Yesterday I went for a last round of interviews. The second round for a very popoular developer, and the first (and only ?) with a larger company which perhaps used to be more famous in the past.
They both were group interviews. I had the first one with the popoular developer at noon, with my prospect coworkers. I think it was mostly to see if we’d make a connection, and I think it went fairly well. We all had fun but we also spoke of our past experiences and the things we like to do. I had a chance to briefly speak about image compression, but also a chance to mention that I go clubbing from time to time 8)
It was bright outside and I really felt at ease.. but I should not be too relaxed until I hear the result !

The second interview was with the larger business located not exactly very near Tokyo, but sporting its own set of cool looking buildings, although the interior was definitely more on the functional side…

Because my reading abilities are very limited, I was given one extra hour to do the multi-choice tests, plus the possibility to use whatever electronic dictionary (specifically the Nintendo DS to rapidly consult kanji).

The skills tests varied greatly. I started with a warm-up section that was a concentrated litteracy-level test for native Japanese readers. I could only see kanji I coudln’t recognize and I had 4 minutes.. I stared at the paper until the alarm rang and the lady in charge came into the room to see how I “did” 8)
Other tests were simpler, involved understanding little or no Japanese. Doing equations, making sense of numerical series, associating figures, basically a simple IQ test.
I regret that I was not able to solve a simple equation with two unknowns. I was definitely not well organized, I tried to skip steps and I found myself possibly making mistakes and possibly misunderstanding the equations which were to be derived from a plain language explanation.

The attitude test had about 120 questions to which one had to answer either with 5, 4 or 3 possible answers, depending on the type. I did as far as I could, starting at about 14:50, and then came the interview at 17:00.
This was again a group interview. Everybody was pretty kind, although not necessarily upbeat. I was told that I could resort to English if I had problems, but I did not, aside from introducing 2-3 words to make sure I was understood. The word 残業 ([zangyo] = overwork) this time came from one of the interviewers. I was basically told that the norm is to work about 11 hours and sometimes on weekends.
Overall it seemed to me like a very Japanese (so to speak) work environment. Making no excuses for working late everyday but also being honest about it.
The icing came when, after the interview, I was kindly given unlimited time to complete the attitude test. That was a bit harsh. I went on and used another hour and a half to complete the test, but this time I didn’t really try to understand well every question, as it would have taken me at least 3-4 more hours.
I understand the company policy, but if that piece of paper really matters, then I don’t think it’s a good idea to make it fill it up to someone that has obviously problems understanding the questions. However I didn’t complain and I took that as a good exercise 8)

As I’m standing, I’m one more company should supposedly contact me to set an interview. The contact at this company answer with an average 10 days delay (!). I was also told by a friend that sook some business with them in the past, that they are basically snob asses.. so I’m not holding my breath !
Another company has yet to give any answer (did they get the resume ?). And another big foreign one, which recently had no more need for a position for which I was introduced by some contacts (in English), finally apparently answered to my original (mandatory) online inquiry for another position (in Japanese).
They now ask me to send my resume, over one month later, while it should have taken 1-2 weeks. Honestly, I have 8 days to go before I’m jobless, I need to start doing paperworks for the apartment, and I have a sure offer from a good company that was kind enough to promptly show its interest.

While I don’t like the idea of having to reject any offer, I hope I will soon have a chance to choose and finally relax.

We’ll see !!!

Posted by Davide Pasca in Diary, Japan