Job opportunities are, most of the times, limited by minimum years of work experience. However, there are a lot of jobs now in Japan which hire fresh graduates or foreigners without relevant experience. For foreigners who have just moved to Japan or students just starting out their careers here, this is a good start.

What sort of jobs do not require experience?

Jobs which can be easily learnt are usually the ones which do not require any experience. These jobs do not need any background knowledge and the employer is the one who generally trains the applicants. Here are some such jobs

• Farm jobs (fruit picking, dairy farm work, agricultural farm work)
• Construction jobs
• Factory jobs
• Food and Beverages jobs (kitchen duty in fast food chains, floor cleaning, food processing jobs etc)
• Supermarket jobs (cleaning, inventory management, warehouse management)
• Other types of hospitality jobs

Farm jobs are generally simple and require work like taking care of orchards, feeding the animals, picking fruits and helping with general maintenance of the farm. These jobs are short term (1-2 months), in the outskirts of the city and provide comfortable dormitories for their workers.

Construction and factory jobs need the employees to be able to follow processes and make themselves familiar with the work. New joinees mostly deal with helping others before they work with the actual machines.

F&B jobs require applicants to clean kitchens and serving area floors, clean utensils, follow cooking instructions (especially in bigger fast food chains like McDonalds). The same goes for housekeeping and hospitality jobs – cleaning rooms and common areas, attending to guests and fulfilling other services needed at the place.

All these jobs do not require any experience because these are things you can be trained on by the employer or things you naturally learn with time. As long as you are attentive and willing to learn, they are easy to understand.

Where can you find such jobs?

Most of these opportunities are available online. Apps like WORK JAPAN, employment agencies, baito sites or even government commissions. Always make sure you use a credible source to find these jobs to be free from risk.

Is there scope for growth?

These jobs pay well depending on whether they are part time opportunities or full time. The jobs do not need specific experience when joining, but with more experience and a greater number of years in the industry, you can get full time opportunities and also ask for increased rates.

If the opportunity is for a part time job, you can also apply with your existing full time job. Many people in Japan take up second jobs to earn more money. As long as it doesn’t conflict with any existing contracts and job schedules you have, the working hours can be agreed to between the employer and you to have a fixed number of working hours per week.

Minimum Qualifications

While these jobs do not require any experience to join, it certainly helps if you meet certain criteria that employers look for

1. Highschool graduation

These types of jobs generally do not have any fixed college degree requirements, having a relevant course in your CV definitely helps. You may have higher chances of getting hired and even be able to negotiate for better pay.

2. Willingness to learn

In these jobs, the employer or existing experienced staff are the ones that generally train you. You should be willing to learn, work with other team members and maintain the same quality of work or get better.

3. Some knowledge of Japanese

While most of the actual jobs do not require a knowledge of Japanese, being able to hold conversations in Japanese will increase your prospects by a lot. Initial interviews and instructions on the job are usually given in Japanese. If your skills are conversational, that will help to ensure you understand your work completely. BUT do not let this stop you from applying if you cannot speak much Japanese. Some employers looking for long term hiring refer new trainees to language schools or might have staff who can onboard foreigners in their work force.

Still not sure how to go about this? Download the WORK JAPAN apps, create your CV and start applying for jobs which interest you.