Job-Hunting in Japan: How to Research Companies Vol.2
In this second installment, we featured 7 student journalists who have conducted extensive company research to benefit our readers at JPort Journal. Read on to hear the real voices from our experienced company research members.
Author: Ayumi Gotoh | Published date: 1 April 2020
In Part１of the series, we shared with you our guideline and the most useful online resources for company research. Through this, we hoped that it helped you to identify and focus on what’s important.
Now, try to draw directly from our experiences to streamline your research process. We are introducing 7 journalists in this article ranging in nationalities, schools, and years. We understand that company analysis can be a long, overwhelming process. Information is fragmented, filtered, and spread all over the internet – you can pick up some tips, tricks, and shortcuts here to hunt down reliable information for your job search.
Company Research Tips from Our Journalists
Our journalists are a diverse group of students, whatever background you may come from, we’re sure you can gain insight from their varying experiences. These personal accounts of the journalists’ experiences job-hunting and carrying out company research can enlighten you in your own process.
Social media channels!
“I would recommend going to their official websites and registering to join their latest company information session (説明会). If there is no session nearby and if it is a big corporation, you can find their online 説明会 in One Career Youtube Channel. Or else, reading everything on their company websites and their social media channels, especially employees’ sharing parts would help you gain helpful insights. Other extra information including overtime working and benefits can be found at Open Work.”
Linh T. Bui (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, class of 2021)
Blog on Rikunabi!
Besides their official websites, I used Rikunabi a lot as it had concise information for the recruitment part, internship opportunities, and the companies' overall performance. Also, try reading their blog, if you have not, as it gives out a lot of details about the work environment.
For the job hunting side of this, it helped me how to get to know more about a company and how the recruitment processes work. This really forced me to look for very small details and I believe it is a good practice once I start with my job hunting.
Saki Arimoto (Tokyo International University, class of 2022)
When information is scattered, use keywords
I mostly relied on their official website and Rikunabi for recruitment information. A lot of JPort guidelines were very helpful! I also looked for their annual reports to get precise information about their performance. For a very big company, it's hard to find everything you need in one certain website, and all the information is scattered in many places.I had to surf the web for a while with different keywords to find out what I need.I'm starting my job hunting in April, so definitely all this experience has helped me know more about job hunting in Japan in general, like when do they usually start recruiting, what's the salary's starting point and the overall requirement for 新 卒 (fresh graduates).
Tu Hoang (Okayama University, class of 2021)
Watch company videos when you’re tired of researching
I also go straight to their official websites because I think it is the most accurate information I can get. From that, I also surf through Japanese version or my native language version that can help me gain better understanding about the company. For me when I get tired of reading, I watch their YouTube videos (I personally think that we absorb what they want to convey easier by watching videos too). Reading from only their websites can be biased so I go to other websites or pages that write articles about those companies. These help you to see clearer by reading from the outsiders’ point of view. How are the companies’ performance now, what were their history, what were their outstanding achievements etc.
Naphasorn Laploetyingyong (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, class of 2020)
Don’t be afraid to contact them directly
“Don't be afraid to contact the company directly through their official website. I did this with a startup company not expecting a response and managed to get an interview with the head recruiter. You might not always get a response with the big companies, but it is definitely worth trying anyway. It helped me understand the company much better and they were able to give me information that wasn’t available online.
Also, as you probably already know – most websites are in Japanese. A trick I found for translating this easily is copy and pasting the page link into google translate, and then clicking the translated link. It will automatically load the page in English!”
Hannah Daniels (Waseda University, class of 2020)
Use a mix of sources and the Google translation extension
Like other journalists, I start by navigating through their official website to grasp the general idea and basis of the company itself. I find it easier to comprehend the details when I already have context on the characteristics and goals of the company. Then, I visit the company’s Rikunabi site where - in my opinion - the information is already broken down and well-presented in a concise manner. I think it’s also worth to mind only information that you need and somewhat set aside the inessential details to avoid being overwhelmed!Also, large multinational companies often have English websites whilst smaller, Japanese companies generally do not. This is where I take advantage of Chrome’s google translate extension where Japanese sites can be immediately translated to English.
Samantha Averine (Keio University, class of 2022)
Use a variety of resources such as our Senpai Tips
I usually start my research from the company’s official Japanese website, then look through Rikunabi, Mynavi, and Glassdoor, but when the required information is not available in the following website, I found these websites called Career-tasuキャリタス就活 and Career Picks. Also, getting to know about interview tips during job hunting season from senpais are always helpful! So far I haven’t used LinkedIn, but recently I joined it and the layout is very user friendly and comprehensive!
Sulagna Banerjee (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, class of 2022)
Final Words
We hope you were able to pick up some helpful tricks from the article. Now that you learned from these senpais who are skilled in their company research, you can explore and develop your own research methods. Here is an important reminder: The purpose of the research is to equip yourself with the right information so that you’ll become a stronger candidate in the screening process. Then, getting through the screening process is going to get you one step closer to your dream job.
Our guides and tips are just stepping stones for the next stage of your life. Don’t get too distracted with trying to tackle every small detail. Instead of aiming for perfection, you just need enough to help you highlight your strengths and experiences when you meet the companies. So be patient, and use our tips to gain useful information and streamline your research process.
From the entire team, Good Luck!
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