CIR Interview 2016

For the Chicago consulate in 2012, it was a panel of three people (one Japanese and two American) at first and they interviewed me in English, then I went to another room where it was a one-on-one with a Japanese woman, who handed me two passages (one about alternative energy sources and the other about the Sky Tree), had me read them aloud, and then asked me questions about them.

I have no idea if they do it that way every year though, and as snell said, it varies by country/consulate.

the one thing I will say is: if they do give you a passage to read, when you hand the passage back to the interviewer, make sure the text is right-side up from their perspective. the one big fail of my interview...

Hi!

I'm a 2016 applicant too, and I was wondering what people thought about using 敬語 in the interview. I've never had to use my Japanese in a professional sense before, so I'm not entirely sure what level is appropriate for the interview. Should I just try to use it for my 自己紹介 or would it be better to stick to regular です・ます style? What did you do? And are you using it at work now?


Thanks ><

Didn't use at all in the interview. です・ます is fine. At work, don't use it among my own KA but like maybe when other people come in to see us or like people from completely outside city hall or like the phone for sure. Or meeting 偉い people for the first time, might try use a bit but really being foreign exempts you from having to bother at all a lot of the time.

I did Chicago in 2015. I read an article about media bias (probably about N2 level). Then I was asked comprehension questions and my opinion.

Hello shanshan! (I like your username.)

I'll mostly second what people have said -- use 敬語 if you're comfortable with it, if not, use です・ます. I do use a lot of 敬語 in my job, particularly when writing (emails, mostly) or speaking to people from other divisions/not-the-government (which happens frequently on the phone and in person). However, no one will expect you to know/use perfect 敬語 right away, and there will be lots of opportunities to learn/observe your coworkers/get used to it if you become a CIR. (Plus, plenty of Japanese people mess up 敬語 on a regular basis, so don't feel bad if you just stick with natural 丁寧語.)

Back when I was interviewing, I think I said just a couple common 敬語 phrases like と申します but nothing beyond that. Now that I've been in my position for a while, I would use 敬語 at an interview because I would feel more comfortable using it than not in formal settings (like snell said). Still, if I forgot some conjugation or something, I'd just revert to です・ます for the sake of speaking smoothly.

I think it's important to remember that it's rarely any one thing that happens in the interview that makes or breaks your application. Japanese ability does play a role, but what's more important in my view are your ideas -- what would you do as a CIR? What are your expectations, and what would you do if your expectations were very different from the reality of whatever placement you got? What can you do/want to do if possible for your community, how do you want to be involved, and why are you applying for this in the first place? It's really natural to be worried about the Japanese parts (I definitely was), so maybe you can pull a nice 一石二鳥 in your preparations and talk about all your ideas in Japanese -- ideally with someone pretending to be an interviewer, but talking aloud to yourself and practicing by yourself works well, too. Good luck!!

Thanks for all of the great advice throughout the interview/application portion! Though, now it's time to play the waiting game (again). I have a bit of mixed feelings about my actual interview, but I am really hoping that it went as well as I hoped it to be.

お疲れ様！ Hope to hear happy results in a couple of months!

Sending good vibes to all potential CIRs who are interviewing this week!!

In terms of the article, there isn't a specific theme. It depends on the interviewing location. I got something about gardens, but it totally wasn't SENMONGO at all.

All I can say is breath, take your time. And ignore the judgemental looking faces.

Good luck to you all!

Mine (two years ago, Vancouver) was about young people's addiction to internet, or something like that. It was a news article excerpt, so definitely practice with news articles. The topics vary, as you've probably gathered from above comments too, so read articles of different genres.
And then I was asked some questions where the answers were in the article, plus questions where they ask for your opinion, things like:
Do you think being addicted to Internet is bad? Why or why not?
Do you think you're addicted to internet?
If the Japanese government was to do something to promote more interpersonal communications and less Internet, what do you think they could do?

I was panicking like crazy until the very moment I stepped in. But after I sat down, I found myself surprisingly calm and actually enjoying talking to the interviewers, because every one of the three interviewers I had were just so encouraging and nice. That really helped. I really hope that all you new applicants get nice interviewers.

Thanks! I'm not sure how I went. I feel like I answered the English parts well but I kind of botched the japanese section :s it was a topic that I totally didn't expect and was so thrown that I kind of stumbled over the answers. I was prepping for a whole japanese interview but other than those answers it was all in English surprisingly. I hope my abilities still came out somehow >< thanks for your help everyone! Now we wait.

Like shanshan310, I'm also not sure how it went! The article was really easy to read, but I had difficulty answering the questions and guessed on a few of the answers... I know there are a lot of ALT alternatives to JET, but I feel like JET is really the only program that has a position like CIR. I'll try to look for similar jobs, but I had my heart set on this so it will stink if I don't get in.

Oh well! I'll let you know come April!! Thanks for all of your advice!!!

I've been short listed! Thanks for all your support!

Congratulations!! Let us know when you get your placement if you accept!