How to speak and communicate in a job interview

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At a Japanese company, the interview lasts about 30 to 1 hour.

In the limited time of 30 minutes, it is very difficult to convey your experience and skills in business Japanese and how you will contribute to the company.

Most Japanese companies require JLPT N2 or higher when hiring foreigners, but in this lesson, we will tell you how to appeal and get a job offer even if you do not have JLPT.

What companies are looking for is not JLPT N1 level Japanese, but the ability to communicate accurately about the applicant’s experience, skills, and how they can contribute.

Even if you pass JLPT N1, it is meaningless if you cannot convey your experience and skills.

Passing JLPT N1 is just one of the means, and the goal is to properly convey your experience, skills, and how you will contribute to the company.

How can you convey what you want to say in an easy-to-understand way?

It is about learning how to speak in a way that Japanese people often use in business situations, that is, how to speak in a way that Japanese people can easily understand.

If you can master this way of speaking, Japanese people will be able to understand your conversation well, even if you don’t have the JLPT.

As a result, your chances of receiving a job offer will increase.

Also, even if you have the JLPT N1, if you can’t convey this way of speaking, you will fail the interview.

Let’s learn.

If you are unable to convey what you want to say to Japanese people, it is not because your Japanese language skills are poor.

It is simply because the way you communicate is unfamiliar to Japanese people, so there is no need to worry.

In this lesson, we will teach you ways of speaking that Japanese people often use in business situations, in the style of an IT engineer answering a question about their motivation for wanting to work in Japan.

Speaking in this order will make it easier for Japanese people to understand.

①　Tell the conclusion first

In the opening sentence, state the main point you want to convey and the answer to the question concisely.

The shorter your sentence, the easier it is to understand, so be careful not to make it too long.

In your motivation for applying, explain why you want to work for that company in a concise and simple way.

The key here is to clearly communicate the benefits they will get if they hire you.

② Explain the reason for your conclusion

Next, briefly explain why you think so (why your experience can contribute as an immediate asset).

Make sure your explanation is short and logical.

In this way, by clearly communicating what kind of experience you have and how you can utilize it, you can create a convincing and understandable reason.

③ Specific examples

After the answer/conclusion to the interviewer’s question and the reason for it, give a specific example.

Just giving the conclusion and the reason why is enough, but if you talk about a story you experienced as a specific example, it will make your motivation for applying more convincing.

② This is how I explained the reason for my conclusion.

Be sure to include specific examples of your own experiences in this text.

④ Restate your conclusion

Finally, state your conclusion once more to wrap up your talk.

Just giving reasons and specific examples is fine, but it’s even better to include a conclusion at the end.

The final conclusion is very simple, so state it like this:

By conveying your message in the following order,
① conclusion → ② reason → ③ specific example → ④ conclusion again,
you will be able to convey your message in a way that is easy for Japanese people to understand.

So far, we have learned about ways of speaking that Japanese people often use in business situations.

There’s one more very important thing to remember, that is how to communicate.

When communicating with Japanese people, make sure you pay attention to what you’re saying.

Communication during an interview is like playing catch.

The interviewer throws you balls called questions one by one.

You catch those questions, and throw the answer ball back to the interviewer.

A poor communicator will throw five answer balls at you for each question.

Can you catch five balls at once?

You can’t, right?

So the reason HR can’t get your point across is because you’re giving multiple answers to each question.

You have to make an impression in a limited time during an interview, so you might want to say everything you want to say, but that will give the interviewer too much information and they won’t understand anything.

As a result, you will be judged as not knowing what you are trying to say, and you will be rejected due to your lack of communication skills.

In order to highlight your own experience in the interview and get a job offer, and to properly communicate what you want to say to the other person, please use this speaking and communication methods you learned in this lesson.

Let’s review it once again.

Here are some speaking methods that will easily get through to Japanese people.

In addition, the following ways of communicating are often understood by Japanese people.

When you report something to your boss, start with the conclusion.

If you don’t have a conclusion and just keep talking, your boss will be confused because he won’t know what you’re trying to say.

Studying for the JLPT is important, but you should also study how to communicate and speak.

By simply changing the way you communicate and speak, you can better communicate what you want to say to the other person, and as a result, your communication skills will improve.

There’s no need to be fluent in Japanese.

Because even if you become fluent, it’s meaningless if you can’t get your point across.

If you can communicate with the other person, you don’t need to speak fluently and you can communicate without using difficult vocabulary.