Are you looking for a job that can earn you 6 digits, 100k or more while working in the Philippines?
Many of us are looking for work in a more lucrative industry, and trying to self-study to gain sellable skills like programming, sales, web marketing, and language. In the Philippines, there are many foreign companies that setup shop in the Philippines and are eager to look for bilingual resources in the country.
Naturally, neighboring country Japan is one of them. Did you know that Japanese companies in the Philippines are looking for talents that can speak and communicate in Japanese and English?
Moreover, if you take a look at the study by J-K Network on the top high earning jobs in the Philippines, you can see that Japanese bilinguals is one of them.
There is no perfect time for you to learn or brush up on you Japanese than now. Many companies are also open to remote work, and can offer flexible work setups. Why not look into the possibility of learning Japanese and start a new chapter in your career.
Let’s look into the steps how you can learn Japanese and Apply for work.
You may find this article useful if you are:
- Looking to learn Japanese and change careers
- Want to work in live in Japan some day
- Want to learn Japanese and earn 6 digits in the Philippines
If you’ve always wanted to upskill and earn more, now is the time. These tips are 100% gathered from bilingual resources that have worked in Japan and the Philippines. There will never be a better time for you to learn a new language.
Learn the Language through immersive learning
The best way to learn a language is by immersing yourself in the language, it’s culture, its media, and consuming your life with it. Simple ways you can do this is inputting all things Japanese. Japanese anime, music, variety shows, news, and its internet culture. This may not be a difficult task for many of you, but why not add another step and always be conscious of phrases they use.
For example, I was watching a Japanese youtube video, and they used the word オワコン (おわこん Owakon). I was not familiar with this term, so I looked it up. Apparently it derives from 2 words 終わった + コンテンツ. This means content that’s ‘old’ or ‘passé’.
Then, Once I learned this new word, I went ahead and talked to my Japanese speaking friends and tried to actively used the word in our conversations.
This a cycle you can imagine on an immersive learning. You input in Japanese and output in Japanese. I think another simple and practical thing you can do is changing the settings of your phone or computer to Japanese. This will help you be able to implement the language in your day-to-day life and live like a native Japanese person.
In order for you to experience as much of the immersive learning is:
- Pick a structured study program or material that has listening, reading, an speaking
- Consume Japanese Media (Books, Movies, Videos)
- Change as much of your environment to Japanese
- Change your device settings
- Learn tutorials in Japanese
- Speak to more Japanese friends
- Output in Japanese
- If you learn something new, always find the opportunity to use it and practice it
JapanesePod101.com – Learn Japanese with Free Daily Podcasts
Make Japanese friends
The best way to learn, as also part of the immersive learning experience is to make friends who speak Japanese well. The best option for you is to speak with someone who knows as little English as possible. This will allows you to force yourself to speak Japanese. It is very important to push yourself in this environment, so that you will be forced to learn new words and speak in order to be able to communicate.
How can you make Japanese friends?
Learn the Business Culture
Learning and understand, and even experiencing business culture is crucial if you:
- Your goal is to work at a Japanese company
- Shift careers into a BIlingual Japanese Role
- Live and work in Japan
If you are looking for work at Japanese companies, the first thing they will ask, aside from trying to assess your Japanese fluency level, is your understanding of Japanese business culture.
What is Japanese Business Culture?
Is it not the same with Filipino or Western Business culture? Japanese people or Japanese companies have unique ways to communicate and business processes at work. Here are some noticeable differences:
- There are many checkings and consultations to be done. Here is an article we wrote about HORENSO, which is the rules of sharing information and consulting with your superior.
- Many tasks are group oriented. You are expected to take ownership of your own task, and express a strong sense of responsibility.
However, each task are usually linked to each other and provide a bigger task. So, team work and cooperation are highly valued.
- You are expected to hangout with your colleagues or superior after work.
This isn’t a daily occurrence, but there are gatherings done after a certain milestone is done in the workplace.
To celebrate, there is usually a gathering at restaurants than can continue on to bars and drinking places until the wee hours of the night.
These are just some of the examples of many differences with Westernized Filipino business and Japanese business culture.
It may be hard for you to picture some of them unless you work at a Japanese company, but try to gather as much from your friends that may be working at one.
You can also study them beforehand, so you can get a sense of what to expect.
You may want to make a habit of these on your own, so that when you do apply for get to work in a Japanese company, the transition would be much easier for you.
Take the JLPT test
Another skill that Filipinos who want to join a Japanese company as a bilingual resource is by taking the JLPT test.
JLPT is short for Japanese-Language Proficiency Test. This is a test that starts from level N5 to N1. N1 being the highest and most difficult and N5 as the entry level.
There are many books and resources on taking the JLPT test, and even Japanese language schools in the Philippines. Here are some that we found:
Here are some examples you can see what it’s like to take a JLPT test. Take a look and gauge how much you already understand.
What’s great about learning at a language center is, many of the programs align their curriculum according to the JLPT test.
In this way, students can easily jump into challenging themselves to take the test.
Prepare for your Japanese interview
Interviews often times can be nerve-wrecking experiences. Nevertheless, if it’s another language, it can be very challenging.
Check out these questions and tips we gathered that are often asked at Japanese companies.
Some of them are similar to any other company, but some of them can be quite unique.
What to wear
- Appearance is important in Japan. But this doesn’t mean you should wear your Sunday’s best, but Japanese companies will look more into if you are wearing appropriate clothing.
An outfit could be
- Blazer jacket in dark colors like black, dark gray, or navy blue.
- Light colored button down shirt inside that’s either white or a light blue.
- Leather shoes in dark colors.
- If you’re going to wear a watch, make sure it’s adjust to the time.
- An HR manager once comment about the time on the watch of an applicant was not on time. It left an impression that they were not punctual.
Don’t be late, but don’t be too early.
- You should never be late to a job interview, but this is exceptionally true in a Japanese company. They value time and being on schedule very much. However, do not be more than 30 minutes early, as this can also be a sign of disrespect to other people’s schedule.
- A good measure would be 10 minutes – 15 minutes early. If you get there a bit early, grab a cup of coffee nearby, this will give you a good sense of what you may see everyday if you get the job!
‘What questions am I going to be asked?’
The questions will vary depending on your skill set and position you are applying for. But let’s focus on the soft skills and EQ questions.
- Please introduce yourself
- How did you learn about the company?
- Why did you decide to work here?
- What is a difficult experience you’ve had and how did you overcome it?
- What is the most important lesson you learned through this experience?
- Hearing the presentation and learning more about our company, what do you think you can contribute to the company?
- Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
- If you receive an urgent request from a client during a busy time. What will you do? Walk us through your thought process.
- Can you tell me your strong characteristics?
- What are your weak points or characteristics, and what do you do to overcome them?
Protip It is not only important to learn and practice your answers, but take a step back and try to understand why Japanese interviews would ask questions like this. What do they want to know and what answer do they want to hear?
It can be an insightful experience. What you find out is how you can predict the expectations of your managers when you start working at a Japanese company.
It;
It’s not only important to know what to say, but how you can adjust and adapt your work ethic according to your superior’s expectations.
Technical + Language Skills
The most powerful position you can be at, in the current market (as of 2022) is having both technical skills and language skills.
For example, if you are a developer, software engineer, system engineer, and the like, it’s best you learn another language like Japanese.
You will be on top of the food chain and be one of the most in demand resources out there.
Similarly, if you are already fluent in Japanese, it’s highly encouraged that you learn another technical skill such as programming, system engineering, technical troubleshooting, and the like.
In Summary
There are many ways you can go about earning a higher income in the Philippines in 2022. Learning Japanese and becoming a Japanese language resource is just one of them!
Now, learning a language is not a walk in the park. It’s a continuous effort and long journey, but it’s an impossible task.
Learn Japanese slowly but surely and with a combination of reading, writing, speaking, and listening, patience and diligence, and you will be able to achieve your goal. Just do it!
