Thinking that you did badly on a job interview (especially in a foreign language) is one of the worst feelings ever!

[Philippo]

Or at least, that's how shit I've been feeling for the past few days.

You know when deep down you know it went bad, it was shorter than you expected, and you keep thinking "oh shit why didn't I said that when they asked me those things? I had it prepared before!"? Awful, awful feeling.

Another awful think is knowing that you were good for the job, you just happened to screw up the chance to prove it.

So, I've been job hunting pretty hard in the past 2-3 months, as the company I work for now has become pretty stale and all that.
After weeks of nothing I get 3 interviews lined up: one out of nowhere from a big Japanese company, something that could change my life; the second one is a company calling me back after 3 rounds of interviews back in Summer when they then disappeared, called me back last week to tell me that they just had to keep everything on hold and now wants to hear me again; and then a third one which is still to be defined.

The first one is the one I wanted to vent on about, which has been haunting me for days. Since their reply asking me when could I have been available (Friday of last week) to the actualy interview (Thursday), I've had 5 days to brush up my awful Japanese, writing down possible questions and replies as preparation, and also doing an online aptitude test (thank God it was a personality test only, and not something with math or statistics which are pretty famous in Japan). So yeah, super stressfull 5 days of preparations while of course going on with my regular job, which was a total shit for this week, between clients' pressures and the whole COVID-19 outbreak. Not really the best time to have this interview at all.

Then interview day (or night, as it was 4AM here) comes: I try to calm down, suit up and get online. Of course I start by not expecting 4 people on the other side of the screen, that already makes me anxious. We break the ice with a couple of jokes, then I admit that I am very nervous and would like if possible to only speak in a more simplified Japanese to not create any confusion. Sure they say, they have plenty of foreigners in the company. Still, I actually start feeling super pressured, fumble a lot and had to restart a few sentences mid-way throug, had to ask to repeat a couple of questions, at a couple of points I straight up asked a moment to check the term on the dictionary. Better than to stay mute or reply "I don't know", I tought.
Of course it's impossible for me to discern if my skill level was within expectations, or if I actually did badly. They must have known checking my resumé, no? But damn, it is already hard to sell yourself in your own language, let alone another one!

Still, even if I got only basic questions ("tell us about yourself", "tell us about your current job", "why do you want to work in this industry" and so on), and I spoke badly, I still got to answer all the questions. Then of course, who knows if, even past the language barrier, my replies where clear and satisfactory.

There is also the cultural gap to consider: maybe I shouldn't feel worried that they were silent after every question, that they kept taking notes on pads and so on, that they asked themselves "are you good?" "yeah i'm good", and so on. It's the first time I did an interview in Japanese, maybe what I think has been perceived badly was actually good, and vice versa.

The biggest fear factor for me is that the interview, at least from my previous experiences, was short: I was reserved a 1 hour spot, and it only lasted 25 minutes + greetings. When I looked at the clock after I logged off, and saw that it was only 4:30, I wanted to bang my head against the table. This is bad isn't it? I've heard that Japanese interviews actually are pretty long, so this being short is nothing but a bad sign to my eyes.

It's been 4 days and I keep switching from "yeah 99,9% it's gone to shit and i should brace myself for the refusal", to "jesus I knew I should have replied more in depth!" to "maybe, mayyyyybe there is still a 00,01% chance?".

I hate these feelings. I feel like I'm trapped until I have a reply, but on the other hand I don't wanna get hurt by the bad news.

Do you have any similar experiences ERA? Where your guts always right in this case after? Or have you ever been plesantly, or maybe not pleasantly, surprised after an interview you knew was bad/good? What do you do in these situations? Should I just stop obsessing over this stuff?

tl;dl sorry i just had to vent out as i have a bad feeling for a job i really, really wanted and want to soften up the incoming hard truth

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

I haven't been in the exact spot, but I've been in grant interviews where I've shared the same feeling as you. I've had mixed results: in some cases I've come out triumphant but others not so much. I do feel like I tend to expect more of myself, so whenever an interview doesn't go as great as I've wanted to, I feel bummed out.

I'll tell you this, though. Sometimes you are just overthinking it. At this point, there's nothing you can do but wait for the result, try not to panic as much. What I've done for previews grant interviews, is I've sent them a "thank you" mail after. Not sure if it works, really.

 

[Ravelle]

I''ve had countless job interviews but I prefer an interview where nothing clicks and you know it's not going to work over a interview which afterward you think you nailed it, answered questions in good way, had a good talk with the people and you walk out with a good feeling, feeling energized. And then you get a call saying " you weren't the right one for the job and/or team". That's just demoralizing and soul crushing.

 

[nampad]

I had the job I dreamed of at the company I wanted it to be lined up perfectly.

The department lead wanted to hire me so I had talks before a position was even available and even met with a board member.
So when a position opened, I was about to meet the team and the CEO.
I was pretty shocked with the first meeting with a board member already because this was a rather big company and now I was about to meet the CEO.

Everything was a sign that I was as good ad hired. I even cut my vacation short so I could do the interview.

2 days before the interview I was called that because of some reorganization of the global parent company, people won't be hired from outside anymore and they are very sorry for how everything played out.

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

I totally bombed an interview at Koei in Japan. The interviewing back and forth was fine but at one point in the process they handed me a newspaper and just said read this out loud and I couldn't. Didn't hear back from them.

 

[Bio]

Interviews are stressful enough and super easy to worry about bombing (even when you didn't) in general. I can't imagine trying to do all that while speaking a second language.

Hopefully it didn't go as badly as you've convinced yourself it has, OP.

 

[TheXbox]

I'm terrible at interviews so I know what you're feeling, and I certainly never had to do one in a second language. I would fucking die. Give yourself props for getting through it, if nothing else.

 

[Kinketsu]

Are Japanese interviews super long? I have not heard that. I suppose it depends on what you were trying for.

This is really just my first impression but it sounds like, from your post, that you might have been too nervous / self-critical. In my experience, people who are trying to remember something they have already prepared come off pretty bad in interviews

Likewise with Japanese, people who are trying to use specific phrases because they just learned them often get flustered if the conversation goes in a different direction. I don't think they were necessarily trying to trip you up over your Japanese skill level as indicated in your resume but there is a lot of people who say "moderate" or whatever as their level but cannot actually hold a normal conversation on something that was not in their text book or whatever. If you get flustered over that sort of stuff in an interview, then it stands to reason you would do in a workplace. Although it is easy to say, I think the best thing to do if you were going to do something that again is chill out as much as possible. Oh doing an interview to a panel of 4 or 5 people is quite normal here by the way.

For what it is worth, I have been in Japan for over ten years now. When I came back, I didnt qualify for a "being able to speak Japanese" bonus on a job because I didnt do well on a phone interview over some specific question about the weather, much to the amusement of my Japanese wife who didn't speak English. So, I mean, don't worry about it.

 

[Deleted member 11985]

It happens to all of us, OP. You gotta just keep plugging away.

I had a phone interview once that was so bad, the person immediately sent an email saying I was declined. Like, for fuck's sake, at least wait an hour or so to fein deliberation. But nope, I hung up the phone and checked my email, and it was an immediate denial email. I'm pretty sure the person sent the email while they were still on the phone with me. That one stung a little bit.

On the other hand, I've also had one interview I thought I did terrible in, but I still got the job. I got half of the technical interview questions wrong. Then I had an informal question session with two different managers, and they both seemed disinterested. But I got a job offer from one of the managers the next day.

 

[Philippo]

I had the job I dreamed of at the company I wanted it to be lined up perfectly.

The department lead wanted to hire me so I had talks before a position was even available and even met with a board member.
So when a position opened, I was about to meet the team and the CEO.
I was pretty shocked with the first meeting with a board member already because this was a rather big company and now I was about to meet the CEO.

Everything was a sign that I was as good ad hired. I even cut my vacation short so I could do the interview.

2 days before the interview I was called that because of some reorganization of the global parent company, people won't be hired from outside anymore and they are very sorry for how everything played out.

Click to shrink...

Oof, that feels super bad!

I totally bombed an interview at Koei in Japan. The interviewing back and forth was fine but at one point in the process they handed me a newspaper and just said read this out loud and I couldn't. Didn't hear back from them.

Click to shrink...

Yikes, at least it didn't get to that, thank God otherwise I would've busted into tears lol

Interviews are stressful enough and super easy to worry about bombing (even when you didn't) in general. I can't imagine trying to do all that while speaking a second language.

Hopefully it didn't go as badly as you've convinced yourself it has, OP.

Click to shrink...

Thanks! Luckily I have 2 more lined up (1 today), so at least I can get distrscted by them.

Are Japanese interviews super long? I have not heard that. I suppose it depends on what you were trying for.

This is really just my first impression but it sounds like, from your post, that you might have been too nervous / self-critical. In my experience, people who are trying to remember something they have already prepared come off pretty bad in interviews

Likewise with Japanese, people who are trying to use specific phrases because they just learned them often get flustered if the conversation goes in a different direction. I don't think they were necessarily trying to trip you up over your Japanese skill level as indicated in your resume but there is a lot of people who say "moderate" or whatever as their level but cannot actually hold a normal conversation on something that was not in their text book or whatever. If you get flustered over that sort of stuff in an interview, then it stands to reason you would do in a workplace. Although it is easy to say, I think the best thing to do if you were going to do something that again is chill out as much as possible. Oh doing an interview to a panel of 4 or 5 people is quite normal here by the way.

For what it is worth, I have been in Japan for over ten years now. When I came back, I didnt qualify for a "being able to speak Japanese" bonus on a job because I didnt do well on a phone interview over some specific question about the weather, much to the amusement of my Japanese wife who didn't speak English. So, I mean, don't worry about it.

Click to shrink...

I see what you mean.
Yeah there was definitely some flustering from not remembering that sentence I prepared. That said what I did was less trying to learn all by memory and more get a gist of what could have been asked as to not get caught pants down. I think it kind of worked as I said what I prepared, but not in the exact same way. Then again, who knows where their expectations lied in terms of language skills. I suppose one thing you can do in these situations is yes, let them know that you are not completely prepared language wise, but also show that you can improve quickly after being hired.

And yeah, I'm quite the over-thinker: I could also list the positives but choose not to, hell I tend to list all the negatives even for interviews that went well!

 

[Zolbrod]

As someone who's actually been the interviewer at numerous job interviews in Japan, I can assure you that your JP language skills will rarely, if ever, be the reason you fail an interview. Generally speaking, nobody expects foreign applicants to be fluent.
It certainly helps if you speak the language well, but they're not going to let go of, say, a talented and experienced programmer just because their Japanese is kind of meh. Your job skills and motivation are much more important.

 

[Philippo]

As someone who's actually been the interviewer at numerous job interviews in Japan, I can assure you that your JP language skills will rarely, if ever, be the reason you fail an interview. Generally speaking, nobody expects foreign applicants to be fluent.
It certainly helps if you speak the language well, but they're not going to let go of, say, a talented and experienced programmer just because their Japanese is kind of meh. Your job skills and motivation are much more important.

Click to shrink...

I do expected that, I mean if 4 interviewers ask you for a meeting you'd assume at least one of them has read your resumé and knows where you sit at roughly. But it's less about "oh no my JP is shit" and more "fuck i wanted to give an even better impression, i could've dwelved so much more into those questions if it was in English, or if i was a bit more chill".
That said, the position I've applied for is not highly technical, as it is as Project Manager, so there's not even really that much skills to display. At least I've replied to all questions (even related to the size of projects I handle, people I manage, tools I use and so on), not excelled but hey at least I gave them an idea. I hope it's enough to have them interested in a second round.
But still, the fact that it only lasted 20-25 minutes definitely does not inspire any confidence.

 

[balohna]

I once got stumped on a pretty basic question, and then still got the job. Not sure the reasoning on their end, maybe like "well he learned the answer in the interview". It was literally just a terminology thing. Maybe it didn't actually matter and it was just to see how deep my knowledge was. It didn't help that one of the interviewers was totally stone faced the whole time.

That job ended up leading me down a whole new career path that changed my life for the better, so crazy to think what my life would be like if I didn't get it. The job I was leaving sucked a lot.

 

[davidnolan13]

i had a job interview where the only answer i gave was eep. i completely froze and needless to say i didnt get it.

 

[Deleted member 8852]

You should prepare for refusal in any case, but don't beat yourself up too badly even if you do get refused. It happens.

 

[shounenka]

Don't take this as a guarantee that you got the job, but for what it's worth, Japanese corporate employees, especially in big companies, are so regularly inundated with internal clerical BS as it is that they don't want to spend more time on an interview than they have to. If it lasted for 25 minutes you probably did, at the very least, "fine."

I totally bombed an interview at Koei in Japan. The interviewing back and forth was fine but at one point in the process they handed me a newspaper and just said read this out loud and I couldn't. Didn't hear back from them.

Click to shrink...

Lol, I passed that one. Was nearly 20 years ago though. Ended up staying with my company at the time. I will say the couple that runs/owns Koei was nicer than their reputation.

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

Don't take this as a guarantee that you got the job, but for what it's worth, Japanese corporate employees, especially in big companies, are so regularly inundated with internal clerical BS as it is that they don't want to spend more time on an interview than they have to. If it lasted for 25 minutes you probably did, at the very least, "fine."



Lol, I passed that one. Was nearly 20 years ago though. Ended up staying with my company at the time. I will say the couple that runs/owns Koei was nicer than their reputation.

Click to shrink...

Oh I also probably didn't do all that great on the actual localization test they gave me, took way too long and my writing wasn't all that good. I think I met someone who got that job like 6 months later at a burrito place and they seemed happy so my loss I guess.

I did like the job I ended up getting plenty, so OP don't worry if this one doesn't work out you will find something else that works out for you.

Although now I'm wondering how things could have worked out differently if I got that localization job instead of where I ended up working, and then leaving a couple years later to go back to school in America. Would I still be in Japan now? Who knows...

 

[Rotkehle]

Really one of the worst feelings ever? EVER?
whats the next worst thing ever on this Board?

 

[Xavillin]

I did an interview a few weeks ago. I'm an international student though, so it was for a part-time job. Was super short, maybe about 5 or so minutes. My Japanese is really bad, but I managed to understand most of it. Kinda derped out when I heard 書類 since I haven't heard that in so long, but then he said passport, so then I remembered. I got hired that same night, but I haven't worked yet and only just received the papers I have to fill out last week. Gonna go turn it in tomorrow at my university.

 

[GiantEnemyCrab]

How did I know that it was a Japanese company before I clicked the thread.

 

[Philippo]

Damn, where's the fucking bad mail at? I just want to get over with it...

I once got stumped on a pretty basic question, and then still got the job. Not sure the reasoning on their end, maybe like "well he learned the answer in the interview". It was literally just a terminology thing. Maybe it didn't actually matter and it was just to see how deep my knowledge was. It didn't help that one of the interviewers was totally stone faced the whole time.

That job ended up leading me down a whole new career path that changed my life for the better, so crazy to think what my life would be like if I didn't get it. The job I was leaving sucked a lot.

Click to shrink...

On one hand i don't want to give myself that kind of hope, but maybe i should try and be more positive!

i had a job interview where the only answer i gave was eep. i completely froze and needless to say i didnt get it.

Click to shrink...

Ok, i didn't go that bad at all at least lol

You should prepare for refusal in any case, but don't beat yourself up too badly even if you do get refused. It happens.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, with this being an actual interview i hope to get at least some sort of feedback so to have something to improve.

Don't take this as a guarantee that you got the job, but for what it's worth, Japanese corporate employees, especially in big companies, are so regularly inundated with internal clerical BS as it is that they don't want to spend more time on an interview than they have to. If it lasted for 25 minutes you probably did, at the very least, "fine."

Click to shrink...

Yeah, that does not make me feel like i've got the job, but maybe a bit more positive that, as you say, i did at least fine. I guess that if i didn't, i wouldn't have gotten those 10 or so questions.

Really one of the worst feelings ever? EVER?
whats the next worst thing ever on this Board?

Click to shrink...

I mean, of course i'm not talking about life altering things like being ill or stuff on that level, but when talking about self-condifence and related stuff, i do think it's a very bad thing and it makes you feel like shit.

How did I know that it was a Japanese company before I clicked the thread.

Click to shrink...

this made me chuckle

 

[Rotkehle]

I mean, of course i'm not talking about life altering things like being ill or stuff on that level, but when talking about self-condifence and related stuff, i do think it's a very bad thing and it makes you feel like shit.

Click to shrink...

but why using this exaggeration? This board makes me crazy in this regard. Everything is the beste, the worst ever. It's like everyone here tries to mimic Trump in this regard. Or is this a US thing?

 

[Philippo]

but why using this exaggeration? This board makes me crazy in this regard. Everything is the beste, the worst ever. It's like everyone here tries to mimic Trump in this regard. Or is this a US thing?

Click to shrink...

I'm not even american lol
I see what you mean, and i absolutely agree, in my head this wasn't a de facto exaggeration, more of a colloquial thing. Hell, i use it only in the thread title and not in the actual post.
Of course nothing like this is the worts or the best.

 

[Rotkehle]

I'm not even american lol
I see what you mean, and i absolutely agree, in my head this wasn't a de facto exaggeration, more of a colloquial thing. Hell, i use it only in the thread title and not in the actual post.
Of course nothing like this is the worts or the best.

Click to shrink...

You are right. Maybe I was just too triggered after 10 years Gaf/Era.

 

[Philippo]

Gah, still no reply, at least I had 2 other pleasant interviews this week to hold me over.
If only I wasn't locked down in my apartment I would feel less anxious about waiting for a reply...

Is sending follow-up mails to job interviews a thing for Japan? Don't want to sound too anxious and burn that one percent chance I have of being passed.

You are right. Maybe I was just too triggered after 10 years Gaf/Era.

Click to shrink...

More than understandable my friend, negativity and aggressiveness is all around.

 

[Taker34]

Cheer up! While I certainly can't compare any of my experiences to yours, since you're in Japan and conducting the interviews in a foreign language, you're going to be successful if you keep trying. Actually the interviews which were the worst in my opinion landed me a job in the end. As long as you try your best in a stressful situation like this, it will be appreciated even if you think you could've done much better. Also do't try to think much about past interviews and don't be hopeful at all. It can take a bunch of interviews until you are successful... and unless Japan is completely different than Europe in that regard, a job interview is considered to be a very good sign to begin with. They are very interested in you and choose between you and only a handful of other people. It's a difficult and uncertain time of course but you'll make it if you go through as many interviews as possible. Keep yourself busy :)

 

[Philippo]

Well, as I expected, I woke up to a negative news this morning.
Totally expected, still sucks.
One thing that leaves a bad taste is that I did not even get an explanation, which would have helped me in pinpoint the aspects I lack in but no, I just got a generic ass mail, not even from the same person I spoke through during all the process.

Well, at least I have 2 other possible jobs lined up, one of the 2 is the same position I have applied for in Japan, so if that goes well I could do like 1 year of experience and then try again in 2021.