{"id":263,"date":"2016-09-30T13:51:29","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T17:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ksuzuki-workinginjapan\/?p=263"},"modified":"2016-09-30T13:53:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T17:53:00","slug":"colin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ksuzuki-workinginjapan\/2016\/09\/30\/colin\/","title":{"rendered":"Colin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"%e3%82%b3%e3%83%aa%e3%83%b3%e3%83%bb%e3%83%95%e3%83%aa%e3%83%b3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1)Your background and\/or self introduction (including how many years
\nof Japanese study at where, your heritage, study abroad experience,
\nwhich year you graduated,?your major\/minor, etc.)
\nMy name is Colin Flinn and I graduated in December 2012 with a BA in English and a minor in Japanese. I first started studying Japanese when I entered UVM and took courses for 3 of my 3.5 years. There were wonderful study abroad opportunities at the time, but I never took advantage of them; a choice I now regret.
\n2) Where did you work? How did you find the job?
\nI came to Japan in 2013 as an elementary school ALT with the JET Program. My time teaching was wonderful, but at the end of three years I was ready to pursue new challenges. One of my principals at the time knew I was looking for jobs in my rural area, where opportunities are rare, and introduced me to an acquaintance who had just started a new company. From that introduction I came into my current position at a tourism-based area revitalization company.
\n3) What was the interview process like? (Please describe in
\ndetails…everyone will be very curious here!) What were the questions?<\/p>\n

The interview process was much more relaxed than I expected. They were looking for someone with both Japanese and English proficiency and knowledge of the local area. No one at the company speaks English so the who process was entirely in Japanese. During the first of two interview sessions they told me about the details of the position and what would be expected of me. We spoke about what I had done so far in Japan and what I was looking to do with my future. My answers seemed to satisfy them and the interview ended in under half an hour. The second interview was more just hammering out the details like salary, insurance, and such.<\/p>\n

4) What was the placement\/moving process like? (did company pay any?
\nor you paid everything)
\nI already lived in the town where my new job would be, though I did have to move apartments. My company didn\u2019t pay any of the fees or help with the search. People moving in to a Japanese apartment should be aware that they rarely come with appliances, even stoves and fridges, so they\u2019ll need to budget for purchasing their own.
\n5) What is it like to work for a Japanese company\/school? (working
\nenvironment, requirements\/expectations, language, attire, what is your
\nwork week like?, what did you do?, etc.)<\/p>\n

Working in a Japanese office environment is very different from working in a North American one. While my office has a relaxed dress code (slacks and collared shirts being the only requirement), the power structure, coworker relationships, and expectations caught me by surprise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even though our company is small there is a hierarchy that has to be followed. There\u2019s less of a free-exchange of ideas than a game of telephone to try and get your message to the top. In office relationships aren\u2019t as warm as they are back home. I enjoy small talk, but chatting about your weekend or your family are topics that aren\u2019t discussed between coworkers during working hours. That being said, at enkais all topics are free game (even ones considered taboo back home!). Speaking of enkais, they\u2019re essentially required attendance. They\u2019re fun, but they do take a toll on your liver and wallet.<\/p>\n

6) What is it like to work with the Japanese? (people, culture,
\nlanguage, after-work obligation, etc.)
\nAs I mentioned earlier, after-work obligations include going to a lot of enkais. I typically have 2-3 per month. Holding business meetings with my Japanese coworkers and be difficult. I\u2019ve found that they don\u2019t easily share their opinions about there\u2019s no sense of back-and-forth brainstorming. If you try to get around this by asking bluntly what they think or if they\u2019d like to add something to the conversation, they often deflect. I have JLPT N1, but I still find myself flustered or at a loss for the proper words during business settings. Business Japanese is very different from what you use talking friends and acquaintances, but it will do wonders for your keigo study!
\n7) PLEASE share any tips for those who are going to teach in Japan or
\nhave Japan-related jobs after graduating from UVM?
\nDon\u2019t stop studying. No matter what level you\u2019re at now, there\u2019s always room for improvement. Accordingly, the more you improve the more you\u2019ll be able to get out of your time in Japan or your Japan-related job.
\nPlease share any recommendation you would like to give to
\nfaculty\/staff for career advising.<\/p>\n

9) Please share any recommendation you would like to give to UVM
\nstudents as career advising.?
\nNetworking is the key to advancing your career. Go out of your way to have conversations, meet new people, but more than anything else, keep in touch with everyone you already know and help those around you!
\n10) Anything else you wan to share!
\nVisit Akita! It\u2019s an off-the-beaten-path place with lots to offer people who want to get beneath the surface of Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1)Your background and\/or self introduction (including how many years of Japanese study at where, your heritage, study abroad experience, which year you graduated,?your major\/minor, etc.) My name is Colin Flinn and I graduated in December 2012 with a BA in English and a minor in Japanese. I first started studying Japanese when I entered UVM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":357,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106587,106582],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japanese-corporation","category-teaching-english-in-japan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ksuzuki-workinginjapan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ksuzuki-workinginjapan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ksuzuki-workinginjapan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ksuzuki-workinginjapan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/357"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ksuzuki-workinginjapan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ksuzuki-workinginjapan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ksuzuki-workinginjapan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ksuzuki-workinginjapan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ksuzuki-workinginjapan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ksuzuki-workinginjapan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}