List of questions to be asked in the job interview

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Questions to be asked at interviews in Japan are fixed to some extent.

Knowing in advance what questions you will be asked will help you prepare for the interview and get you one step closer to a job offer.

In this lesson, we will tell you all the questions you will ask in a Japanese interview.

If you are interviewing for a Japanese company for the first time, or if you want to work in Japan in the future, please learn about it and use it in your interviews.

① self-introduction

In your self-introduction, you will tell them your name, where you are from, and what kind of work you have been doing and for how many years.

It is best to keep it short, between 30 seconds and one minute.

It is not necessary to give detailed job descriptions here.

Because you will be asked questions about your work and experience later, so answer them in detail there.

In your self-introduction, you should say the following

② About the Job

Provide details about your background and the nature of your work to date.

Give them between one and two minutes to make your message clear and easy to understand.

When you tell them about your work,
Briefly tell them where, for how many years, in what position, and how you did it.

③ Reason for coming to Japan

You will be asked why you work abroad and why you work in Japan.

What the interviewer wants to confirm here is whether you will work in Japan for a long time without going back to your own country immediately.

Tell them why Japan, not your country or any other country.

I will give you good and bad examples of why I want to work in Japan, so you can create your reasons from these topics.

Tell them these reasons.

Do not give these reasons.

For IT engineers, here is an example of why you want to work in Japan.

④ Reasons for joining and leaving previous companies

Briefly answer why you joined the current company and why you left the company.

They are rarely asked why you joined and left all companies. Consider the reasons for joining and leaving all companies just in case.

In your reason for leaving, give a positive reason, such as wanting to improve your skills.

Please be careful not to give negative reasons or bad words about the job, such as that it is not a good fit or that it requires a lot of overtime work.

If you give a negative reason, the interviewer may think, “Even if I join the company, you will probably change jobs again if you do overtime a lot.”

⑤ Reasons for changing jobs

Tell them shortly and clearly why you want to leave your current company and join a new one.

Please keep your reasons for changing jobs to about one minute and be careful not to make it too long.

Again, you will make a better impression by giving positive reasons, such as wanting to improve your skills, rather than negative reasons, such as too much overtime.

⑥ Reason for application

Why did you choose this company over others? Tell them why.

We recommend that you look at the company’s website when creating a motivation for your application.

The following three points should be considered when creating a motivation for your application.

This is how the motivation for including these three items will look like.

⑦ Career plan

You will be asked these questions to confirm your contribution to the company, such as what kind of work you would like to do once you join the company.

Having an image of what it will be like to work for the company is considered a good motivation to join.

⑥ Annual Income

Annual salary range for a first-time Japanese company employee: 3.5-8 million
※It depends largely on your Japanese level, years of experience, and skills.

Many first-time workers in Japan are unfamiliar with the Japanese yen and salaries, and they relatively tell them that desired annual income is over 8 million yen or more.

There are also a certain number of people who would like to earn the same amount of money as they are currently receiving, but it is not very realistic to expect to earn the same amount of money in Japan as they are currently earning because the country is different to begin with.

If you are new to Japan and are seeking an unrealistic annual salary, you will be rejected due to mismatched conditions, so be careful when communicating your desired annual salary.

⑦ Work Location

If you are coming to work in Japan for the first time, it may be difficult to imagine where you will work, but we recommend that you work in a prefecture where there are many foreigners living.

For example, Tokyo (Kanto region) and Osaka-Osaka (Kansai region).

Here we will show you how to answer the questions for those who are new to work in Japan, and how to answer the questions for those who have visited Japan on vacation or for other reasons.

⑧ When to join the company

The date of entry into the company is generally three months after the offer of employment, since the notice period differs from company to company and preparation for coming to Japan is necessary.

Since it is necessary to obtain a COE or apply for a VISA before coming to Japan, and it takes about 3 months to obtain a VISA, there is no problem as long as the start date is within 6 months of the job offer.

However, in some cases, if a company wants someone immediately due to a vacancy, priority is given to those who can join the company as soon as possible.

So, tell them the following.

During the interview, they will ask these questions in depth, so please do your own research on what kind of work you have done in the past and why you want to change jobs.

By doing research, you can create a story for the interview by coming up with more and more appealing points, such as how you are able to contribute to the company, what projects you want to participate in, and so on.

The best way to pass an interview is to practice over and over again.

The more practice you do, the higher your job offer rate will be, so practice at least 10 times before the interview.