The hiring process is different depending on the company.
You should check the hiring schedule of the company to which you apply and grasp the flow of job hunting activities as a whole so that you can make a detailed plan of your activities.
Schedule of job hunting
Selection Process
1Participating in an internshipPreparation for job hunting / June to February
It is essential that you learn about yourself (self-analysis), industries and companies (job research). The reason for this is that you must demonstrate your reasons for applying to the company in a short time to people who have never met and don’t know much about you.
For that, you should check your vocational aptitude through actual work experiences obtained by participating in an 'internship & career' .
During the past several years, the number of the students who participate in'internship & career'
is increasing. Through the experiences from an 'internship & career'
, you will learn what kind of abilities are required for the job, and you can clarify your strengths which could be utilized for the job. It is recommended you participate in an internship in order to deepen self-understanding and avoid being forestalled by your rivals.
2Self-analysis and job researchPreparation for job hunting / June to February
How to do a self-analysis
Self-analysis is used to deepen your understanding of yourself. Looking back on your life including your school days, you should look at yourself attentively from the following points of view. If you understand your interests (what you want to do), your ability (what you can do) and your values (What you can work hard at), you can clearly see your strengths that can be utilized in the job and find your appealing points for entry sheets and interviews.
Especially, in case of a foreign international student, you are often asked the reason(s) why you want to work in Japan. You should be prepared to be able to explain clearly by deepening your self-understanding.
How to do a job research
When your interest, ability and values are clarified, you should advance your job research with view as wide as possible and pursue the search of a job in which you can utilize the above-mentioned personal nature. You should clarify: why you choose that industry, what is the reason to choose that company, why you want to be in that occupation/post.
How to do a industry research
You should look through industries in which you might able to play in an active part with a wide range of view. You should include not only industries which provide products and services to consumers (B to C: Business to Consumer) but also industries which provide products and services to enterprises (B to B: Business to Business).
How to do a company research
Even in the same industry, sizes, business contents, management policies, corporate culture, its atmosphere and working conditions are different depending on the company.
You should research enough to be able to answer persuasively regarding the reasons why you want to apply to the company in the industry. For this, you should thoroughly check the company’s strengths, weakness and differences from other companies.
How to do a occupation research
You should conduct occupation research. There are various occupations which commonly exist in any company such as office work-related, sales-related and technology-related. You should check what kind of occupations exit and how you work on the job in each company since even in the same occupation/post, the job contents, required abilities and specialities are different depending on the company.
3presenting self-promotion and your reasons to apply Preparation for job hunting / June to February
You can’t avoid entry sheets and interviews in the selection process. And, on both entry sheets and in interviews, self-promotion and reasons to apply to the company are always checked.
Preparing self-promotion
The summary of personal sales points is self-promotion. The way to make an effective self-promotion is to summarize your appealing good points and strengths based on your experiences mixed with some personal accounts. Also, you should present how you can utilize your good points and strengths in the company you want to work in such a way that the recruiting personnel can imagine you working there.
Preparing reasons to apply
Summarizing “why you want to work for the company” is to present your reason to apply. It is important to collect information from real-life sources and not just the ones from the Mynavi company information page and the companies’ websites. So, you should be able to express your reasons why you want to work for the company persuasively on your entry sheet and in an interview. You should also participate in an internship and visit your alumni for this purpose.
4EntryActual start of job hunting / March ～
Entry is the expression of your intention saying “I’m interested in your company”. At the first stage, it is important for you to make entries in a wide range of industries and companies since it is not absolutely necessary that you should submit an entry sheet nor participate in the information sessions. For your reference, according to “the report of 2024 graduates” from Mynavi monitors who regularly report the status of job hunting, graduates made an entry to 13.6 companies in average.
5Entry sheet, Written test, InterviewActual start of job hunting / March ～
Entry sheet
After you have made an entry through Mynavi, if the company requires you to submit an entry sheet, you should submit it. Currently, the number of companies accepting submission through an online form is increasing. However, some companies require you to submit a hand-written entry sheet.
For foreign international students
How to write an entry sheetWritten Test
After you have been through the entry sheet, you will take a written test. The questions are divided into three categories:
-Language evaluation, vocabulary and reading comprehension,
-Non-verbal evaluating counting ability and logical thinking capability,
-Evaluating personality and aptitude.
You should check test trends in the past beforehand since depending on the industry, you might take a test on English,
current events, general knowledge or research paper-related topics.
For foreign international students
Strategies for the written testInterview
After the document selection and written test, the next step is an interview. You should be prepared by understanding the features of each company since there are various forms of interview.
For foreign international students
Strategies for the interviewPoints to be noted for making an entry sheet
- ①Express to have an understanding of your unique points and characteristics
- ②Explain your experiences/episodes in a concrete manner as possible
- ③Express using your own words (you should be cautious of plagiarism)
- ④You should not over-inflate yourself. You should present yourself as you are.
- ⑤Express how you can utilize your strengths in the job.
6Pre-unofficial, unofficial job offerActual start of job hunting / June
An unofficial job offer means that the company is stating that they have an intention to welcome the applicant as an employee. Although it is not the official decision, when you receive an unofficial job offer, your employment is guaranteed since the offer is legally bound. Also, before the unofficial job offer, a pre-unofficial job offer is made by notification of expected employment. Although an “unofficial job offer” and “pre-unofficial job offer” are used in the same meaning, a pre-unofficial job offer is the status in which an official labor contract has not been made.
For the students graduating in 2026, according to the Government initiative, the hiring process is scheduled to start in June. However, it is expected that many companies will make an unofficial job offer at an early stage due to the HR shortage and difficulties in hiring. According to Mynavi research targeting graduates of 2025, The informal offer rate as of early March was 34.3%. You should take early action since especially the selection process of second-tier companies and middle standing small-to-medium-sized companies is expected to start ahead of the schedule.