. The company will ask you some questions to have a better understanding of your personality and way of thinking. Once you answer, the interviewers will ask you further questions such as “why did you take the action?” or “did you have any other ideas at the time?”. We recommend you think about deeper questions that you may be asked.
面接対策をチェック！

“Group Discussion (GD)” or “Group Work (GW) is conducted to check whether you have sufficient qualities and abilities that are required in a team activity, such as whether you are cooperative, show initiative and have an attitude to get involved in a constructive manner. For example, the interviewers give teams consisting of 6 to 8 applicants a topic, saying things like “propose to us what business area we should newly develop, based on the current situation of our company”. Each team has to work in a limited time from discussion through to works and the final presentation. The interviewers compare teams at each work step and evaluate students on whether or not they pass the group work.

• Points for GD/GW
• ・Strive to combine forces as a team based on the idea to make an effort for your team to be evaluated, not for yourself to be evaluated in your team.
• ・Approach the work with a mind-set to win all team members over to your side in order to combine forces. Begin with listening to your team members respectfully.
• ・You cannot waste your time because the time for the work is limited. If you feel that a discussion or work slows down in your team, suggest your team think about it from a different point of view.
• ・It is critical to show your constructive attitude. In order to make your team work better, support the chairperson in your team or help other members when they are lost for words during speaking. Make constant efforts to find the best way until the last minutes and avoid being satisfied with easy conclusions.
グループディスカッション対策方法をチェック！

A presentation aims to convince an audience.

• Primary themes of presentation for job hunting
• ・”I will become a capable employee for your company”, representing self-promotion
• ・”I would like to set this career at your company as my lifetime career”, representing reasons for applying

• Points for self-promotion
• A good presentation for self-promotion encourages an audience (i.e., interviewers) to think that “you have the potential to be a capable employee in our company”. In order to reach that point, evidence with facts are necessary. For example, if you want to say that you are capable of reaching targets, and therefore will be a capable employee in the company, add the following facts:
• ・A target that you have reached:  Tell them a specific event such as “we won the championship of OOO that we participated in as part of the activities of my small lecture group”.
• ・A fact relating to process:  Show your contribution, saying thing like “I was the person in charge of checking on progress. With close contact with each member, I entered the progress into an Excel sheet and reported to our leader. When something was delayed, I discussed with the person in charge how to get back on schedule and I also switched positions of members when needed”. Such a specific process is more likely to be evidence that will convince the audience.

• Points for reasons for applying
• Add the following facts to convince the interviewers that you really would like to join the company.
• ・Your efforts to obtain the job offer you want:  Tell the interviewers about your specific efforts such as “I continue participating in the Internship＆career programs that have enabled me to experience the job of OOO since I was a second year student. I obtained a qualification of OO that is required for the job”.
• ・Your efforts to research the company:  Tell the interviewers about your passion to join the company such as “I met 10 alumni to deepen my understanding of your company”.
• ・Consistency between your philosophy and the company’s business philosophy:  Add a common point between you and the company, which leads to a persuasive presentation, such as “my philosophy is to work hard for a team, which matches your business philosophy that “We work together to contribute to the society”.

• You need to get comfortable with making presentations
• You need to get yourself comfortable to making presentations to an audience with confidence. Create many opportunities of public speaking in your small lecture group or any other relevant circumstances. Looking into the eyes of your audience, vocalizing and speaking clearly are the first steps to improving your presentation skills.

Essay writing is primarily included as part of the selection process at newspaper companies, publishing companies and government offices.

• Points for essay writing
• ・Try to reach the number of characters between 90% and the upper limit. (E.g., aim between 360 and 400 characters for an upper limit of 400 characters)
• ・State your conclusion clearly.
• ・Check whether the conclusion is persuasive or not. For example, quote data published by authorities such as government agencies to make the point you want more persuasive. Be sure to clearly describe the reference source in this case.
• ・Add your own suggestions including opinions and thoughts in order to distinguish yours from others. Be sure to add examples or experiences because your suggestions need to be persuasive as well.

• Essay writing sample
• If the topic is “which area do you think will be particularly focused on as a national strategy?”, try to compose your writing with the following structure:


• (Conclusion)
• I think Japan should advance the agriculture and fishery industries as a national strategy. (A quote of publication from an authority to make your point more persuasive) According to the global food demand in 2028 published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, that warns that…
• (Suggestion)
• In order to avoid or resolve the immediate issue, I suggest that the leading-edge technologies including AI or IoT, satellite data, drones be used in a flexible and venturous manner to aim for mechanization, energy conservation and maximization of yield in the agriculture and fishery industries.
• (Example)
• The agricultural group of B city, A prefecture and C corporation have been working on the following project together for 3 years…., these results are now obtained, according to them.
• (Experience)
• In my research group, we are constructing a system to monitor the growing status of grid-like segmented fields with the use of censors. As a result of that, we obtained the result that…

An unofficial job offer represents that your position is almost secured even though the official announcement has not been made. In the job hunting in Japan, when you pass the last interview, the company checks for your intention whether or not to join the company and then provides you with such an unofficial job offer. See the example below.

• Procedures for unofficial job offer (example)

Last interview
• the company decided that the applicant passed the last interview
↓
• the recruiting personnel informs the applicant of the decision, saying things like “You passed the final interview. Please consider whether you join us and let us know your decision by 14:00 next week” (inquiry for pre-unofficial job offer)
↓
• the applicant replies within the limited time, saying things like “Thank you for your offer. I would like to join your company (the pre-unofficial job offer is accepted)”
↓
• the personnel replies “Thank you for accepting our offer. We look forward to working with you (the pre-unofficial job offer is confirmed as both reached agreement)
↓
• The recruiting personnel continues to notify the applicant of the relevant procedures, saying thigs like “We will have an unofficial offer ceremony on October 01 and will let you know about the details later”.
↓
• The applicant attends the ceremony (the pre-unofficial job offer turns to an unofficial job offer)

• Cancellation of unofficial job offer
• This pre-unofficial job offer or unofficial job offer can be cancelled. This is rare but has happened before when the financial situation of the company drastically worsened.
  Apart from this case, the offer may be cancelled if your academic report or resume is found to be inadequate or contains incorrect information, or if a physician determines that you would be unable to work due to poor health determined by a compulsory medical check-up before joining the company.

You are required to decline a pre-unofficial job offer or unofficial job offer from a company that you have decided not to join. Imagine that you passed the final interview and obtained such pre-unofficial job offers from 3 companies. If you do not say anything to them, that will cause inconvenience for 2 of the companies because you cannot join more than one employer obviously. When you make your decision of which company you join, you are required to notify the other companies of your declination of their pre-unofficial job offer, which is referred to as a “declination of unofficial job offer”.
When you decline the offer, some companies will ask you to come to the office to explain the reason and other companies just accept through telephone conversation. Some companies give a small gift of business card case with the company’s name or logo as a certificate of the pre-unofficial job offer to the applicants who passed the final interview. If you received such a gift, you would be required to return it to the company when you decline the offer. Anything you receive after obtaining the unofficial job offer should be stored in a safe place to prepare for return at any time.

• Companies expect some applicants will decline the unofficial job offer
• Companies predict the number of applicants who will decline the unofficial job offer bases on the previous results. The most important thing for you is to notify your declination in a timely manner. From the other person’s (the company’s) perspective, when you receive an unofficial job offer from several companies, informing them of your decision to decline quickly avoids causing any inconvenience. This is also good manners for job-hunting.
• * The notification of declination to join a company is defined as a “declination of unofficial job offer”, regardless of the status of unofficial or pre-unofficial job offer.

Manners are ways of social behavior with mindfulness and respect to others. Particularly in Japan, prime importance is placed on manners to avoid disturbing peace and order.

• When manners are important in job hunting
• ・At the reception of company information session:  Bow with respect and then name yourself.
• ・In the waiting room for an interview:  Wait quietly not to disturb other applicants. Turn your mobile phone to manner mode.
• ・When you hand over documents:  Hold the envelope with the face up and the top of the envelope as the top for the person who receives, using both your hands.
• ・When you say the name of a person whom you meet for the first time:  Say the person’s surname followed by san. While it is common to do so for people who look older than you, you need to do so for other students of the same age in your team in the group discussion.
• ・Interview:  At the start of interview, begin with saying “thank you for your time” to show your gratitude to the interviewers. At the completion, say “thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to meet you. I hope I will see you again” and then make a deep bow to the interviewers.
• ・Alumni visits:  Plan extra time to arrive at the meeting place to avoid being late. Send a thank-you letter after the visit.

• Common actions and behaviors representing your manners
• It is important to show your good manners with the following actions and behavior:
• ・Bowing:  Bowing is an action that is the most commonly used during job hunting and also represents an aspect of Japanese culture. There are 3 types of bowing determined by the angle of lowing the head: Eshaku is to bow at a 15-degree angle (i.e., nodding), Keirei is to bow at a 30-degree angle (i.e., salute) and SaiKeirei is to bow at a 45-degree angle (to show deep respect), which are used depending on the circumstances. When you first set eyes on a person at the reception from a distance, you will do Eshaku to the person. You will do Keirei at the time when your reception procedure is competed or at the start of interview, and you will do SaiKeirei at the completion of interview.
• ・Listening closely:  Listening closely is a behavior where you face a person to whom you are listening to and make an effort to listen to all their words in a positive and polite manner. When you listen to your interviewers, you need to show this behavior. It is also important to listen to your team members at the group discussion. Interrupting others is bad manners.
就活マナーをチェック！

Distance job hunting is defined as a series of activities to be done from a distant area, requiring a financial infusion for accommodations and travel. Companies do not always provide an information session or selection process in all prefectures. You may be required to travel and stay somewhere far from the place where you live. In this case, you are responsible for all the expenses. Some students start saving money even before beginning job hunting and try to find a way to make it cheaper including the use of an overnight bus. Distance job hunting may give you fatigue. Looking after your health becomes essential.
You may need to get used to using a mobile device so that you can research companies or prepare and submit your entry sheet at your destination or during travel.

• If you have to do job hunting from a distant area, put more weight on alumni visits
• While alumni visits are important in the job hunting, we recommend you put more weight on those visits and make the most of it if you have to do job hunting from a distant area, which may limit the number of companies you are able to target. Think about a strategy that utilizes those alumni; to enrich your reasons for applying through more information about the company from the alumni or to encourage the alumni to recommend you to their recruiting personnel. If you are unable to find alumni, ask the company whether or not there are any employees who are from your country.

A recent new graduate is a young job seeker who was graduated from his/her university 1 to 3 years ago. While young job seekers with experience of being employed are a prime target for the category, young job seekers with no experience of being employed are also included in the target due to recent recruiting difficulty.
What companies expect for those recent new graduates is room for growth. For example, if you quit your job in your second year of employment because your job didn’t meet your expectations, companies may have an expectation that you possibly become a capable employee if a prospective job is matched with what you want to do.

• Aspects of themselves recent new graduates should analyze
• ・What type of job you can do with your eagerness, utilizing your advantages?
• ・What are your shortcomings? Among them, which one you think you possibly overcome?

• What companies assess recent new graduates for first
• Companies firstly assess whether the recent new graduate has good manners. Interviewers are able to see whether or not you are punctual or keep your word, can greet, know how to dress appropriately, are humble and learn from seniors or any other relevant aspects within 10 minutes through intuition. In other words, if you have already satisfied all those aspects, just undergo an interview showing your youthfulness and willingness to increase your success rate.

The Protection of Personal Information Act protects your rights and benefits. Personal information is defined as the information to identify individuals such as name and date of birth. In the job hunt, you will have to submit your personal information when you apply for membership to employment opportunity information providers or when you submit your pre-entry or apply for a job at companies.

• Personal information handling business operator
• A personal information handling business operator is referred to as a person providing a personal information database, etc. for use in business. The provider must make a declaration of the appropriate use of the information when collecting such personal information and is required to clarify the purpose of use for the personal information and its scope. The provider also establishes a stage to check whether you agree to provide your information or not.
  You may see a business operator who is collecting personal information from job-seeking students using questionnaire forms around the venue of joint information session. We do not recommend you provide your information without due consideration. Provide such operators with your information only after checking whether they are reliable. You may as well stay away if it is difficult to judge the reliability of those providers.

• Personal Information Protection Manager and Privacy Mark
• Personal information handling business operators clarify the contact information of personal information protection manager in order to answer questions relating to the personal information. Companies that are certified as appropriate personal information handlers by an independent organization display a privacy mark on their websites.
  We suggest you check for the presence or absence of the mark and then make your decision whether to provide such operators with your information.

U-turn employment means that a student who is away from his/her hometown for studying returns to the hometown for employment. I-turn employment (as a pairing expression with U-turn employment in Japan) means that a student chooses employment at a different place from the place where the student grew up.
U-turn and I-turn employment have received attention due to an issue that the population of young people (15 to 29 years of age) continues to decrease in rural regions because many of them move to the Tokyo area. The issue leads to a decline in industries outside the capital and eventually an exhaustion of the whole regions, which is a serious problem from the viewpoint of well-balanced growth across Japan. An environment and a system to promote U-turn and I-turn employment have therefore been established to generate a shift of young people back to regions outside the Tokyo area.

• Efforts by local regions
• One of the reasons why young people move away from rural regions is fewer employment opportunities. In order to boost employment opportunities, some regions make efforts to vitalize their local industries by setting a particular agricultural product as their own brand product or promoting tourism utilizing their own nature and history.
  U-turn and I-turn employment can be an attractive option for those who prefer living in nature surrounded by the ocean or mountains, those who want to stay away from a busy city and have a laid-back lifestyle or those who want to contribute to the growth of their hometown.

An unofficial job offer ceremony is an official event that confirms your employment unless you create any issues until the date of joining the company. After the ceremony, some companies have a buffet party to celebrate prospective employees while other companies conduct a test such as a TOEIC test to assess your abilities to decide your position or provide pre-employment education and training. Generally, you will be informed of what will happen on the day via email or other relevant methods.
The unofficial job offer ceremony is a valuable opportunity to meet colleagues who will join the company on the same day as you do. They may become your invaluable allies in the workplace to develop together through friendly competition or ask for advice in regards to your problems. Value the opportunity to meet your colleagues and communicate with them in a positive manner.
Students who accept the unofficial job offer plan to join the company, which means they are already regarded as official employees. Beware not to get too excited at the party after the ceremony. Also, be sure to make a due date for any procedures or assignments to be required after the ceremony.

An employment opportunity information site is a website that provides information about the companies that seek employees, job criteria or any other relevant information. Through these websites, you will be able to access all information relating to job hunting, such as entry requirements, date and time of information sessions, schedule of joint information sessions and know-how of job hunting. Mynavi Corporation runs the largest employment opportunity information site in Japan.
One of the advantages of using such sites enables you to submit your entry sheets to companies in which you are interested. You will be able to start your job hunting smoothly by accessing it with your PC or smart phone. You are also able to narrow down companies that possibly suit you by setting search conditions including “industry”, “type of job”, “company size’ or “work location”.
Those sites enable you to manage your activities by categorizing companies into some groups, such as the companies in which you are interested and the companies with which you have already made an entry, which is another advantage. Select a reliable, proven site as your main site by reference to the number of companies registered on the site, usability and experiences from your seniors.
We recommend you register yourself earlier to avoid a late start for job hunting because you will be able to receive useful information once you are registered. For example, if you consider using a major employment opportunity information site that provides the information about both Internship＆career programs and graduate employment, you will be reassured if you are registered when you start considering to participate in the Internship＆career program.

「Job hunting begins with how you look. When job hunting, you will be assessed in a short period of time by a person whom you will meet for the first time. Physical appearance represents your first impression. Since this may impact on your assessment, the business suit that you wear during job hunting is an important item to create your first impression.
The suit for job hunting should not be a valuable suit you plan to keep for many years. When you are busy, you may have to wear it on consecutive days for company information sessions and interviews. You will probably need to take the suit to the dry cleaners. We recommend you purchase 2 reasonably priced business suits.
When purchasing, go to a shop where you can ask for some help and advice in suit selection. Tell the salesperson that you need it for job hunting and be sure to try some on. Ask the salesperson to check whether the shoulder-width matches and the sleeves and hem are appropriate in length. Check whether you are comfortable while sitting as well because you will have to sit for a long time during job hunting.
You should not be busy just after you start job hunting. You can purchase one suit and then purchase another one after checking whether you feel comfortable with it.Apart from business suits, you will need a pair of shoes (black), socks (black or grey to match the color of your suit), stockings (matching your skin-tone), dress shirt/blouse (white) or a tie (regimental stripes are orthodox).
Freshness and cleanliness are important in suit dressing. Wash a dress shirt once you have worn it because body odor easily attaches to it. A permanent-press or ironing-free dress shirt may be convenient for you. Be sure that your shoes are clean. Polish them when needed. Good handling and care for suits is also important. Place your suit on a hanger. Do not to leave it on the floor. Be sure to make a crease in your pants. Use a disinfectant and deodorizer spray over the suite and leave it in a well-ventilated area. When you purchase another suit, wear them in turns to keep them in shape.

Employees whom you will meet during job hunting (i.e., recruiting personnel and interviewers) may be put off if you do not wear makeup while wearing a business suit because women in the work environment usually wear makeup. When a person with no makeup is present among women with makeup, the person is unlikely to leave a good impression. Not wearing makeup will cause failure to create a good first impression in a very important stage in job hunting.
An advantage of makeup is it will help you look better, such as looking healthy, gentle or intelligent. A lecture about makeup for job hunting is provided in some joint information sessions or company guidance. Utilizing the lecture, we recommend you improve your makeup skills at an early stage of job hunting.

• First scene requiring makeup for job hunting
• You will be required to take identification photographs, and your face will be zoomed-in on in such photographs. Take these photographs after brightening your facial expression with makeup.

• Your behavior is also important to make full use of makeup
• Even if makeup brightens your facial expression, makeup for job hunting will be meaningless if your behavior does not carry elegance. Be aware of your posture and movement of hands and legs to show your behavior in an elegant manner when you stand up, bow or sit down.

• Small goods to carry
• You may feel sweaty due to stress or ambient temperatures. Refreshing cleansing sheets that can be used on makeup may be convenient for you.

Area-limited employment is when a company recruits an applicant(s) to work within a limited area. This is also referred to as an area-limited regular employment position with the prospect of promotion. Recently more people wish to work near the place where they live to have a well-balanced lifestyle between work and personal life, due to parenting or caring for elderly parents. The area-limited employment was established because companies have been aware that traditional regular employment positions no longer satisfy prospective employees with that need (or cannot prevent employees from quitting).
Regular employment positions are often compared with the area-limited employment. Since the purpose of regular employment positions is to foster young employees to be responsible for core corporate functions in the future, the employees understand they can be ordered to transfer to any location, domestic or overseas, if the employer thinks it is necessary.
You would be unable to experience a wide range of jobs that cover all corporate functions under area-limited employment. That’s why the salaries and opportunities for promotion are limited compared with regular employment positions. However, an advantage of area-limited employment is it allows you to make your own life plan easier than those who do not know where they will live in a few years, or even a few decades later.
Choosing either an area-limited or regular employment position will be a major crossroads for your career path. It will be a good idea to sit down and discuss with your family members about which employment would be suitable for you; to prioritize advancing your career or to balance work and personal life.

The seasons represent selection timing for new graduates in Japan. There are 2 recruitment periods, summer and autumn The reasons for each are described below.

• Summer recruitment
• In Japan, referred to as “mass recruitment”, the employment decisions of new graduates are mainly made in summer. Companies who are members of KEIDANREN (Japan Business Federation) follow their rule that allows final year students start submitting their entry sheets from March and starts their selection process (i.e. tests and interviews) on June 01. However, companies who are not members of KEIDANREN such as foreign-owned companies and middle or small-sized companies actually start their selection process and provide unofficial job offers (or pre-unofficial job offers) much earlier. It is therefore important to check for the information from each company in which you are interested closely even before March to follow individual recruitment schedules.

• Autumn recruitment
• This recruitment period is for students who graduate in autumn such as students who are studying outside Japan. This proceeds after securing students through the above summer recruitment, leading to a limited number of employment opportunities. Adding to such students who are studying outside Japan, students who did not satisfy the results from the summer recruitment also utilize this opportunity.

• The job hunting race virtually starts at the time of your summer Internship＆career program when you are a penultimate year student
• As explained in the section of Summer Recruitment, some companies provide pre-unofficial job offers in April and May. Other employers even start their selection process at the summer Internship＆career program for the penultimate year students and provide pre-unofficial job offers in winter of the year. This means many companies run their own recruiting schedules that do not fall into the summer/autumn pattern. We recommend you start your job hunting at the time of your Internship＆career program during summer break when you are a penultimate year student to collect detailed recruitment information, in order not to miss out on hidden opportunities.

A stress interview is an interview technique that deliberately places the applicant in a stressful situation through asking spiteful questions, giving strong criticism to the applicant’s comments or acting overpowering to observe how the applicant reacts during the interview. For example, if you eagerly told how passionate you were to apply or about what you would like to achieve in the company, the interviewer may say things like “I have no idea why you want to work with us” in an overpowering manner, which may make you feel confused and upset.
From the viewpoint of companies that conduct stress interviews, they would like to see how good the applicant is under pressure. However, stress interviews that take advantage, and the interviewer may cross a moral line. The interviewer may be your boss one day. Based on that, you need to observe and compare the interviewers among companies as part of research on companies, in order to find a suitable employer.

• Follow-up questions are not part of a stress interview
• Interviewers may ask probing questions about your answers that may touch a raw nerve, saying things like “why couldn’t you get a good mark in this subject?”, “what made you decide that way?” or “didn’t you have a better idea then?”. These questions are not part of a stress interview. The interviewers would like to know what perspective you have toward your shortcomings, to clear ambiguities in your answer or to check what decisions you could make now from the experience, in order to know about you more accurately.

Companies need money to pay salaries, for machinery, management and any other relevant costs to run their business. While companies can borrow necessary money from the bank, they are required to pay more than the amount they actually borrowed due to interest, which is a burden for business operators.
Business operators usually find a way to collect money in a way that no interest is required as well. One of the ways is to issue stocks to collect money from investors. The investors who have provided money in exchange for the stocks become shareholders for the company and are allowed to get involved in the management depending on the ratio of stocks that they possess.
A company that runs their business through issuing stocks to investors (shareholders) is referred to as a “Joint-stock Company”. The appeal of a joint-stock company for investors is that they can expect to receive stock dividends and have the stock value increased according to the growth of the business. However, if the business fails and the company goes bankrupt, the stock will have no value. Investment is high-risk and high-return.
Most of companies that are popular for job-seeking students are such joint-stock companies. Among those, a handful companies with high credibility are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange or other relevant exchange groups.
When researching companies, it is good to check whether companies in which you are interested are listed or not. For non-listed venture companies, check whether they have prospective businesses for listing in the future or the management are capable. If you are employed by a company with an employee stock ownership scheme, you would be able to pursue a dream of being listed with the management together.