Ms Kashfia Ahamed was invited by DiRECT as a guest speaker for the 2024 International Students' Gathering on Working in Japan.

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Ms Kashfia Ahamed

Profile
Ms Ahamed is from Bangladesh, and graduated from Tohoku University with a master's degree in chemistry in 2021.

Ms Ahamed is now employed in the private sector in Japan as a research and development chemist, and works on projects such as developing biocompatible coating materials for medical devices.

Presentation

In her presentation, Ms Ahamed taught us about her academic history, her current job, and how the two relate to each other. She also shared with us her experiences with job hunting and working in Japan.

Ms Ahamed began studying for her bachelor's degree in chemistry at Tohoku University in 2015, after graduating from high school in Bangladesh. She went on to obtain a master's degree, also at Tohoku University, under the IGPAS programme, writing her research thesis on the development of a fluorescent probe for cancer cell detection.

Ms Ahamed is now employed at a Japanese company as a research and development chemist. Part of her work is concerned with creating a synthetic copolymer to be used as a coating material for medical devices. She performs a variety of tests on these materials, such as storage stability tests, sterilisation tests, toxicity analyses, and more. She also performs market research on the products she and her company make, and organises development meetings with overseas consumers.

Ms Ahamed broke down the various skills that she learnt during her time at Tohoku University, and highlighted those skills that she went on to use in her current employment. Such skills included cell culture techniques, cell imaging, NMR spectroscopy, and immunostaining. It was interesting to see that so many of her skills learnt in university were directly applicable to her job after graduation.

Ms Ahamed then shared the timeline of her job-hunting activities during her last year of her master's degree. In August 2021, while she was also preparing for her final defence, she made her first appointment with the job agency Acaric Shushoku Agent. This agency specialises in finding employment in Japan for postgraduate students. Ms Ahamed mentioned the importance of writing a CV/resume in both Japanese and English. She then explained how Acaric provided her with a list of companies hiring new graduates, and how she proceeded to apply for the positions that most interested her. Still in August, she was invited to some briefing sessions, and received her first interview. After her final defence, Ms Ahamed graduated from Tohoku University in September. That same month, she took her final interview and obtained her first employment offer. She began her term of employment in December 2021.

Lastly, Ms Ahamed told us her thoughts on working in Japan. She said she found it rewarding to work a job in science that contributes to society, but difficult to overcome cultural differences in business etiquette and team dynamics. However, she also said that while the language barrier and tricky aspects of Japanese such as honorific terms can be daunting, she always tries to find humour in these experiences and 'enjoy the awkwardness!' Finally, she told us that overall her experience in Japan is fulfilling thanks to a good work-life balance, plenty of growth opportunities, and the freedom to focus on her career.

Q&A Session

Q: How do you feel about work culture in Japan? For example, is it true that you have to stay at work past the official work hours?
A: There are companies that require overtime work, but in my case, I never work past 7 or 8. Even if I do, my company is very strict on overwork, and you have to explain why you worked overtime. My work hours are 8:45 to 17:15. I would say that in fact working overtime was more common for me during my time as a student.

Q: Do you think you need Japanese to job hunt in Japan?
A: When I think about why I didn't get some job offers, I think my Japanese level might have been related. By the time you take an interview, make sure you know how to express what you need to in Japanese. Memorise what you want to say in your interview in both English and Japanese. When you write an 'entry sheet' (エントリーシート, an application for employment), try to write the Japanese version yourself first, so you learn some of the necessary words. Then take your first draft to the Center for Career Support at Tohoku University for correction. When applying for jobs, I would say the hardest part was tests, such as SPI tests. At the time I was taking interviews, I did not know a lot of words that appeared on SPI tests, so I found them quite hard. But the main things are your entry sheet and your interview.

Q: What level of Japanese do you need for job hunting in Japan?
A: I applied to about thirty different companies, and for two of them, which were companies in the skincare industry, I was rejected after making it all the way to the final interview. Both companies had 3 interviews. For one of these companies, you could choose whether to take the interviews in Japanese or English. For the other, the first interview was in 'easy Japanese,' around JLPT N4 level. The second interview was done in English. The third interview was then with managers, two of whom were foreigners. I remember that my conversations with these two went very well; but for my conversations with the Japanese managers, I did not know some of the vocabulary that they used when speaking to me. Overall, I would say at least prepare for your first interview with any company to be in Japanese. You also have to keep in mind that if you get the job, your coworkers will all be Japanese, so you will need to learn Japanese eventually.

Q: How did you stay in Japan after graduation when your job still wasn't decided?
A: I was really worried about obtaining a visa before I got my job. I talked with the DiRECT staff and they helped me apply for a 'Designated Activities' visa for three months while I continued job hunting.

Q: What sort of companies did you apply for?
A: I was interested in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. I applied not only to famous Japanese companies but also to foreign companies based in Japan. In order to find out what sort of companies there were, I looked for company names on various product labels.