Blue Ocean Strategy: Opportunities in Japan

[cburger]

Hi all,

I just want to start a thread talking about possible opportunities in Japan. As Japanese economy is slowing on the rise, and its businesses are getting more global exposure, many major Japanese corporations are hiring foreigners to help them with overseas business opportunities. The aging domestic demographic is also forcing companies to look outside of Japan for able workers. I just received an offer from a Japanese corporation to do bizdev work for them. So I believe there are opportunities. If anyone is interested in learning more or have more information on opportunities in Japan, feel free to share them in this thread

[Wutang]

關於這點我也認同 去日本也是我的藍海戰略

就拿我的情況來講好了

我小學在台灣讀 之後在美國長大

在美國競爭是很激烈的 由於太多人要到美國來讀書或找工作

所以我明年考慮去日本讀書 順利的話 再想辦法創業

去日本不但能學日文 (我是認為會兩種是不夠的) 也能開發自己的市場

不過前提是先在美國待過 英文日文最好有點底子

從台灣直接去日本也不見的好 畢竟美國的實力還是不能輕視的 累積點經驗也不錯

Japan is still one of the leading economic powers today. Japan is right behind United States for national MNCs. Japanese is known for innovation and popular culture.

just my two cents

[Wutang]

just to put a note.

That doesn't mean I can't stand the heat in here, and I just want to maximize my potentials.

Just in case if someone calls me a pantsy.

[習慣仔]

From my observation in MNC I work for, payback of learning Japanese is likely to be higher than that of learning English, as average salary is relatively better ... if you do speak both Japanese and English, your chance to get a good job is even better than local Japanese and pay can be 20-50% higher...

My two cents...

[kevinkan]

Well, the combination of US education and Japanese language proficiency may give you a plus in resume.
However, the speed of your salary increase in JP companies would be much slower than the US or Euro companies, which
may disappint you.

A US MBA WORKING IN JP COMPANY

[modern]

我交換時候的一個同學,就是一個因緣際會而英日語雙流利的例子. 簡單來說他就是從小在日本念國際學校長大.

他在美國時參加Boston那個回日本就業的最大型career fair,最後拿了五個offer. 其中有四大裡面的advisory部門,也有industry的internal consulting.

老實說就我對他的認知,他的Finance/accounting skills可能比我*還爛吧 :P 我問他,他去面四大怎搞定的.他笑笑說,對方也只問了最基本概念,他胡說一通就過了.

我的看法是,日本一直以來都很少在努力積極培養英日雙語,甚至中英日三語人才. 現在demand增多,自然會以合乎新的市場價格,甚至小幅的over-price去聘人. 此君日語是母語水平,英語是接近母語水平,上課幾乎都在睡,但談到面試就一條活龍,頗有印度MBA學生風範,完全符合我心中 " Offer殺神"的樣子. 只不過,他是日本版的 :P

至於為什麼日本這地方忽然對於此類人才的demand增加,就請有經驗的人來回答了.

Kevin提到的薪資增幅低,是真的.然而雖然整體文化是如此,日本整體工時其實是低很多的,而且工作穩定大體而言不怕被fire,這些都是trade off. 聰明的人更可以用拉抬起薪去off set未來的低增薪幅度. 要怎幹...就不適合在這個版面上討論了, hehe....

*馬登我基本上是以Finance/accounting爛爆著稱的... 跟這行業無緣阿,人笨,又半路出家沒空把這塊念好, sigh...

[Wutang]

FYI, this is the address for the career fair.

http://www.careerforum.net/event/bos/index.asp?lang=E

You are right about the salary in Japan. One thing I hate about working in Asia is that they make u work ur ass up. I suppose it doesnt really matter to you if you were the boss.

[cburger]

Hi Kevinkan,

Can you reveal more information about your mba education and where you work? For your information. I am graduating from USC in May, and I will be heading to a Japanese MNC in tokyo in consumer electronics industry. While my pay is less in absolute value compared with similar positions in California, if you factor in incoming tax, housing subsidy, and transportation subsidy, it is very much comparable. I am curious about the salary progression in a Japanese company.

I want to talk about positioning yourself when interviewing with a Japanese company. Basically, I try to position myself as a "foreigner who understands Japanese", but not a "near native-level Japanese speaker". My Japanese is proficiency level 3 at best, but I stressed my experience with Japanese culture (exchange program, familiarity with related Japanese markets). One of the pitfalls of being a native-level Japanese speaker is that the company will treat you as a Japanese recruit. In that sense, your negotiation power is limited because they have set pay scales for Japanese recruits. If you are positioned as a foreigner, however, you have more negotiation power because you will most likely be a contracted employee, and there are a lot more negotiable terms. Of course, one of the disadvantages would be that you won't have that many opportunities cause of your language skills.