Comments on: 履歴書 – Japanese Résumés

By: BenjaminBERTA30

BenjaminBERTA30 — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:29:04 +0000

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:25:05 +0000

[...] How to Japonese» Blog Archive » 履歴書 – Japanese Résumés [...]

By: Global Voices Online » Difference between Japanese and American Résumés

Global Voices Online » Difference between Japanese and American Résumés — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:36:21 +0000

[...] at the How to Japonese blog outlines the differences between Japanese and American résumés. Cancel this [...]

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:28:53 +0000

Facebook friend Rocco says: mmmm… I suggest writing both a 履歴書 as well as a職務経歴書 if you are applying for a job. 職務経歴書 is more forgiving with space and gives one ample opportunity to plug education and work history.

And Kaida says: When I applied for current/ past employers (all 外資系 – western companies’ subsidiaries in Japan) , I didn’t hand in Japanese style resume. I submit western style one and it’s direct translation in English.

Japanese style resume is widely used for old-stylish companies with lifetime employment because they need a person who can work for a company for a long time. What HR looks for are motivation, good education history, and potential. That’s why “self public relation” is important – not job achievement.

Japanese traditional style resume is not used widely anymore at blue chips. Panasonic only takes western style resume (they have their own style format, you can fill them in Japanese) and Sony requires you to type them online (Japanese resume could be used only for first screening)

And I replied:

Rocco: Hey cool, someone asked me about 職務経歴書 on the website comments, so I’ll post up your suggestion.

Kaida: Thanks for the great info! Very detailed and useful. I never did too much serious 就職活動, so I only had the chance to give out a couple of my resumes. I found that the Japanese formatted resume was a nice ice-breaker at job fairs and stuff, especially if you can talk to someone important. I only applied to one company and had to fill out all the information on computer anyway, but I think even just having a formal-looking resume was a plus.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:38:13 +0000

From facebook friend Geraldine: Do you know you can download very good Word and Excel templates from the microsoft Japanese URL? Once printed, they look exactly like the one you buy.

The thing that upsets me the most is the Education section. One line for the year you entered high school, one more for the year you finished high school. Seriously, who cares which high school you’ve graduated from? It’s a waste of those precious lines!
Even though the education of a Japanese applicant usually consists of four lines (two for high school, two for uni), the resume allows enough lines for a PHD. But you’ll run out of space if you have more than one degree at each level…

The same is true for the Employment section : one line per experience, and you don’t have many lines since in Japan, people who change employers too often are still considered to have some kind of a problem. You are not supposed to write how great you were in each position, which I suppose is good if you actually weren’t. You’ll just look as good as people who were (good).

Really hard to sell yourself with a Japanese resume…

And Wake: I haven’t had to write a Japanese resume, but we recently had to include a family picture on our daughter’s kindergarten application. Also, my brother-in-law applied to a wife-finding service and had to include *my* education and job history.

To which I responded:

Whoa, Wake. That’s intense on both accounts. Has he found a wife yet?

And Geraldine, do you have the links to the templates? I’d love to share those. Oh, and by the way, you clearly have too many degrees. ;o) I think the back is definitely where you BS about your specific skills/experience.

And Geraldine responded: Sure! You’ll find all many microsoft templates here (Japanese only):

http://office.microsoft.com/ja-jp/templates/CT101043371041.aspx

The classical one being http://office.microsoft.com/ja-jp/templates/TC010592951041.aspx?CategoryID=CT101448941041 (Excel) or http://office.microsoft.com/ja-jp/templates/TC010570881041.aspx?CategoryID=CT101448941041(Word)

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:35:33 +0000

Hmm…I didn’t submit a separate 職務経歴書, but I did include all of my relevant jobs and experience on the regular Japanese resume I made. I was never asked for anything in addition to what I submitted.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:56:16 +0000

Hi Daniel, this post is right on time, as my CIR-ing days are coming to a close and I am trying to get a handle on job-hunting strategies in Japan! When you were applying for jobs, did you submit a 職務経歴書 along with your resume? Is it something that you should always turn in just in case, or only when the employer asks for it?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:47:31 +0000

I think they still are. I saw some handwritten ones when I was job hunting last year.

By: sixmats

sixmats — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:37:21 +0000

It wasn’t long ago (2003) that people were still handwriting these things.

By: sade

sade — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:19:13 +0000

wow, thanks for this, i was just wondering how to put together a resume while here and this is really helpful