How to find a job in Japan

A few friends have asked me how does one find a job in Japan. There are many sites that one can use depending on whether or not you are a fresh graduate, looking for a mid-career change, type of profession that you are seeking for, your language skills and your education background.

I have used the following sites and will talk about each of them briefly.

Career Engine (https://japan.careerengine.org/index/index/lang/en)
This is good for those seeking bilingual jobs in Japan, mostly English and Japanese. There are both the Japanese and English version to the website. Jobs are separated into industry or job functions. Hence, it is easy to search for the type of job that you are interested in. However, the jobs do require the applicant to be already residing in Japan.

GaijinPot (https://jobs.gaijinpot.com/)
This is probably one of the most popular website for foreigners residing outside of Japan to seek for a job in Japan. The "Overseas OK" and "No Nihongo" would be especially suitable for those residing overseas or can't speak Japanese. While majority of the jobs under the "Overseas OK" are related to teaching English in Japan, there are other jobs such as consultant, sales, engineer, site developer, etc. You can even use it to search for part-time jobs if you are currently residing in Japan.

Daijob (https://www.daijob.com/)
Another website that comes in both Japanese and English versions. While some do not state if the applicant should be residing in Japan at the time of application, some do state that requirement clearly. Also, you might notice that many of the jobs require you to submit your 履歴書 and 職務経歴書 which are obviously in Japanese.

For fresh graduates, you can try sites like リクナビ (https://job.rikunabi.com/) or マイナビ(http://global.mynavi.jp/). These two website would be great for those who are proficient in Japanese and living in Japan or plan to go to Japan for their job hunt. For those seeking a mid-career change, try CareerCross (https://www.careercross.com/). Lastly, for science students and researchers, a more suitable website would be the jREC-IN portal (https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekTop?ln=1)

Good Luck with your job search!