(no subject)
A few weeks ago I ended up going to the Technical Career Forum in LA. I say ended up because I really did not decide to go for sure until about two weeks before it started, which didn't give me nearly enough time to prepare. Since it's a bunch of Japanese companies looking for Japanese people who have studied in the US, I wasn't sure what to expect. In addition to all of the standard interview preparations, I had to practice interviewing in Japanese and make a Japanese resume as well. With how little time I left myself I felt pretty unprepared, but once I got there I dove into things and hit a lot of companies. I must have done OK, since I advanced to a couple of secondary interviews and got invited to a glitzy company dinner in Beverly Hills, complete with champagne and dessert.
I only got one definite offer, but if I took it I'd have to pay for everything outside of housing for a six to nine month training period in Tokyo, one of the most expensive cities to live in. Since the salary is only pretty average for a Japanese IT job I'm holding out for something a little better. I seemed to make a good impression on a few companies so I guess I'll have to get back to them and see how things work.
If nothing works out, I can go to the Career Forum in Boston. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to do what everyone does and use a bullshit English-teaching job of the JET or NOVA variety to get back to Japan. I really would like to look for a job that's at least somewhat meaningful and lets me use Japanese first, though. I don't really see myself as a very good teacher, and I just really can't get enthused about English teaching or something related to that. Having almost gotten into a typical black-market English job during the summer, I have an appreciation for the lack of job security, advancement, and respect that go with it. Also, I dislike not being able to use Japanese and the way that forces you to treat Japanese people. If I'm going to do English, I'd much rather do it like I ended up doing this summer, on the side as a freelance gigolo who can rake in around 1800 yen an hour to sit in Saizeriya with lonely women.
I only got one definite offer, but if I took it I'd have to pay for everything outside of housing for a six to nine month training period in Tokyo, one of the most expensive cities to live in. Since the salary is only pretty average for a Japanese IT job I'm holding out for something a little better. I seemed to make a good impression on a few companies so I guess I'll have to get back to them and see how things work.
If nothing works out, I can go to the Career Forum in Boston. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to do what everyone does and use a bullshit English-teaching job of the JET or NOVA variety to get back to Japan. I really would like to look for a job that's at least somewhat meaningful and lets me use Japanese first, though. I don't really see myself as a very good teacher, and I just really can't get enthused about English teaching or something related to that. Having almost gotten into a typical black-market English job during the summer, I have an appreciation for the lack of job security, advancement, and respect that go with it. Also, I dislike not being able to use Japanese and the way that forces you to treat Japanese people. If I'm going to do English, I'd much rather do it like I ended up doing this summer, on the side as a freelance gigolo who can rake in around 1800 yen an hour to sit in Saizeriya with lonely women.