so behind
First of all, I can't believe how long it's been since I've written an entry.
I guess somehow I've lost that desperate need to write down my feelings whenever I feel them.
Maybe that's a good thing, maybe I'm becoming more independent. Or maybe it's just because there's constantly been something more important that I've had to do (whether or not I'm actually doing it) and I just couldn't make the time. Anyway.
Second of all, here's what I really want to talk about: I'm SO behind and I still can't get myself to do anything.
Now I have to explain some stuff about what the job/career-finding process in Japan entails.
The process is this:
1) "Entry" into company of interest. (Most of the time this just means sending your basic information: name, date, university, etc. Sometimes, maybe about a third or more of the time, they will ask you to write something "maximum [this many] characters." They might ask you why you're interested in them, your strengths and weaknesses, anything. A lot of publishing companies, for example, will ask you what product of theirs that you bought most recently that you liked and why you like it.)
2) After your Entry they will send you information on when they have setsumeikai or seminars, and the general details of their selection process.
3) Reserve a seat at setsumeikai/seminar. (With big companies, the seats will run out literally in seconds. This is the reason for a lot of kids around my age to buy iPhones. So that they can reserve seats to these things no matter where they are when the reserving starts, so that they have a better chance to compete.)
4) Go to setsumeikai/seminar.
Setsumeikai are "orientation"-ish things that companies have for possible applicants, to introduce them to the company, maybe have the meet some employees, give them details about the position, etc (setsumei means explain/explanation and kai signifies a gathering).
Seminars are workshop-ish things that companies hold for applicants. I haven't been to any so I'm not so sure what's done, but I'm told they're often broken up into groups and are given a task to complete or a topic to discuss productively on.
Attendance for these are usually not requirements for applying to companies, but it's obviously much better that you go, just so that they have a record having gone and showing interest, and because you have a lot more material to write your applications and such.
The human resources people of the companies almost always tell you to "relax," that there's no need to be nervous, but everyone knows (or at least all the books/ common knowledge tells us) that in a way selection has already begun. Wear a clean black suit, bring a clean back bag, look as presentable as you can, but don't overdue the make-up, sit up straight, when they ask if anyone has questions, ask questions. If you don't have any, make something up. You have to look as eager as you can. Leave and impression but don't stand out. And so on.
Also, personally I think these are supposed to be opportunities for US to get to know THEM before we decide whether to apply. But some companies (who I think are just being lazy and stuck-up) start their selection process right then and there! They'll require you to bring your resume (on which we have to write why we're interested and why we think we'd be good for the job), and some really bad ones even give you a paper test!
5) If you've decided you want to apply, they might ask you to make an account on their website. Something that pretty much always happens with big companies is that they have so many applicants that they need a way to just cut some people away. This means academic testing. Usually online nowadays, but sometimes they will ask you to go to a testing center. Sometimes both if they really need to cut lots of applicants off. The test will usually have Maths, English, and Japanese. I've only experienced online testing, but the key to that is that they have lots of questions in a very short amount of time. They're not actually extremely difficult questions if you have the time, but I guess in the business world you need to be able to think fast, and not just be smart but be smart fast. Surprisingly it's very difficult to do well on this at all, at least for me.
6) Not all companies have the testing, but all require what's called an Entry Sheet (which I think is the equivalent of an application.) The most commonly asked questions are why you're interested in the position/company, and what your strengths are that you think you could put to use there. Other ones that are very common are "What was the most difficult situation that you have experienced thus far, and how did you overcome it?" "What clubs/activities/jobs are you doing/did you do during university and what did you learn?" "What are your hobbies and interests?" "How do you see yourself five years from now?" "What would you like to do at this company?" "What did you work hardest on in your student life and what lessons did you take from it?"
... and other such questions.
7) Usually the Entry Sheet (and test) is the first part of the elimination process. If you pass that, you go onto interviews. Most companies seem to have at least three interviews in the selection process. Meaning, you might have a "group interview" with about four other applicants versus two or more human resources people. They might ask you to complete a task together, or it might just be an interview. If you pass that, you might have a smaller group interview. If you pass that you might have a one-on-one interview. Some companies (I guess the bigger, more selective ones) will ask you to give a presentation, do some groupwork with other applicants, or go to a testing center and write an essay etc., in addition to the interviews.
This entire process and all the work that is entailed in it is collectively called shuushoku katsudou, or shuukatsu for short. (shuushoku means to get/find a job, and katsudou means activities.)
Please try to remember the word, as I might be referring to it often in the future.
SO what I've wanted to talk about is that, as disorganized and under-prepared and horrified as I was going into shuukatsu towards the very end of January (VERY LATE-- most kids start around October, about a year and a half before graduating), I at least felt like I was kind of doing okay. I was doing the stuff that I was supposed to be doing, however awfully and hopelessly late.
After the earthquake happened (there will be a separate entry about that sometime), a lot of the shuukatsu-related things (setsumeikai reservations, application deadlines) were delayed "until further notice." Well for the first two or three days I kept checking for the "further notice," but I was so enjoying this unexpected break from shuukatsu that after that I kind of forgot about it.
I didn't forget, but somehow the shuukatsu-mode that my head was in just sort of fell out and I stopped paying attention to stuff I should have been way more careful about. The entire nation (or at least the media) was taking a horrified moment to try to understand what had happened. Everything was holding its breath-- even around where I live where there was no major/widespread destruction, some people couldn't go back to work or go to school for a teeny while because public transportation systems were on hold or screwed up, etc. I fell into this bubble of horror at what had happened (there was not one day I could watch the news without my eyes welling up), and this bubble of being safe from shuukatsu because everyone else was holding their breath too.
The point is, six days ago I had to finally force myself out of this mode and try to send out some Entries that I had been putting off because, before the earthquake, I was too busy doing other things.
On the 24th I had a job interview but after that, I swear to you, I have been in my house almost ALL DAY EVERYDAY, doing nothing but watching Youtube and downloading/watching movies. I have Microsoft Word opened but I just will not get myself to do anything.
It's remarkable.
In the past six days I've written one full Entry (out of about over 10 that I have to do PRONTO) but I haven't even sent it yet because I need my mom to check it for grammar, etc and I haven't really done that yet.
At this point in the whole shuukatsu season, I'm probably too late to go to any of these companies' setsmeikai. But I need to know about their selection process and the due dates for whatever I have to send, and in order to find out I have to send the Entries.
But I've done nothing.
and IKEEP doing nothing.
I really can't believe it.
Maybe it's because I'm not really 100% interested in any of these companies. I'm just sending my Entries because even my brilliant friend Eri thinks she needs to apply to 50 companies and if she's so afraid of not finding a job I should be even more worried.
It's difficult to write these Entries and things, they take SO much out of me (1. because I have to completely BS my supposed interest in them, 2. because I have to leave an impression but not be too weird, 3. because there's a word limit, 4. there's entire books about how to write them so that you don't bore the human resources people, so that you get your point across short and sweet, 5. because it's all in Japanese).
But these are things that everyone else is going through too!
Everyone's BS-ing and working really hard.
Why can't I be the same and just force myself to work?
HOW did I spend 6 entire days holed up in my house doing NOTHING?
How much do I have to disgust myself before I can actually get off my ass and start working???!!
I guess somehow I've lost that desperate need to write down my feelings whenever I feel them.
Maybe that's a good thing, maybe I'm becoming more independent. Or maybe it's just because there's constantly been something more important that I've had to do (whether or not I'm actually doing it) and I just couldn't make the time. Anyway.
Second of all, here's what I really want to talk about: I'm SO behind and I still can't get myself to do anything.
Now I have to explain some stuff about what the job/career-finding process in Japan entails.
The process is this:
1) "Entry" into company of interest. (Most of the time this just means sending your basic information: name, date, university, etc. Sometimes, maybe about a third or more of the time, they will ask you to write something "maximum [this many] characters." They might ask you why you're interested in them, your strengths and weaknesses, anything. A lot of publishing companies, for example, will ask you what product of theirs that you bought most recently that you liked and why you like it.)
2) After your Entry they will send you information on when they have setsumeikai or seminars, and the general details of their selection process.
3) Reserve a seat at setsumeikai/seminar. (With big companies, the seats will run out literally in seconds. This is the reason for a lot of kids around my age to buy iPhones. So that they can reserve seats to these things no matter where they are when the reserving starts, so that they have a better chance to compete.)
4) Go to setsumeikai/seminar.
Setsumeikai are "orientation"-ish things that companies have for possible applicants, to introduce them to the company, maybe have the meet some employees, give them details about the position, etc (setsumei means explain/explanation and kai signifies a gathering).
Seminars are workshop-ish things that companies hold for applicants. I haven't been to any so I'm not so sure what's done, but I'm told they're often broken up into groups and are given a task to complete or a topic to discuss productively on.
Attendance for these are usually not requirements for applying to companies, but it's obviously much better that you go, just so that they have a record having gone and showing interest, and because you have a lot more material to write your applications and such.
The human resources people of the companies almost always tell you to "relax," that there's no need to be nervous, but everyone knows (or at least all the books/ common knowledge tells us) that in a way selection has already begun. Wear a clean black suit, bring a clean back bag, look as presentable as you can, but don't overdue the make-up, sit up straight, when they ask if anyone has questions, ask questions. If you don't have any, make something up. You have to look as eager as you can. Leave and impression but don't stand out. And so on.
Also, personally I think these are supposed to be opportunities for US to get to know THEM before we decide whether to apply. But some companies (who I think are just being lazy and stuck-up) start their selection process right then and there! They'll require you to bring your resume (on which we have to write why we're interested and why we think we'd be good for the job), and some really bad ones even give you a paper test!
5) If you've decided you want to apply, they might ask you to make an account on their website. Something that pretty much always happens with big companies is that they have so many applicants that they need a way to just cut some people away. This means academic testing. Usually online nowadays, but sometimes they will ask you to go to a testing center. Sometimes both if they really need to cut lots of applicants off. The test will usually have Maths, English, and Japanese. I've only experienced online testing, but the key to that is that they have lots of questions in a very short amount of time. They're not actually extremely difficult questions if you have the time, but I guess in the business world you need to be able to think fast, and not just be smart but be smart fast. Surprisingly it's very difficult to do well on this at all, at least for me.
6) Not all companies have the testing, but all require what's called an Entry Sheet (which I think is the equivalent of an application.) The most commonly asked questions are why you're interested in the position/company, and what your strengths are that you think you could put to use there. Other ones that are very common are "What was the most difficult situation that you have experienced thus far, and how did you overcome it?" "What clubs/activities/jobs are you doing/did you do during university and what did you learn?" "What are your hobbies and interests?" "How do you see yourself five years from now?" "What would you like to do at this company?" "What did you work hardest on in your student life and what lessons did you take from it?"
... and other such questions.
7) Usually the Entry Sheet (and test) is the first part of the elimination process. If you pass that, you go onto interviews. Most companies seem to have at least three interviews in the selection process. Meaning, you might have a "group interview" with about four other applicants versus two or more human resources people. They might ask you to complete a task together, or it might just be an interview. If you pass that, you might have a smaller group interview. If you pass that you might have a one-on-one interview. Some companies (I guess the bigger, more selective ones) will ask you to give a presentation, do some groupwork with other applicants, or go to a testing center and write an essay etc., in addition to the interviews.
This entire process and all the work that is entailed in it is collectively called shuushoku katsudou, or shuukatsu for short. (shuushoku means to get/find a job, and katsudou means activities.)
Please try to remember the word, as I might be referring to it often in the future.
SO what I've wanted to talk about is that, as disorganized and under-prepared and horrified as I was going into shuukatsu towards the very end of January (VERY LATE-- most kids start around October, about a year and a half before graduating), I at least felt like I was kind of doing okay. I was doing the stuff that I was supposed to be doing, however awfully and hopelessly late.
After the earthquake happened (there will be a separate entry about that sometime), a lot of the shuukatsu-related things (setsumeikai reservations, application deadlines) were delayed "until further notice." Well for the first two or three days I kept checking for the "further notice," but I was so enjoying this unexpected break from shuukatsu that after that I kind of forgot about it.
I didn't forget, but somehow the shuukatsu-mode that my head was in just sort of fell out and I stopped paying attention to stuff I should have been way more careful about. The entire nation (or at least the media) was taking a horrified moment to try to understand what had happened. Everything was holding its breath-- even around where I live where there was no major/widespread destruction, some people couldn't go back to work or go to school for a teeny while because public transportation systems were on hold or screwed up, etc. I fell into this bubble of horror at what had happened (there was not one day I could watch the news without my eyes welling up), and this bubble of being safe from shuukatsu because everyone else was holding their breath too.
The point is, six days ago I had to finally force myself out of this mode and try to send out some Entries that I had been putting off because, before the earthquake, I was too busy doing other things.
On the 24th I had a job interview but after that, I swear to you, I have been in my house almost ALL DAY EVERYDAY, doing nothing but watching Youtube and downloading/watching movies. I have Microsoft Word opened but I just will not get myself to do anything.
It's remarkable.
In the past six days I've written one full Entry (out of about over 10 that I have to do PRONTO) but I haven't even sent it yet because I need my mom to check it for grammar, etc and I haven't really done that yet.
At this point in the whole shuukatsu season, I'm probably too late to go to any of these companies' setsmeikai. But I need to know about their selection process and the due dates for whatever I have to send, and in order to find out I have to send the Entries.
But I've done nothing.
and IKEEP doing nothing.
I really can't believe it.
Maybe it's because I'm not really 100% interested in any of these companies. I'm just sending my Entries because even my brilliant friend Eri thinks she needs to apply to 50 companies and if she's so afraid of not finding a job I should be even more worried.
It's difficult to write these Entries and things, they take SO much out of me (1. because I have to completely BS my supposed interest in them, 2. because I have to leave an impression but not be too weird, 3. because there's a word limit, 4. there's entire books about how to write them so that you don't bore the human resources people, so that you get your point across short and sweet, 5. because it's all in Japanese).
But these are things that everyone else is going through too!
Everyone's BS-ing and working really hard.
Why can't I be the same and just force myself to work?
HOW did I spend 6 entire days holed up in my house doing NOTHING?
How much do I have to disgust myself before I can actually get off my ass and start working???!!