On October 28, 2021, Vietnam Japan University (VJU) and Showa Women’s University (SWU) held the collaborative seminar on “Shuu-katsu Japanese job-hunting activities”.
This joint seminar dedicated to exchanging knowledge and experience on seeking employment in Japan and Vietnam from the perspective of students. The program was co-hosted by VJU’s Academic and Student Affairs Office and Showa Women’s University with the participation of VJU’s Program Coordinator Dr. Masashi Yamaguchi, lecturer of SWU Dr. Sayaka Oizumi, and students from both VJU and SWU via Zoom platform.
Showa Women’s University is a women’s private university in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan. The University has undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs and five research institutes. Japanese students attending this exchange program study the Vietnamese language at SWU so that the seminar was conducted completely in Vietnamese.
Throughout the seminar, SWU’s students respectively made their presentations sharing their research and experience on career choice and internship. A senior student of SWU started the seminar with a presentation on “Recruitment season schedule in Japan”. The recruitment season in Japan starts in the month of April and students should conduct a self-assessment, research companies, do an internship, and prepare entry sheet from the third year of university.
Within the explanation on each element in the process of securing a job in Japan, the importance of seeking advice from OB/OG (alumni) was emphasized and the SPI test, a type of aptitude test that Japanese employers usually use to assess candidates’ math and language skills as well as personality, was introduced.
After the presentation of SWU students, VJU students from Bachelor’s program in Japanese Studies proposed their knowledge about job hunting activities in Vietnam. In the presentation, they analyzed the opportunities, challenges and the need of Vietnam labor market. Tips for a stable job, career development, dress codes when having interviews were also discussed in their speeches.
Throughout the program, VJU and SWU students had an interesting discussion about the difference in job hunting culture between Vietnam and Japan. VJU students can learn from the experience of the SWU’s senior students in order to have a good preparation for the future job in Vietnam and Japan.
Bachelor’s program in Japanese Studies (BJS) at VJU has Internship 1 activities including lectures given by visiting politicians, diplomats, businessmen of Viet Nam and Japan in combination of field trips to Japanese factories in Viet Nam. Dr. Yamaguchi, JICA expert briefly explained the content of Internship 1 to SWU students and BJS students also shared their experience in the activities.