Received a letter from a Kohai about how he should find part-time opportunities to boost his employability.

This is quite a common question so I wanted to take an article out to answer this. You can skip to the answers (they should be illuminative enough), but first the full letter to give context.

Original Letter

Hi Austin San,

I hope you’re doing well. I am a Masters Student currently studying in Japan with a Japanese level of around N3.

I wanted to ask for your advice regarding a career shift I’m considering. For the past two years, I’ve been teaching English part-time in Japan as well as working part-time at a combini, but now I feel it’s time for a change. I’m thinking about transitioning to a part-time position in a company where I can gain new skills that will benefit me in the future, especially when it comes to job hunting.

Additionally, I’ve recently started learning Python, as I believe it’s a valuable skill to have. However, I’m currently pursuing a Master’s in Urban Science and Policy, so I’d like to find a role that aligns with my studies or at least helps me build relevant skills for the future.

What would you recommend in terms of part-time job opportunities that would provide both learning and practical experience?

I appreciate your insights and look forward to your kind response.

Response

Your question is much appreciated! There’s a bit to break down here and two strategies which arise from this.

Firstly, the implicit goal of the writer here looks to be general employability as opposed to wanting to look for work in any particular field. This is fine, and keeping one’s options open is often strategic early in one’s career. In fact I think foreign students’ careers are damaged more by deciding too much than deciding too little.

There are also two routes implied here – the technical route (through Python) and a more general question about finding opportunities through part time work. Each will be explored in turn.

Technical Route

Honestly, the shortage of technical people in Japan is so bad that companies will pay potential recruits to go for programming bootcamps.

This also means that compared to many other markets, candidates who show technical capabilities can get junior level opportunities relatively easily – both at an internship and full-time levels.

The issue then is how to demonstrate this. Stating that you have studied python is not enough here. A website with coding samples or work that you have done is best, or otherwise some way of showing what you have learnt and applied is good.

It doesn’t have to be very complex. I’ve heard of people being able to get interviews by showing that they can build a functioning calculator app.

Once that level is achieved, nothing is stopping you from approaching companies directly with this evidence and asking for internship, part-time and maybe full time opportunties.

General Route

Aside from this Technical Route – which is quite an exception – there’s also the route of getting general work experience through (non-technical) paid internships. These internships can themselves lead to job offers, recommendations and resume building.

Honestly, if the writer had a JLPT N2 and above, finding such opportunities would be relatively easy. Aside from technical talent as stated above, the other part where Japan is heavily lacking in is multilingual talent. With clear multilingual skills, shopping around Wantedly for internship opportunities would be relatively easy.

N3 is a bit borderline though. But even at that that level, there are decent numbers of companies which will be willing to give you a chance. It’s just that the N3 candidate will probably have to knock 3 times the number of doors to get the same number of responses that an N2 or N1 candidate will receive. This applies – albeit with an even higher multiple – for people who are N4 and below.

In particular, looking on “internship platforms” may not be that fruitful as they would likely be assuming a high Japanese level or that you are Japanese.

But there are opportunities, consider the following for some “off the beaten track” ways of finding them:

• As above, cold approaching companies on Wantedly
• Trawling startup news and cold approaching.
  • In particular, looking for startups which have finalized funding and who are thinking of expanding overseas tends to be useful
• Volunteering for events such as tech conferences and networking from there to find opportunities
• Non governmental bodies are often overlooked as places to get such experience too.
  • I don’t mean the UN here. I mean things like local refugee support NGOs and NGOs at a smaller scale.

One side note is that all experience is better than no experience and time does not come back. I’d advise against being too picky with opportunities at the internshp level.

Language

But one last note that I must write is that in Japan’s context for foreign students, Japanese language proficiency is pretty much equivalent to general employability.

Therefore, if the above two methods do not work out, improving your Japanese ability in preparation for job-hunting is also a very good method.

Closing

So this ends my response to the writer’s questions. Do send more along my way if anyone here reading has more to ask!