WORK IN JAPAN MET WITH HIGH HURDLES FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS

WORK IN JAPAN MET WITH HIGH HURDLES FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS

@Jackie San

Many foreign university students who are set to graduate in March 2024 want to stay in Japan and have begun looking for a job but are finding it difficult due to many barriers. 

“I’m used to living in Japan, and everyone is kind here,” said a 27-year-old senior from China who is living in Tokyo. “I want to stay a while longer.”

The government is aiming to have more foreign students find a job and settle in Japan, too, but there are many challenges.

JAPANESE LANGUAGE WOES

In late February, foreign students in formal business suits waited in line in Tokyo’s Minato Ward for a job fair that was set up only for foreign students.

Around 600 students registered to attend the event, where about 30 companies had set up display booths.

All the booths were so busy that some ran out of vacant seats.

The number of foreigners whose residency status changed from “study” or others to ones that allow them to work in Japan for reasons including employment reached 28,974 in 2021, according to the Immigration Services Agency of Japan.

It’s more than threefold the 8,586 foreigners seen in 2011.

The government wants to raise the percentage of foreign students working in Japan after graduation to 50 percent, excluding those who continue studying at graduate schools or other institutions.

However, according to the study the Japan Student Services Organization conducted in fiscal 2021, just under 40 percent of foreign students found jobs in Japan after graduation.

“I’m most worried about my Japanese language skills,” said Yang Senlin, a 24-year-old graduate student from China, who is looking for a job in Japan.

She has taken a course at her graduate school where all lectures are conducted in English.

She passed the N1, the highest level, of the Japanese language proficiency test organized by the Japan Foundation and the Japan Educational Exchanges and Services.

But she said she’s not confident about speaking in Japanese.

“They interview you in Japanese and ask you to take part in group discussions in the recruitment process in Japan,” she said. “That’s all difficult for me.”

Ai Osawa, president of Vein Global Inc., a company that has helped foreign students find jobs in Japan for the past 17 years, said employers want foreign students hoping to work for them to have fantastic Japanese language skills.

She said many companies require foreign students to fill in job application forms or take aptitude tests, both in Japanese.

That means they must compete with Japanese students without their disadvantage of language skills being taken into consideration.

Thus, many Japanese employers choose to not employ foreign students because of their lack of language skills, even if those students are capable in other ways, she said.

Japan International Cooperation Center’s 2020 survey found companies wanted foreign students “to improve their business Japanese skills” the most.

However, the survey also found that of 450 universities that accepted foreign students, only 263, or around 60 percent, offered business Japanese lessons.

LACK OF ORGANIZED SUPPORT

Foreign students’ concerns about job hunting in Japan are not limited to their language skills.

Some don’t know which companies employ foreigners while others realize that job seeking in Japan is different from their home country, meaning they don’t know what the process is.

Osawa said information that foreign students need is not shared with them at some universities because separate divisions are responsible for supporting foreign students and assisting with job hunting, and they don’t communicate well.

“Foreign students alone are usually blamed for not being able to find a job, in some way,” she said. “That extinguishes their enthusiasm.”

Foreign students are valuable resources in Japan as it is going through a labor shortage, observers said.

One trading company used to employ foreign students for their (non-Japanese) language skills for the firm’s overseas operations.

“Fewer Japanese students are applying for jobs at our company nowadays,” said an official responsible for recruitment at the company. “We actively invite job applications regardless of whether applicants are Japanese or foreigners.”

The government also provides help for foreign students looking to work in Japan.

The education ministry supports universities and other organizations offering Japanese language education for foreign students, career education, or internship programs.

It has selected 15 projects to support that are offering such programs or education.

These projects include those local authorities have provided, or joint programs that multiple universities are giving.

The ministry also plans to choose three such projects to provide support to in fiscal 2023.

The government’s Council for the Creation of Future Education has also been considering topics such as reviewing the residency statuses of foreigners, as well as asking companies to review their internal systems to take into consideration the needs of foreign employees.

>>>READ MORE ARTICLE HERE<<<

https://www.jacknjillscute.com/2023/04/battle-in-colombia-over-river-wrecking.html

https://www.jacknjillscute.com/2023/04/singapore-welcoming-29-million-visitors.html

https://www.jacknjillscute.com/2022/03/breakaways-short-lived-joy-hope.html

https://www.jacknjillscute.com/2022/08/homophobia-may-hinder-monkeypox-fight.html

https://www.jacknjillscute.com/2022/10/singapore-hiker-missing-in-johor-baharu.html

https://www.jacknjillscute.com/2022/10/blog-post.html

@Jackie San