Looking for paid advice to work in Japan

I was wondering if anyone can recommend me any professional service (paid) where I can speak to an expert on the subject. I have done some initial reading, but would like some sound advice before I start working on this proper.
Currently working as a doctor (RMO aka houseman, not specialist) in Australia, been here over 8 years. Would prefer to continue working in the medical field if possible, though not necessarily in patient contact, since I am not keen to sit more exams, which is why I am still a RMO and not a specialist. Looking for a career change.

Basically I am looking for a good paid service to speak to a professional in Japan over videoconference about how I might work in Japan and what the options in my field are. Budget is approx US$150-200 for a 40 minute to an hour chat.

Single with no children, I am relocating myself only.
Chinese ethnicity, reason I mention this is because it may make things harder to get some roles, for example a company looking for an English instructor/presenter may preference someone who looks caucasian and doesn't have an asian accent.

I can�ft think of any professional service that would be able to cover all of the areas you are thinking of – medical, English teaching, teacher preference (there are different kinds of schools, and their preferences might differ – also I doubt there is any �gcareer specialist�h who knows all of these different types of schools/employers). So if you have some candidate jobs in mind (like English teaching at �geikaiwa�h – English conversation schools -, or at public schools as ALT, etc.), someone here who has experienced working for at least one such type of school would be able to comment with their experience?

Also it would be a matter of applying for a position and see how it goes. With the current pandemic situation, I am not sure how big an appetite any company/school has for hiring from overseas at the moment. Best wishes.

Do you speak Japanese? If not then it is going to be really really difficult to get work in the medical field. Also you say you don't want to sit exams but I think there is a high likelihood that pretty much any job in the field is going to require exactly that. Additionally, any of the typical "foreigner" jobs which don't require qualifications (eikawa teacher, convenience store assistant) are going to be a major downgrade (understatement) if you are working as a medical doctor in Australia right now. From working conditions to pay and quality of life, literally everything is going to be worse. Though I suppose those jobs are less stressful than that of a doctor, they aren't careers. What are your reasons for relocating to Japan?

I think there are options to work in the pharmaceutical industry or in CRO.

In Japan not a lot of medical doctors go into CRO (a few more are in pharmaceutical industry, but most are working at hospitals). So for a CRO you might be attractive. Best however would be to come to Japan already with some CRO/Pharmaceutical industry experience under the belt.

Being Chinese ancestry isn�ft an issue for such a position. A key factor would be your Japanese skills. If you have a lot of relevant experience you should be able to find something even with minimal Japanese (would be some international coordination position or maybe a position as a medical monitor in an international CRO (eg IQVIA, PPD...) that simply needs a MM in Asia and is happy enough to hire in Japan, even if you won�ft be able to do medical monitoring in Japanese). The better your Japanese, the better your chances.

The pay will be definitely much better than as an English teacher.

My background: Degree in Biotechnology, European, 15 years experience in Pharma before relocating to Japan, now Director of Project Management, at N3 when I was first hired by Japanese CRO, now at N2

https://www.linical.co.jp/en/

Thanks for the replies.
I should probably be more specific on a couple things:
I am actually looking at work in the medical/research field. There are many types of doctors and not everyone excels best in patient-facing roles. Some doctors work for drug companies in R&D, insurance companies doing insurance medicals, or for pathology labs processing samples for example (pathology lab job in Australia requires an exam, not sure if that is required in Japan). These are just some common examples I looked into.

The reason for the post is to try and find someone more familiar with this field who can provide advice as to which of these is feasible, as well as other options I have not thought of.
I mentioned education because I was open to work in a medical university, or at the pre-med level. However that may be impossible at present as my Japanese skills are non-existant. I am only starting to learn now, will take a few years to be good enough, so I will need a job to tie me over from now till I am good enough.

The reason I thought there may be someone/an employment organisation that could help me with this is because in Australia the Australian Medical Association (think of it as a union for doctors) has a career advisory service for overseas doctors who want to come to work in Australia. There are also private jobseeker organisations who essentially charge a fee to go through the procedure with the foreigner, tell them of the available jobs, and go through their application letters and CV.
One could say the applicant could save a lot of money by looking up all this themself, but essentially they pay for the peace of mind that someone else who is doing this every day has given them the best advice and is assisting them through the process should any hickups arise.
I was hoping there was a similar service in English for Japan.

Even for general jobs, I just have to take a stroll down Chinatown or any other place with lots of foreigners and every fifth shop is occupied by a migration expert service or jobseeker service for foreigners. While I expect they would be rarer in Japan, and even rarer for people specifically looking for medical jobs, but I was hoping there would at least be somewhere I can start.

As for reasons for moving to Japan, I have always wanted to live there since I was a child. Now that I am almost 30, it is clearly not just a phase/anime fever/just a whim. I have been on a few long trips to Japan and spoken to others who have worked there for a while. I really like the place in general, the culture, food, lively cities and peaceful countryside. If there is anywhere I want to settle down eventually it would be Japan.

My goal is to try and save as much money as I can in the next 3 years, try and build up at least $100k in cash and then make the move. If it doesn't work out then the backup plan is to work until I can afford to semi-retire and start a small business in Japan under the business visa. In which case, a suitable professional service to talk to would be TokyoImmigration.jp or other similar sites (there are heaps).
However, while it is easy to find a visa specialist to talk to, it is proving much harder to find a job specialist, and even harder so to find one in my field.

Thanks again.

Addit: Sorry I missed your post LikeBike, I started writing my long post before yours showed up.
I am quite interested in the kind of work you described. Working for a large company like Linical would be good though it seems there are many hurdles before I can apply. It is certainly one of the possible long term goals. However, as I want to move within 1-2 years, I was wondering if there are any roles a company like that would hire a RMO/non specialist medical practitioner for? I am trying to get to Japan as soon as possible, even if it means I have to start lower. Switching jobs now when I am trying to build up savings for the move would not help me get there faster, though I agree it would get me a better position there.

I am currently studying for N5 and the goal is to advance up to at least N4 before moving, with the eventual goal of N1.
Of course having N1 first before applying would make it so much easier, but the years preparing for that are years I could be in Japan. Furthermore, beyond N4, it would be a lot easier to learn being surrounded by the language.

Again, I welcome all advice as the more I know before I speak to such an agent the better positioned I will look. However right now I am at the stage where I need to talk to somebody whose full time job is helping foreigners like myself find work in Japan. They would also hopefully have connections to employers, since I believe such places are usually paid by both myself for the consultancy/advice charge as well as the employers for every person they find. Basically looking for HelloWork but for foreign professionals.

That said, again I must emphasize I also highly appreciate your advice and am currently reading through the site you linked. More information as to how to apply to such companies without having to change jobs right now would be appreciated, even if it is different from what I was originally looking for, I appreciate it all the same :)

There is an obvious contradiction in your post: you don't want to do exams, but doing N5 or N4 (which don't measure your ability to communicate) are exams, and learning Japanese is a life-long endeavour. I know people that have been here in Japan decades, and they still are learning, even if they have functional Japanese.
As others have said, learning Japanese will help get over some of the barriers.
One of the reasons there are not many services to help immigrants into Japan is that Japan actively refuses to have an immigration policy. Yes, there is an immigration department, but they certainly do not encourage it. The mixed messages about attracting high skilled people and the almost slave labour of the intern programmes is more about filling roles due to declining population.
As for the service that you request, I suggest a first point of contact would be an immigration lawyer. Some companies offer an initial consultation for free (an hour). However, you should get a couple of opinions as the advice you get may be more suited to their expertise, rather than what you need (my own experience, I received bad advice from the first consultation I attended, but the second was much more realistic and I have been using their services for five years). An internet search will turn up some of those.
You also mention migrant services in Australia in the medical field. Have you thought about contacting the Japan Medical Association (or similar) for advice/leads?

@JapanCustomTours I should probably have specified that I am not willing to take other exams at this stage besides JLPT, which is itself no easy feat. The rationale is because I do not want to increase my sunk cost too high only to later find out one month into the job that it is unsustainable and now booking my flight back to Australia. JLPT is "along the way" as I would need to be fluent in Japanese eventually anyway. If I am already using most of my spare time to study Japanese, I can't really study for something else at once. Doctoring is a busy job and I don't want to take unpaid time off as I am trying to save as much as possible for the move.

No-one would miss me if I was gone for a year in Japan, now that I have completed my medical intern year, I am allowed to be out of the profession for 2 years and 9 months. If it doesn't work out I can always just resume work here seamlessly so long as I come back within 2 years and 9 months. If I changed jobs now to gain more experience in research for instance, not only would it affect my ability to save for the move, but it also burns that bridge so if it doesn't work out I can't just seamlessly resume work in hospital.

I completely understand what you said about "mixed messages". My personal opinion is that the Japanese bureaucracy is itself not a unified whole, much like how the wider society is not. There will be sectors that are looking to recruit foreigners in their fields, and there will be immigration authorities that are not keen to encourage it, hence the mixed messages. Could debate it for hours but this is my (simplified) take on it. However it is also clear that the "Points-based Preferential Immigration Control and Residency Management Treatment for Highly-Skilled Foreign Professionals" exists (what a long name), so it would appear that segments of this bureaucracy wants more doctors and other professionals.

Can't contact the Japan Medical Association since they offer advice in Japanese and only deal with patient-facing jobs, which I am not qualified for. Tried looking them up, was just directed to the Medical Licensing Exam.

What I am planning at this stage:

Step 0 (I am here): Learn Japanese and obtain at least N4, save up a comfortable buffer say maybe $100k in case things don't work out right away. This should take about 2-3 years.

Step 1: Get an entry level job in Japan, either by directly getting accepted by a company or just getting a foot in the door via JET program. This is what I am willing to pay for advice for.

Step 2: Continue to improve my Japanese to at least N2 with goal of eventual N1. Meanwhile, either look within or outside my initial employer (depends on who it is) to find a more long term career, such as with a CRO or medical school

Step 3: If I am not satisfied with that, I can then study for and take the Medical Licensing Exam. It is held in Japanese and even natives struggle with the kanji used in the test, so taking it now is out of the question. However if I am making a decent living in step 2, then step 3 is unnecessary.

Step 4/Endgoal: Eventually after years of working and saving, become self employed and semi-retire

@James, you could move to Japan and live comfortably for a year with a lot less than AU$100k. Even if you were not working, unless you had an expensive life-style 1/4 to 1/2 of that would be enough. However, you would not be allowed to reside here in a non-working state - you need a status of residence, which would probably be one of the working visa categories (I assume you wouldn't come as a student.)
For the HSP route (yes, the programme has a long name), you should check the points system - the largest factor is salary, otherwise you might struggle to meet the requirements. Again, while the GoJ want people to apply under that scheme, it has been spectacularly unsuccessful (yes, there are people that use it, but nowhere near the numbers originally promoted, and other nearby countries are more attractive).
As for the exam/JLPT distinction, learning Japanese takes time and hard work (and then more time). If you are good with languages, great.
And, the JMA working in Japanese, yes, I had expected that, but then 125 million people here speak Japanese. It is a problem you will strike a lot.

@JapanCustomTours thanks for your reply.
When I meant 100k in capital that is not meant to actually be spent, it's to help get set up, and as a life savings/buffer to dip into in emergencies. I am also looking to move permanently, and if it doesn't work out, at least leave with most of my capital intact. Not looking to actually burn 100k in a year. If things work out, then the money will be put to use to buy a small apartment outright with some left over as reserves.

The residence part is why I am looking for a job that will sponsor me, so I can stay 5 years and then apply for permanent residency. Then I can decide if I want to continue working for them, or once I am a permanent resident I can be self employed/start a small medical translation business (by then I should have N1 or N2, and I am native level English with IELTS band 8).

@James, PR is usually after 10 years, not 5, but can be shorter under the HSP route.
Buying an apartment (a small one, out of the central areas) is a lot more than AU$100k. But getting "set up" doesn't actually cost that much - depends how you do it. Understand your savings would be acting as a buffer.

For JLPT and learning Language:
JLPT is a tough test to take from N2 to N1. Most aim for N2 because its the foot in the door for some companies and schools. (Most high paid work requires N1)

Somebody said its a long life endeavor. I dont fully agree. I know people who go to a 4 year university, no prior language background, pass the N1 and have no problems living here. The endurance to learn it will determine the length of time it will take you to learn it. Im not in military, but I also had a friend who was stationed here and had �eintensive�f japanese class and he speaks near native level.

I was looking for a link to an article I read this week about passing JLPT N1 - the guy managed it with six months of test preparation - yes, they knew Japanese, but it was more about exam technique. His room-mate was much more accomplished at Japanese, but failed. The point they made (and I have heard from others) is that some of the obtuse material often included is not relevant to everyday life.
And, as a test series that requires no interaction/talking, JLPT would always be of limited use in real life. Great if you want a certificate to wave around though.