If you’re reading this you probably do not need to be convinced that Japan is a great place to spend some time. If you’re thoroughly convinced and want to move to Japan, how should you go about it? One way is to get a job that will sponsor your visa to move to Japan.

Step 1. Get a job. Step 2. Go to Japan. Step 3. ??? Step 4. PROFIT!!!

One straightforward way to get to Japan is to attend a job fair and secure a job offer with a company that will sponsor your visa.

Of course getting a job offer is never easy, but it’s also never impossible — you just have to keep at it. If you’re about to graduate from a solid four-year university, have a practical major that is in demand, and also speak Japanese at a conversational level, you have a shot. A recommended international job fair to attend is the CFN Career Forum.

I attended the Career Forum in Boston in 1999 and got a job in Japan, but that was more than a decade ago, so my personal experience may not be relevant anymore. I see they still bill themselves as a “Career Site for Japanese-English Bilingual Job Seekers” so perhaps the fundamentals are still the same.

“International” Career Fair to Bring People to Japan

As you will see from their website, the CFN Career Forum holds “international” career fairs (they call them forums) several times a year mainly for companies specifically targeting bilingual English-Japanese speakers. Though it may not be explicitly stated, without a doubt most of the companies that attend the forums are looking to catch Japanese-native candidates who studied overseas and thus are now proficient in English.

Due to the typical hiring season in Japan being fixed to March each year, students who studied in the United States, for example, will not finish their studies until May and thus miss the job hunting rush. These job fairs give Japanese companies chance to interview these potential candidates.

If you’re not Japanese, do not be discouraged. Myself included, I know many non-Japanese that landed their first job in Japan through this job fair event. As you will have the opportunity to speak with someone in person, I am quite certain that it will be easier to make a good first impression than it would by submitting a resume to a hiring portal.

Career Forums in Several Cities

As you can see from their website, the Career Forum is held in Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo, Osaka, London, Sydney and Shanghai. The first was held in Boston in 1987, so it has quite a history now. If I remember correctly, when I attended in 1999 the forum was only held in Boston, San Francisco, Tokyo, and London. They have expanded!

Yeah but What Kind of Job Could I Get?

You can find a list of companies that participate on their website, the current list is here. As you can see, a lot of large corporate companies attend. You’ll want to have your resume polished! This isn’t the place to find work if you are mainly looking to teach English. In fact, I do not believe any education companies or academic institutions recruit at these events. You’ll likely have the most luck if you are in business or STEM fields and can speak conversational Japanese.

Happy hunting!

Links:

CareerForum.net – https://careerforum.net/en/