Work in Japan

HR problems part 3

 

Working in Japan:      

 

The problems and solutions of hiring personnel for a starting company 

 

Part 3 : solutions

 

To avoid falling into this trap, you need someone with long-term experience on the ground to vet your candidate, and tell you what your smooth talking, JPY 40-million-a-year candidate is really worth. You may still decide to hire the person, but at least you’ll know that you will need to implement my suggested second phase of oversight...

 

2. Back-stopping

One way to take the risk out of hiring a CEO/country manager is to have an experienced, trusted third party sit on your Japan board and provide oversight and/or feedback on your new senior manager. In fact, you could go one step further and not even hire a new candidate for the CEO position initially, but instead make them a sales manager (if you’re a small operation) or CEO-designate. Then give them a one-year probation to prove themselves. The fact that there is someone watching their work (and so long as your “watcher” plays his/her role sympathetically yet solidly) means that the new manager will work harder to earn their stripes. They will be less likely to take short cuts or start to engage in crony hiring, dubious sales, and other problems that can creep in without proper checks and balances.

While the new senior manager won’t like having a watchdog, a skilled external board member can actually help them feel positive about the arrangement by offering to facilitate communications with the head office, as well as providing some coaching on how to be successful with the foreign firm. Now, a lot of this is stuff that the new manager will already know, but nonetheless it is human nature for them to like the idea of having a potentialally close at hand – even though the watcher’s main job is to audit their performance.

 

 

To be continued…

Working in Japan HR questions part 2

Working in Japan:      

 

The problems and solutions of hiring personnel for a starting company 

Part 2 : the risks and the traps which might occur

Let’s look at the importance of  both activities.

1.Getting the management personnel

The main reason why international recruiters focus on IBM, European banks, GE, and the consulting firms when looking for experiences, is simply because they know that those companies work their employees hard, have excellent training programs, and, most importantly, the bulk of managers have a good grasp of English, or else they wouldn’t have been able to work their way up the corporate ladder.

Mainly the task of hiring a Japan  country manager falls to the VP of international sales or someone else responsible for Asia.  This person is typically extremely busy, and after the board decides to set up in Japan, the VP will contact a global recruiter to have them get some candidates ready for interviews when the VP next travels to Asia.

So the recruiter first charges an expensive six-month retainer,  adding a success fee, and gets some candidates from “reliable” sources. As eg. the IT business for example, this means finding a manager who works/worked for IBM Japan and has good English-language skills. In banking it would be someone who worked for a small European operation, and in private area it would be an ex-employee of GE or a major consulting firm.

And here's the first trap for new foreign wannabees. Your best  country manager candidate is not necessarily going to be the best English speaker. No matter how charming and urbane a candidate is in your language, if they don’t have a strong track record of achievement and a top-rate personal network, then you may as well hire a well-trained parrot.

to be continued...

Working in Japan HR questions when starting a company part One

Working in Japan:      

 

The problems and solutions of hiring personnel for a starting company 

 

Part one: the first upcoming questions

 

This 3 part article is also pretty handy for the ones opting for a higher position than starting up as a waiter or so in Japan. As you will need to see what questions does the company and also what are the questions you will face when applying for a CEO Managing job for example.

 

When a company is getting started in Japan, the first person it will usually hire is a CEO, a country manager (the CEO being one of the senior managers back in the head office), or a sales manager to run the branch office. All of these positions are powerful in that this person will solely represent the company in Japan for a period of time. They will be entrusted with money, the responsibility of hiring other staff, making leases and contracts, promising terms when doing deals, and a number of other sensitive activities. And yet, frequently the foreign firm barely knows them!

This is clearly a time when the foreign company has to take measures to reduce its risks. Either the company has to check its candidate very carefully and hope that it doesn’t get a lemon, or better still find a trusted local expert in Japan, who can keep an eye on the new recruit and who has sufficient authority to keep things on track. This expert could be a lawyer, a consultant, or a local businessperson who is not connected to the new company.

 

Learning Japanese II part 3.

Learning Japanese  - Part Two: Method                                Part 3

Additionals

Let me include some more advices in here 

* Listening, Listening, Listening - Listen to all of the conversations around you to try and pick up and reinforce vocabulary and natural speech patterns. Always carry your electronic dictionary around and get into the habit of using it to look up and save in memory as many unfamiliar words as you can. This is a very useful habit 

* Palm Pilot Memos - Keep a running list of questions and words that you want to know more about, and save them up to discuss with tutors. Also keep a log of useful expressions, a list of frequent mistakes, etc.

* Tapes to listen to over and over again  to memorize all key grammar patterns and pronunciation, making use of time spent shopping and doing other tasks. (30-60 minutes a day)

* Real Life Practice - Try to speak as much as possible with Japanese at every possible opportunity. I found it very important to not to be afraid of making mistakes –  you have to jump in over your head initially in order to keep improving. I also did multiple sink or swim home stays, living with Japanese families who did not speak English as well as day trips with Japanese-only groups (time depends on the day) also the visit of any of your penfriends or collegaues mate’s family will do as a start.

* Textbooks (Minna no Nihongo, Japanese for Busy people, etc.), Manga textbooks (it might seem strange but I find the illustrations useful for effectively understanding the usage in some particular situations), grammar explanation books (Dictionary of Japanese Grammar, Dictionary of Particles) (1-3 hours a day)

Also there are many other systems as internet learning, but they can only be used as an additional help alone they are not worth much

Here are some links for starting up with Japanese for you

www.japanese.about.com/

www.gaijinpot.com/learning_japanese.php

www.enchantedlearning.com/school/Japan/

Learning Japanese II: the methods and the tricks part 2

Learning Japanese  - Part Two: Method                                Part 2

 

Let s start with the experiences:

„I decided early on to learn on my own rather than attending any school or course. The reason for  this is partly because it's cheaper for the number of hours involved and partly because I found self-study more motivating. I decided to make my program quite intense, and set a goal of 40-80 hours a week, depending on the week”

Here is the schedule:

1) Kumon
I started with reading, writing, grammar, kanji, and vocabulary by using Kumon's Nihongo self-study program, albeit at 5 times the normal pace. Foreigners can either study through Kumon's Kokugo program, the same program Japanese kids study by, or by Nihongo, created by and for foreigners. (1-2 hours a day)

2) Volunteer Programs aka language exchange
Meguro-ku at least has a great variety of volunteer programs that range from one-to-one language classes with retired salary men and others, to small group classes with trained teachers. (My weekly schedule included around 20 hours of volunteer time as primarily one-to-one study.)

3) Paid Teachers.
Because a really good teacher can provide valuable training as well as input into your overall study plan, I regularly worked with paid teachers a couple of times a week. I tried out new teachers on occasion and continued with the best ones. Many paid teachers are little better than an average Japanese volunteer teacher, but the best ones are worth more than 10x the time spent with a normal Japanese person. (Weekly 2-6 hours)

At-home Study
In addition to Kumon, I’ve also tried a variety of other self-study methods to make use of every spare moment.

 

To be continued with additional advices…

Learning Japanese II- the Methods and the tricks part One

Learning Japanese  - Part Two: Method                                Part One

 

Hi everyone after the first part contating advices and triqs on learning Japanese efficiently let me  continue on with TP's experiment in learning Japanese with the main target of being functional in the language as quickly and efficientrly as possible to the point where he can work in Japanese and do business with Japanese-only colleagues. Just to remind you my collegaue TP is a consultant and entrepreneur and he is really used to breaking life problems down into logical steps, which habit of his I have always found really great and appealing.

So, to restart with the advices and methods now, as I have mentioned previously, first of all I recommend learning how to listen and speak first, listening is very important, to learn about the rythm of  Japanese and reading will be the harder part but you will have to learn only the basics. The reason for this is simple: because 90% of bilingual jobs for non-native Japanese speakers don't require much more written fluency than some email. That said, TP's study program, if integrated with plenty of speaking practice (such as living with your Japanese in-laws for 6 months –as he is married to a japanese, in our case we can get a homestay japanese student or any japanese living in your own country first in case you are already in Japan, then any friend’s friend will do just great such as any neighbours: Japanese are always so enthusiastic when it comes to help a stranger you will see) is a good one and certainly a recipe for establishing a strong foundation in the language.

To be continued with my collegaues’s own experiences in the next chapters…

all useful websites to use will be included at the end of last part

Working in Japan : on holidays part 3

Taking Leave   - Regular Holidays rules                  part 3

 

 

Can you take paid leave when you want? Or does the company have a right to tell you when to take it? My understanding is that in principle you can take the leave when and how you want, so long as you give your company sufficient notice. Usually, to say it one month before is considered ok.

That said, there is a provision in the law that allows your company to postpone scheduled leave in times of hardship or difficulty for the firm. The question is whether or not a postponement would be seen as being reasonable or not, and I guess that is a question you’d have to take to the courts if push came to shove.

There is an old story of the japanese worker who works all the time and get s really exhausted. Many might have thought it s because of the working system ’s harshness in Japan, but today this has all changed, except the Japanese Mind.

I don't know of many companies that prevent employees from taking holidays; it's a pretty fundamental right. The problem is usually the other way around, where traditionally minded Japanese staff don't take the holidays owed them out of a feeling of duty to the company. Pressured managers in particular let their yearly leave allocations slide and expire. This obviously isn't good for one's mental health or family relationships and senior management need to be ready to persuade such valuable employees to take time off for their own good.

Next week we cover less common types of paid leave.

Learning Japanese – Part One: Setting Milestones- Part 2

Especially regarding   Business Japanese

 

As continued from the day before…

As truly functional Japanese-speaking ability requires a huge investment of time, especially for someone from a non-kanji country, I felt I had to be driven by clear goals and set myself specific milestones to get there. For me, the only acceptable level of Japanese ability would be one that let me act like a fully functional adult in daily life, as well as being able to communicate effectively as well in dalily life as regarding  business opportunities.

Given that acquiring Japanese was going to make me viable in the job market, I reasoned that I should expect to put the same level of effort and time into learning the language as I would in getting a graduate degree. This was helpful in justifying the time and expense.

The milestones that I set for myself were as follows:

1) Kumon Japanese Language Program Completion. I wanted to digest one complete curriculum as fast as possible, and chose the 15-level Kumon Japanese Language program for its flexibility.

2) Intermediate Daily Conversation. Reaching the intermediate conversational level so that I could speak in Japanese with my bilingual Japanese wife on a daily basis. In addition, so that I could interact in Japanese with in social settings.

3) Kanji. Gradually become familiar with all frequently used Jouyou Kanji as individual characters (through Kanji cards while walking), but primarily through frequently used vocabulary.

4) Functional Reading. Initially reading simple personal emails and gradually switching most of my internet info sources from English to Japanese sites.

To be continued…

 

 

Learning Japanese – Part One: Setting Milestones- Part 1

Especially regarding  Business Japanese

Let me give you some clues and important advices on the know-how of starting to learn Japanese. However difficult it might seem, don’t give up on it, because it ’s almost a must if you want to get along in Japan, and in case you decide to change countries, it can give you much advantages to speak this not-so-widely spoken language.

Being able to speak Japanese opens so many more opportunities for the foreign worker in Japan, that whenever I get an email asking about jobs here, I advise the person first of all,that if they can afford it, they should take an intensive Japanese course first.

Of course, the key phrase here is “if you can afford it”. One way to achieve this, and to get to know your future family is to take that time off living for 6-12 months with the in-laws. This will create a full-immersion language proficiency for you, and provide you with the motivation to learn fast and get out to set up your own home…! :-)

I recently received an interesting letter from someone, who is a consultant and a successful entrepreneur, and who is married to a Japanese medical doctor who has been practicing overseas. As you can imagine, relocating to Japan was a major decision by the couple and they had mutually high expectations about the need for local integration and careers. The problem was that he had to learn Japanese first. He soon realized that he would have to create a program to learn Japanese, and to follow that program until he reached relative fluency. He has described for me how he achieved this in a logical manner – and I feel that this could serve as a great example to follow for others considering the same course of action.

I’ll let him tell his own story in these next chapters (and in these few days J ).

 

To be continued…

Taking Leave - Regular Holidays rules-Part 3

Can you take paid leave when you want? Or does the company have a right to tell you when to take it? My understanding is that in principle you can take the leave when and how you want, so long as you give your company sufficient notice. Usually, to say it one month before is considered ok.

That said, there is a provision in the law that allows your company to postpone scheduled leave in times of hardship or difficulty for the firm. The question is whether or not a postponement would be seen as being reasonable or not, and I guess that is a question you’d have to take to the courts if push came to shove.

There is an old story of the japanese worker who works all the time and get s really exhausted. Many might have thought it s because of the working system ’s harshness in Japan, but today this has all changed, except the Japanese Mind.

I don't know of many companies that prevent employees from taking holidays; it's a pretty fundamental right. The problem is usually the other way around, where traditionally minded Japanese staff don't take the holidays owed them out of a feeling of duty to the company. Pressured managers in particular let their yearly leave allocations slide and expire. This obviously isn't good for one's mental health or family relationships and senior management need to be ready to persuade such valuable employees to take time off for their own good.

Next week we cover less common types of paid leave.