3 Reasons Why Grad School in Japan Doesn’t Help with Job Hunting

One of the most popular videos on my YouTube channel is the one about getting a master’s degree in Japan. Recently, I’ve received a question on whether or not I got a job with a visa sponsorship after graduating, and if the graduate degree I earned gave me an advantage.

The first part of the question is easy enough to answer. Yes, I got a job with a visa sponsorship after graduating. But did I find my graduate degree helpful? The answer to that is not as straightforward. In many cases, people would answer yes, but personally, I find myself leaning toward no. Now, this viewpoint is largely influenced by my own experiences and it does not speak for what others have gone through, but I have three reasons why.

1. The hiring process is designed for university grads.

The whole job-hunting process in Japan is called shūkatsu and it more or less lasts a year long. The painstaking process varies according to company, but it typically has several stages, which include at least 2 exams and 2 to 7 interviews. These stages take place in the span of a year.

Maybe the easier way to put this is, think of your typical shonen manga or anime that has a tournament. That tournament will have several stages before you can defeat the final boss. It’s the same with job hunting in Japan. Only that, the consequences are painfully real. Only that, you won’t be battling one boss at a time because you’ll be applying to different companies, and each has a schedule of its own.

Now if you’re an undergraduate student in a Japanese university, you’ll have time to prepare for all this. Because universities know that job hunting is the priority. You just have to meet the minimum requirements for schoolwork to graduate.

But graduate school operates differently. You can’t really obtain a master’s degree with a mediocre thesis that does not contribute to the discussion in the academe. Your thesis WILL suck your soul away. And when it does, what energy do you have left for job hunting? Essentially, you’re going into the job-hunting field at a disadvantage because the process wasn’t really created with you in mind.

2. Japanese companies want a blank slate.

What do I mean by this? Japanese companies may expect a few basic skills or a basic background, but what they look at more than anything else is character. Can they work with you? More specifically, can they mold you to whatever they need?

In fact, when I first filled out my resume, I put down my work experience in the Philippines because I was working full-time to cover the expenses of studying. But the recruiter who looked at it told me I should erase those because it would only affect my application negatively. Companies are looking for fresh grads that they can instill the company values into and may be shaped into lifelong employees. It’s a very old Japanese way of thinking especially now that changing companies mid-career is becoming more common.

This blank slate mindset is especially true for big companies that have a tendency to do job rotation every three years. Your purpose is to fill a position and do it well. One year you may be in sales, the next you may be in HR. At least for the first few years of your career, you won’t really have a specialization.

Obviously, this is not true for jobs that require specific skills like engineering, but this setup applies to many cases. I still remember when a client told me that after 10 years of being in the same department, she will be transferred to a different one the following year. She had to introduce me to the person who will be taking over her position.

On the other hand, the blank slate requirement doesn’t apply when you transfer jobs. What people look at instead is your familiarity with the industry. The number of interviews also isn’t as crazy. This is why I think finding a job as tenshoku or a mid-career transfer is a lot easier than landing one as a new grad. Perhaps work in your desired field for a few years, gain experience, then transfer to Japan.

3. The corporate sphere is rarely female-friendly.

My fellow women, I am sorry to tell you that the glass ceiling exists everywhere. Maybe thinner in other countries, but this is Japan we’re talking about. Its ranking on the Global Gender Gap report drops down every year. In fact, it was 104th when I started studying gender and media some 10 years ago. In 2021, it was 120th out of 156 countries.

One of the reasons behind this low ranking is that there are very few women who make it to top management positions. And one of the reasons for that is well, it’s hard to get in, much more stay working in one. It’s harder for women to get hired by a company, much more stay in one.

Now, how does that relate to grad school and finding work in Japan? Because if you’re female, there’s a high chance you will get asked, “Do you plan to get married?”

Human labor is a resource that companies invest in, and typically that investment starts having a positive ROI after 3 years. When you do grad school, the earliest you can graduate is in your mid-20s. From the company’s perspective, they need to weigh whether they should invest in an employee that could potentially quit after a few years because of marriage and/or childbirth.

In this manner, women are forced to choose between motherhood and a career. Because institutions do not provide adequate support, it’s hard for women to pursue both.

Do I Regret Going to Grad School in Japan?

Now that I’ve explained the three reasons why I think grad school and job hunting don’t match, you’re probably wondering if I think it’s worth pursuing a graduate degree from a Japanese university. I think we can break this question further into two parts.

Do I think that I could have just skipped grad school and gone straight to working? Yes. But at the time, what I wanted was to be an academic, which is why getting a master’s degree made sense. Also, I think the door to working in Japan would not have opened had I not studied first.

Do I regret going to graduate school in Japan? Hell no. I owe my research skills, my affinity toward data, and my integrity as a researcher in relying on logic and data-based decision-making to graduate school. Also, I met a bunch of really cool people that I keep in touch with to this day. Experiencing Japan as a student is fun, after all.

If you’re trying to decide whether you should pursue master’s in Japan, my advice is to first identify what you want out of it. If the degree is the only thing you’re after, then pursuing your master’s in Japan may help you in your career. But if living in Japan is your ultimate goal, getting a job instead of studying may prove to be more rewarding.