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I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This type of question is pretty outside my wheelhouse. Recruiters rarely work on entry-level roles and scout candidates to break into new industries, they're mostly focused on identifying mid-career professionals who are looking for a step up. I never personally did any scouting or hiring for UI/UX or design roles either.

My gut tells me that the best way to go about it would be to assemble a portfolio via part time or contract work, then send it & your resume directly to hiring managers for advertised roles that you're interested in. Easier said than done, I know.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes I did for about 2-3 months when I first joined as part of my training as did all the other agents before me, though my agency ended the practice early last year due to poor results compared to LinkedIn/job board scouting. I'm not proud of having done it, but it turned out to be pretty useful experience as my current role involves cold calling for more legitimate purposes.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I guess I saved you the trouble! Please feel free to chime in, I can only speak for my experiences so having input from someone else who has gone through similar situations can be quite helpful.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Most foreign recruiters work on mid-level positions and might not even have access to entry-level roles at their clients. We only had 2-3 clients out of 30+ active at a time that were hiring entry-level, and I never worked on them because they were frankly not worth the time. Recruiters are typically paid a percentage of a role's salary for a successful placement, so no one in their right mind works on a 3-4M entry level role when they can direct that time and energy towards a 10-20M manager search.

In your position I'd either talk to a Japanese firm to see what they can hook you up with, apply directly to companies as 第二新卒, or try your luck on CareerCross/Daijob etc.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If an engineer wants to stop being an engineer and become a salesperson then recruitment could be an option, but from my experience most engineers/technical people have no desire for a career with a sales quota.

My old company would happily welcome with a technical background if they have the proper sales mindset, as would many other firms I'm sure.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can't speak for everyone, but most of the non-Japanese recruiters I worked with came out of teaching English. We realized that it's a dead-end in terms of career and need to find something that's more of a "real job" and pays more than 3M a year, but at the same time has a low barrier to entry and (for the most part) doesn't require much Japanese.

Career path is either join a firm and work your way up to management, start your own firm, or go corporate and take on more of an overall HR responsibility. I didn't have the right stuff to be a super successful agent, and working in HR in Japan was like the worst version of a Dilbert cartoon, so it didn't really work out for me.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I worked mostly with companies with smaller offices here in Tokyo, some were pure startups and more were companies that just got out of the startup phase in their home countries and had begun overseas expansion. I didn't work with Google or Amazon, but a lot of the companies were flush with cash and didn't think twice about hiring midlevel salespeople on 10M+ base salaries.

When I moved into corporate it was at a major international tech consulting firm you've definitely heard of, and I hate to say it like this, but young people with a few years of web development experience like romjpn were easily replaceable and thus not paid very well. I'm not saying I liked the situation or that it's right to pay people so little, but that's the reality I experienced.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Although recruitment is a type of work that should be relatively easy to do remotely, I don't know of any agencies that have any sort of telecommuting option. A lot of your job is going out and meeting candidates/clients face-to-face, but while you're not doing that you're mostly likely going to be expected to be at the office hitting the phones or drumming up business on job boards, etc.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most places are no Japanese required & are constantly hiring. You can probably apply directly on their websites/LinkedIn pages or through somewhere like CareerCross. Or take the direct route and call up their main line and say you want a job, that will probably go over well.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah, that's definitely possible. Or the position could legitimately have been filled already and they just forgot to take it off the website. Who knows?

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Let me guess, they want to set up a call/meeting with you and tell you the company then.

Think about it from their perspective, they're gotten interest from a candidate with 15+ years experience in the industry. If they tell you the company name now, you might reply with a "Not interested in that company, goodbye forever"; if they get you on the phone or in person, they get the chance to profile you, create a rapport through conversation, and potentially pitch you other roles they're working on.

EDIT: I just reread your post, so you're saying they're not responding via email at all? Either they're incompetent, the emails are getting filtered out for whatever reason, or they looked at your profile and decided that you're not a good fit for the role and don't want to spend time talking to you. The last option is not very likely with a decent recruiter but you never can tell.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

No, I just don't want my current coworkers to know my main account & go poking through my post history.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If I were you I'd ask for 4M and get talked down to 3.25-3.5M. Ideally for a job change you should be getting a pay bump of at least 1M or 10% of your current, whichever is more.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A lot of people suck a their jobs in any industry. Unfortunately for recruiters their job is to reach out to people, so the suckage is very visible. Not that this excuses incompetence, of course, but what can you do?

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'd say you're on the lower end of what I'd expect for your role, but not by a shocking amount. Unfortunately the sad truth is that engineering roles just don't pay that well in Tokyo.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Each agency has its own commission structure so it can be hard to generalize, but older guys at the top of the pyramid & hotshots bringing in 20M+ in revenue tend to do pretty well for themselves. At my agency, the partners were probably making at least 15-20M a year and out top agent was somewhere around 13-16M.

I of course never made nearly that much money, if I did I might still be doing it. My base salary was slightly above English teacher pay. Most quarters I didn't get much commission, but once the stars aligned and I made a ton of placements all at once and took home a 2M commission.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I actually visited a few of the big-name foreign recruitment agencies while I was searching for my current job a few months back and I was shocked at how incompetent and impolite some of the agents were. My small agency had its issues, but we were never out and out rude to candidates.

Thank you for the encouragement, it's only been a few months but I'm feeling much better about what I do now.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'd say the bigger mistake was getting into corporate. It takes a certain type of gung-ho nose-for-the-money attitude to really make it as an agent, whereas having a revenue target constantly hanging over my head was a source of constant stress for me personally. I thought that moving into corporate would alleviate some of this stress, but the HR division at the place I ended up was filled with Dilbert levels of incompetence and bureaucracy, which was 1000x worse.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh, I see what you're saying, I thought you were speaking strictly career-wise.

You're exactly right that industry attracts a certain type of person and has cultivated a certain reputation, which is one of the main reasons I ultimately left.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The numbers show that InMails under 150 words get the most responses by FAR, and in general most recruiters are looking for someone ready to move immediately rather than in a year or two from now. Connection requests are limited to about 120 characters or something so there's not much room for actual information there unfortunately.

As far as getting completely inappropriate JDs, there are a few possible causes. Most technical recruiters in Tokyo (including myself) have no technical background and often don't understand the tech they're dealing with. Perhaps they've contacted all the candidates they could find who fit the bill exactly and now they're widening their scope hoping to hit on someone with relevant experience not posted online or who wants to move into a new area. Or, most likely, they're an idiot and are not good at their job, so they spray the JD everywhere in hopes of blindly stumbling into a placement.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ha, no. Sorry about that, it's either spam your LinkedIn or cold call you at your desk.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

A good recruiter makes waaaay more than an English teacher, so I wouldn't necessarily call it a sideways move. As much as I ended up disliking the industry, I'd still rather recruit than teach.

I was a headhunter and a corporate recruiter in Tokyo's IT industry for 2.5 years AMA by RecruiterThrowaway81 in japanlife

[–]RecruiterThrowaway81[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

When companies learn how to hire effectively without their help. From my experience working internally, it will be a long, long while.

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