Working in Hiroshima
Preparing for Your Job Search Activities
In order to proceed with your job search activities, you must first narrow down your desired industries and companies by conducting a “self-analysis.”
By conducting a self-analysis, you will be able to better convey yourself through your “promotional self-introduction” and “statement of intent,” which you will frequently be asked for when filling out application forms and at interview examinations.
You will need to thoroughly prepare yourself on how to write such documents and on interviewing strategies so that you can take the recruiting examinations given by companies.
Attending “employment seminars” is an effective way of equipping yourself with such strategies.
Self-Analysis
What Is a Self-Analysis?
In a nutshell, a self-analysis allows you to “gain a better understanding of yourself.”
Since this is highly relevant for entry sheets and interviews, this can be said to be the fundamental component of your job search activities.
Unless you are able to practice this, your job search activities will not proceed smoothly.
In fact, for the upper-level students and alumni who came before you, self-analysis is the area in which the most effort was placed when preparing for their job search activities.
What You Can Learn through Self-Analysis
- Identifying which companies and occupations you seem compatible with (or identifying which companies and occupations you seem incompatible with)
- Being able to accurately and appealingly convey things about yourself to someone else (connected to promotional self-introductions and statement of intent)
By conducting self-analysis, and identifying “your core and perspectives,” it is possible to narrow down the industries and companies that you apply to.
How to Perform Self-Analysis
While eliciting opinions from your family, friends, and acquaintances, skillfully make use of such diagnostic tools as the “career assessment” to perform a balanced analysis.
Tips on Performing Self-Analysis
Write down your past experiences.
- Write down a “personal history” that focuses on the past 2 to 3 years up until the present.
- Begin writing by using keywords, such as “my strengths,” “my weaknesses,” “what I hope to achieve,” and “what I am capable of,” etc.
Revise
- Out of what you have written down, identify your characteristics and strengths.
- Identify your own values.
Proceeding from Self-Analysis to Promotional Self-Introduction
Take “your own characteristics, strengths, and values” that you learned and identified during the self-analysis, and adapt them to create a promotional self-introduction to use on your entry sheet and interview examinations.
The most important point when doing so is to be able to write and speak on such matters in a way that would be appealing for the company (person in charge of human resources).
Compile this by combining (1) a conclusion, (2) your current condition and goals, (3) problems or issues, (4) concrete actions, and (5) specific episodes, and also make sure to consciously write this out using a storytelling style.
Do not simply state “I have good problem-solving abilities,” but instead make an effort to write or speak clearly of “what kind of problem or issue you faced, how you solved it, and what kind of result or impact was made.”
How to Write Forms and Documents
The forms and documents that will be submitted during the job search process include “entry sheets,” “resumes,” “e-mails,” and “letters.”
Learn how each of these are drafted, and try to gain an understanding of the manners used when doing so.
Entry Sheets
Entry sheets are used to create the initial link between students and companies, and they act as a statement of intent on why you wish to apply to a company’s selection process.
Its quality will determine whether you will be able to proceed to the next step in the selection process.
Additionally, for students, this document can act as a sales pitch to market yourself toward a company.
In addition to basic information, such as your name, information on the university you are attending, contact information, and extracurricular activities, etc., entry sheets also require you to answer questions related to your “statement of intent,” “promotional self-introduction,” and “activities in which you focused your efforts during your student life,” among other questions.
For this reason, it will be necessary for you to conduct research on the company you are applying to through such things as the company’s website, etc.
Prepare yourself so that you are able to provide your answer within the specified number of characters allowed.
During interview examinations, people at the company you are applying to will ask you for more details on the contents of your entry sheet.
In order to make it possible for you to identify what you wrote in the entry sheet you submitted for a given company, it will be necessary for you to keep copies of them saved.
Resumes
When filling them out, make sure to write carefully using easy to read handwriting.
If you make a mistake even for a single character, do not just use correction fluid or cross the mistake out using a double line, but use a new resume and fill it out from scratch instead.
Although it is desirable to hand-write your resumes, it is also okay to draft them using a PC.
Miscellaneous
As the number of times you will communicate with individuals at companies will increase during your job search activities, you should also learn about the manners to use when communicating through e-mails.
Additionally, there are also manners for writing letters.
If you are sending your resume and entry sheet by postal mail, it is well-mannered to also attach a written letter called a cover letter.