How to find jobs in Japan: 6 Job Fairs for international students in Japan
Updated: Oct 14, 2019
by Nadira Annisa
published on September 16th, 2019
Job Hunting in Japan, also called Shukatsu in Japanese, is a very rigorous and challenging process for many of international students. It becomes even more challenging for foreign students living in Japan, since there are many limitations sometimes such as the language barrier and lack of information. The common practice for companies and international students meet is via job-fairs.
Today, this article will navigate you with most conventional way of job hunting in Japan for new graduates, “job fair”, to fill in the information gap you may be facing at this point of your student life in Japan. The followings are the 6 job fairs targeting either Japanese-English bilinguals and/or international students in Japan which are usually held every year. All of them are free admission, and some even offers subsidies for transportation / coupon of some sort.
■ MyNavi Global Career Expo
Location: Tokyo, Osaka
Event Date: December 21st@Tokyo, December 26th@Osaka
Participating Companies: 63 companies *EXPO 2018 winter Tokyo
On-site Interview: Yes *Nearly half of participated companies may conduct interview on-site
Main Audience: Japanese-English bilinguals, students in foreign universities, yet recently attracted attention of international students in Japan as well.
They hold many events across Asia and also America. Including countries such as USA, UK, Thailand, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, and Japan. Participating companies from last year includes big names to unknown excellent companies like Salesforce, AXA, Subaru, Deloitte, PwC, and other companies from wide range of industries. MyNavi also hold seminars and advisory for students who are interested in working in Japan. To check more about this job fair, visit their website at https://global.mynavi.jp/conts/event/expo2019_winter/
■Tokyo Winter Career Forum 2019
Location: Tokyo
Date: December 14th-15th, 2019
Participating Companies: 79 companies *Tokyo Winter Career Forum 2018
Main Audience: Japanese-English bilinguals, students in foreign universities, yet recently attracted attention of international students in Japan as well.
On-site Interview: Yes
Tokyo Winter Career Forum is one of the biggest job fairs CFN.net provides in various cities across the globe. Job fairs provided by CFN is known among students because students can actually have on-site interview with companies which they have applied prior to the job far. The most famous one is Boston Career Forum, and they hold event for winter and summer in Tokyo. The only thing you need to be aware of is that CFN attracts attention of Japanese bilinguals as well, so this job fair is not exclusive for international students in Japan. Participated companies from last year includes big names like Uniqlo, Adidas, AIG, Bosch, Cisco, CAT, DHL, Rakuten, and other companies from wide range of industries. To check more about this job fair, visit their website at https://careerforum.net/en/event/tkw/. Plus, you can read a JPort original interview to international students who did/will go to CFN’s most famous job fair, Boston Career Forum, on Acing the Boston Career Forum 2019.
■JOB博
Location: Tokyo, Osaka (Nagoya & Fukuoka in 2020)
Event Date: November 1st@Tokyo, November 4th@Osaka
Participating companies: n/a
Main Audience: International students in Japan
Also read as “Jobhaku”, they are a global job fair that helps, that also holds seminars to help International students, gain the know-hows on how to look for a job in Japan. They also hold the job fairs, in some big cities in Japan such as, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka. Like any other job fairs, admission to this job-fair is also free. Their website is also in English, which is easier for International students. For your information, JOB Haku is organized by Pasona, one of the largest human resource companies in Japan. To check more about this job fair, visit their website at https://job-haku.com/ .
■Global Leader
Location Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya
Event Date: TBA
Participating Companies: n/a
Main Audience: International students in Japan
Global Leader is a job fair aimed specifically for International students, their events are available in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka, although their website currently only provides event information about internship job fair https://www.globalleadernavi.com/jobfair/tokyo20191101 which lists five companies at this moment, September 16th 2019, such as Mizuho, Oriental Land, Suzuyo, CTC and Inpex. GL’s one of the services who has been providing services for international students for years, so GL also provides various information on job-hunting in Japan, yet currently their website is exclusively in Japanese. To check more, visit their website at https://www.globalleadernavi.com/jobfair.
■ Daijob Career Fair
Location: Osaka, Tokyo
Event Date: September 20th@Osaka, October 4th@Tokyo
Participating Companies: 17 companies (Osaka), 16 companies (Tokyo) *Excludes recruiters
Main Audience: Multilingual job seekers at all levels
Daijob Career Fair held by Daijob, is a big event for multilingual job seekers at all levels which some of the participating companies look for candidates who have at least entry level of experiences. According to their website, 8 out of 16 companies, excluding recruiting companies, participating at Daijob Career Fair in Tokyo state that they are looking for new graduates. Participating companies include Adecco, Softbank, Daimler Mitsubishi Fuso and other companies from various industries. Their website also provides career advice, such as how to fix one’s Japanese. Check out their website for more information https://www.daijob.com/en/cfair
■ Top Career
Location: Tokyo
Event Date: TBA
Participating Companies: n/a
Main Audience: International students in Japan
Top Career provides one of the largest job fairs in Japan for international students. Top Career is Japanese career support website that specializes in assisting international students. There are seminars, and job seekers are able to speak with other foreign workers who are already working in the company. For more information check their website. https://job.connectiu.com
Word of Advice:
Those are some other job fairs not listed above to find job in Japan. Here are some of reminders before going to job fairs. One particular advice that many of the 4th year students and graduated students that I interviewed have said that MyNavi and Career Forums are the most popular job fairs that job seekers usually go. Another thing to keep in mind is to check the requirements and participating companies at job fairs. One thing common for any sort of meeting with companies at job fairs or interviews is to put your thoughts together and to do enough research about the company for your presentation to pitch to corporate hiring officers/managers. We wish best of luck to your job-hunt endeavors!
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