Job Search Support for International Students in Japan

Japan is notorious for their ageing population and growing labor shortage. Another consequence of Japan’s population shift is that Japan’s many universities are under capacity due to the shrinking number of students. For many years now Japan has looked toward the world to attract international students to its many universities. 

Over the years Universities in Japan have begun to shift account for the diversity in their student body by offering classes and other services entirely in English. Seika University in Kyoto became the first University in Japan to select foreign born President, Oussouby Sacko from Mali, in 2018. 

However, the changing face of Japanese universities is still not reflected in the workforce. Astonishingly only 30% or international students find jobs and remain in Japan after graduation, compare that to Canada where 89% of international students enter the workforce in Canada after graduating from a Canadian University. 

The drain of foreign talent from Japanese Universities can be attributed to many things. For example, Japanese companies are too strict, or they only want to hire people who are perfectly fluent in Japanese. But one of the biggest factors is that many international students who want to stay in Japan simply don’t know how to conduct their job search. The Universities have support of international students while they are students, but are unsure how to offer guidance thereafter. And the lack of information results in most international students to leave Japan after graduating. 

Source: Toyo Keizai Inc.