Serious: looking for a job for the Mrs.

[yanpa]

Bit of a long shot, but my better half is increasingly disenchanted with her current employer (long-established family-owned Japanese company which appears to be struggling by on the strength of its name and the inertia of its customers), where she is handles customer orders and assists salespeople. It's the kind of place where the order management system is a creaking relic (it apparently involves floppy disks and faxes between company departments) and the product catalogue has no index (she ended up putting in a fair bit of time manually creating one just so she could do her job), not to mention the weird and whacky [s]mental cases[/s] co-workers, so understandably she's interested in working in a saner, more positive environment.

Her main strengths are bloody good English, especially speaking (the first time I met her, I didn't think she was Japanese), and has a very outgoing personality (her first job was cold-calling insurance sales). She's a quick learner, good at organising things and is very conscientious. She would be great e.g. in a customer-facing role dealing with foreign customers, or anything involving sales, office organisation, managing people etc. She has the usual PC skills, a couple of insurance/finance-related qualifications and a fair smattering of German. Also a wicked sense of humour.

Something in central or western Tokyo involving reasonable working hours (part-time OK) would be ideal.

If anyone's got any ideas, leads, requests for further information etc., please PM me ('cos being a lightning rod for her post-work stress is slowly driving me crazy ).

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Does she know how to make tea?

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Sorry...being serious, it's not a good time to be looking for a job at the moment.

Get her to decide what she wants to do and apply for the job herself.

Until then, hang in there and bide your time in this environment...

[Russell]

If this company didn't figure out by now that they should make her the manager in charge of her department, they are simply not worthy to have her as their employee.

Her terrific bilingual skills are a very positive point, and she may want to consider working in a foreign company. Also, it may also be worthwhile to work as an interpreter (not translator, since that tends to pull in much less).

Anyway, I suppose you probably figured this out by yourself already...

[IparryU]

Well if sending in resumes didnt work then i would say to put her cold calling skills to test, use google, find 20 companies she wants to work for and give them a call.


If all else fails, get her in as a hakken and hope she gets a full time shot.

[Russell]

Well if sending in resumes didnt work then i would say to put her cold calling skills to test, use google, find 20 companies she wants to work for and give them a call.


If all else fails, get her in as a hakken and hope she gets a full time shot.

Hakken does not earn much money, and half of the salary is for the Hakken Gaisha. Do not be surprised if she only gets 800 Yen / hour for this work. It is a little bit better than at MacDonalds, but not much.

An interesting route she may explore, though, is giving English lessons to elementary school kids.

Elementary schools sometimes hire assistants because the teachers themselves often have insufficient English skills.

If that does not work, she could give English lessons at home. If she has a class of 5 kids that pay 1000 Yen / lesson of 1 hour, then that is not such a bad deal. Of course, that can only be done for a maximum of few hours a day (after school), and some teaching experience is necessary.
If space at home is insufficient, then there are public facilities available in most places, which can be rented for very reasonable prices.

[IparryU]

Well if sending in resumes didnt work then i would say to put her cold calling skills to test, use google, find 20 companies she wants to work for and give them a call.


If all else fails, get her in as a hakken and hope she gets a full time shot.

Hakken gets shit pay but easy to get on board... a month working for 800 yen an hour is more than a month of being unemployed.

Plus she works for a small Japanese company with Greji generation technology and is in the sale's bitch role (leave it to the Nihonjiron to let the trilingual chick push papers while the old dragon breath guy gets the sales role+salary)... so salary is probably not that good any way.

Plus working hakken at roppongi hills away from all the nut jobs would be vacation for her... A new computer... email rather than fax... fucking upgrade!

[legion]

I hear the patter of tiny feet approaching

[nikoneko]

How old is she? Makes a big difference here..

[matsuki]

I hear the patter of tiny feet approaching

Damn, I thought my ninja skills were improving.

[IparryU]

just spoke to my wife about this.

She said it is easiest (really really easy) to get into hakken, work for a year, and get the full on job internally with the same pay range as your "equivalents". This would go back to nikoneko's comment about age... not a good thing, but if she is pushing 40 and doesn't have a high level job, getting one is more difficult.

So unless she wants to work as another sales bitch or have to bust her ass at a gaishikei with younger.... girls working up the food chain... i dunno.

Then again, try Wall Street Associates or Ingenium for head hunters.

[yanpa]

Sorry for the late replies, had rather a trying week (for other reasons) and this thread slipped my miniscule mind.

just spoke to my wife about this.

She said it is easiest (really really easy) to get into hakken, work for a year, and get the full on job internally with the same pay range as your "equivalents". This would go back to nikoneko's comment about age... not a good thing, but if she is pushing 40 and doesn't have a high level job, getting one is more difficult.

Yup, hakken is certainly an option. However I notice I forgot to mention she is seishain now and got the job after being made redundant from a hakken role. Being seishain is the main reason she's hanging onto it, but she'd consider hakken again if it was a better working environment / opportunities for advancement.

FWIW she's pushing 30.

[yanpa]

Does she know how to make tea?

She can also tell you in no uncertain terms where exactly you can put the tea.

Sorry...being serious, it's not a good time to be looking for a job at the moment.

Get her to decide what she wants to do and apply for the job herself.

Until then, hang in there and bide your time in this environment...

Yeah, she has her head screwed on and is not planning to quit in frustration or anything, but no harm in looking at possibilities, even when times are not so great.

[yanpa]

I hear the patter of tiny feet approaching

Is it cockroach season already?

[yanpa]

How old is she? Makes a big difference here..

Still on the Christmas cake side of 30.

[yanpa]

Elementary schools sometimes hire assistants because the teachers themselves often have insufficient English skills.

If that does not work, she could give English lessons at home. If she has a class of 5 kids that pay 1000 Yen / lesson of 1 hour, then that is not such a bad deal. Of course, that can only be done for a maximum of few hours a day (after school), and some teaching experience is necessary.
If space at home is insufficient, then there are public facilities available in most places, which can be rented for very reasonable prices.

Interesting idea, though she has no teaching experience. On the other hand I think she might be surprisingly good at it... I'll bear it in mind should she ever really be at a loose end.

[GomiGirl]

Given her English skills and organisational skills, why doesn't she repackage her resume as an English office manager/customer service manager/PA for tech companies - ones that are offices of US companies as they like these sorts of skills.

She sounds like the sort of person I would like to talk to for my company but sadly I have no budget at the moment. Got plenty of work though. Look at the big guys like Google, Gree, Apple etc - they are all hiring at the moment. They need local language but internationally minded staff that are energetic and willing to jump on the company cultural bandwagon.

[yanpa]

If this company didn't figure out by now that they should make her the manager in charge of her department, they are simply not worthy to have her as their employee.

First thing her manager said when she informed him of our impeding nuptials was (in an anxious tone) "You're not thinking of leaving are you?!".

I am admittedly a biased observer, but I'm damn sure she could do his job way better. Unfortunately I guess the only way that could happen in that company would involve a sex-change operation, aging 15 years and taking up golf and halitosis, which is not a particularly attractive option.

Her terrific bilingual skills are a very positive point, and she may want to consider working in a foreign company. Also, it may also be worthwhile to work as an interpreter (not translator, since that tends to pull in much less).

Anyway, I suppose you probably figured this out by yourself already...

Oddly enough I don't think she's really cut out for interpreting, from my own experiences and knowing the way her mind works it wouldn't be a good match. She can happily talk in English and is great at explaining things even if she's missing specific words, but going back-and-forth between languages brings everything to a grinding halt. Though I guess some propert training might be of help.

[IparryU]

Sorry for the late replies, had rather a trying week (for other reasons) and this thread slipped my miniscule mind.



Yup, hakken is certainly an option. However I notice I forgot to mention she is seishain now and got the job after being made redundant from a hakken role. Being seishain is the main reason she's hanging onto it, but she'd consider hakken again if it was a better working environment / opportunities for advancement.

FWIW she's pushing 30.

seishain or inner peace?
salary would be similar minus health care and nenkin
hakken workers can punch out at 1700
hakken workers are more flexible to take the day off for child care (pushing 30... so kids are still young enough to consume time)
female seishain = some tooth sucking oyaji's dog (no offence ladies)

First thing her manager said when she informed him of our impeding nuptials was (in an anxious tone) "You're not thinking of leaving are you?!".

"Yes I am. I can do your job that you don't really do, same for half the sales team, cut the budget, improve our overall performance, and give the remaining people that I would keep a raise."

[cstaylor]

I guess the only way that could happen at 90+% of Japanese companies would involve a sex-change operation, aging 15 years and taking up golf and halitosis, which is not a particularly attractive option.

Sadly, I FTFY.

[rooboy]

When I go back home and see the fucking rude arsehole Aussie women who all seem to have the criteria of being rude, fat and dressing like no-one's ever gonna see em again, in positions of responsibility, your J wife's situation sucks even harder.

Don't get pissed off at this cause I don't know all your wife's qualifications but how about Daijob? There are company jobs that want bi-lingual Japanese and sometimes gaijin, would love to have a crack at some but my kanji reading needs a serious upgrade.

[Sa_Race]

Careercross.com.

If she can't get at least 5 interviews and a job in 60 days, the problem is with the wifey. I sound like a dick I know.

[wuchan]

Careercross.com.

If she can't get at least 5 interviews and a job in 60 days, the problem is with the wifey. I sound like a dick I know.

no


robert half or robert walters.

[Sa_Race]

This is another option if you like being harassed by head hunters. But if you can find a good one, it's great.

[yanpa]

Careercross.com.

If she can't get at least 5 interviews and a job in 60 days, the problem is with the wifey. I sound like a dick I know.

At this point I'm thinking about strategies to pursue and directions to nudge her in. Half the battle is getting her to believe in herself.