Fluffy29, I was in a somewhat similar position to you when I was graduating from college. I had a business degree, and wanted my first post-graduation job to be in Japan...and I ended up taking a teaching job first, then transitioning to work in other fields.
Usually, finding a non-teaching, office worker position in Japan requires some combination of these: 1. Japanese language skills 2. Professional experience 3. Technical/legal qualifications
Being especially strong in some of those can smooth over deficiencies in the other. If, for example, you're a highly talented engineer, lawyer, or certified tax accountant, you might be able to get away with lower language skills. Or, if you're absolutely 100-percent fluent, you might be able to find a company that's willing to hire you without a lot of experience if they feel like they'll be able to communicate well enough with you to train you on the job, over the course of months or years.
Unfortunately, "business management" is a non-technical field, so your Japanese language skills and professional experience become more important in job hunting. As a new graduate, you're unlikely to have much in the way of professional experience. I'm not sure how much, if any, Japanese you speak/read/write, but the unfortunate fact about learning a foreign language is that even if you study it in your home country, it usually still takes a certain amount of time living in the foreign country in order to become proficient in it, especially for business purposes.
As a result, you will most likely not be a very attractive candidate to most Japanese companies, and that's before getting to the really big issue, which is the added risks/hassles of interviewing and hiring someone from overseas and sponsoring their visa. Even if it's for a position that doesn't require technical qualifications or extensive professional experience, you're still competing against local Japanese applicants who present no language barrier issues and who could start the day after they're hired, with no drain on the company's time for visa paperwork or other transitioning-to-life-in-Japan issues.
That's why teaching English is such a common, and for many people viable, gateway into Japan. Teaching as an ALT (assistant language teacher) or English conversation teacher doesn't require a technical certification, but as a native speaker your pronunciation and inherent command of grammar functions like a technical skill that counterbalances a lack of Japanese language skills/professional experience, and so makes you a more attractive job candidate.
Because of this, many non-technical foreign workers in Japan came to the country on a teaching job, then found work in another field after arriving. Many Japanese employers who would not be willing to be an initial visa sponsor are much more willing to sponsor a visa renewal, since it's a less complicated process. Some amount of time spent teaching in Japan also functions as proof that you can handle day-to-day life in the country and aren't going to suddenly decide to move back to you home country because life in Japan isn't like you expected it to be (a not uncommon phenomenon).
All that said, I totally understand that you'd rather work in a non-teaching field from the very beginning, and it's not 100-percent impossible, but you might be in for a long and difficult job search, especially if what you're looking for is "a great salary." Generally speaking, most office jobs for new college graduates in Japan don't pay enough to support a child, so if your goal for when you arrive in Japan is to be stepping into a high-paying business management job, you might need to consider delaying your move to the country until you've got those three key factors (Japanese language skills, professional experience, technical qualifications) covered more strongly.
|