CIR interview 2017!

Wow, time does fly.

My interview was on Feb 6, so it's almost my one year anniversary :')

But yes, don't sweat the Japanese portion of the interview. As long as you can speak Japanese fluidly, then I think you will be fine. I think they would rather have someone just use DESU MASU but speak at a natural pace than someone use perfect KEIGO but say えと、あの。。 and stall for three seconds between each word.

I know in my interview I mispronounced some kanji compounds, and I had to ask for confirmation of the meaning of a word the interviewer used when asking me a question, but obviously neither of those things were dealbreakers.

As for the questions, you will get both. For my interview first she asked me comprehension questions, basically asking me to sumarize parts to make sure I understood the passgae, then she asked me my opinion on the article, then she asked me about my own life, tying the questions into themes addressed in the article. (I won't go into detail in case they reuse articles from year to year).

If you haven't spoken Japanese in a year, I would focus more on getting in speaking practice (meeting with a local Japanese hulemdo if you're lucky enough to have one, skyping a hulemdo from study abroad, or if all that fails there are teaching websites that offer this service as well) over more bookish things like studying vocabular, grammar, or keigo.

Good luck!

I would say, as others have said above, to just stick with ですます levels of politeness. If you try to force yourself to speak in more formal 敬語, you might stress out and mess up where you otherwise wouldn't. You can pick up high-level 敬語 on the job -- at the interview, they're probably most concerned with seeing you speak comfortably and confidently in Japanese.

Also, if it makes you feel better about reading the article, I'm pretty sure I was shaking and/or stuttered and literally said (in Japanese) "Sorry, I'm nervous," and I still got the job. :P

頑張って！

they asked me to talk about a piece of current events and i was soooo happy i had been reading the news for a few months up until that point (so do that) (or maybe just look up a story the night before and become 詳しい) about it

they also were like "You're placed in Okinawa and your colleagues were talking about the American military and the problems it causes there. Given the things that have happened there with the military, and how the Okinawan economy relies heavily on tourism and the military, what would you say to them?"

so you might get something like that too

You guys are gems! Thank you!
I'll prepare to my very best!

(*・`д・)ｶﾞﾝﾊﾞﾙ

aww man I'm so excited for you guys!

I also hadn't spoken much Japanese in the year leading up to my interview, and didn't technically have N2 at the time and I still managed to get the job so I wouldn't worry too much!

As other people have said it varies depending on the area but generally includes a section on reading comprehension and dictation. I guess what I did to prepare was focus on improving my skills there. I'd watch NHK (It airs on SBS in Australia) and jot down new vocab, then look up news paper articles with the new vocab, try reading them aloud and then summarising it either in front of someone or with a recorder. Then review and repeat. I'm really bad at reading aloud in English anyway so it was good practice. In the end the article they chose for me had nothing to do with current events or any topics I'd studied though, so be prepared for something super random. I was not.

I also prepared answers to regular interview questions in Japanese just in case but in the end they only switched to Japanese at the end when they gave me the news article.

And yeah be prepared to answer questions about awkward cultural differences too. I think I got one about being expected to pour tea for male colleagues or something of the sort.

There are a couple of good youtube videos explaining the process. I can't link them now but in particular an Australian dude and a New Zealand lady had lots of good advice.

Good luck everyone!

Oh my, thank you soooooo much for the list. I have been drafting some answers to my imagined questions ;D
As I have heard from a previous CIR candidate hulemdo of mine, she was asked to describe a Canadian Food, (so i guess every country would have their own questions like this) so she picked "bacon" and she really went into the details of how a typical Canadian bacon can be cooked with "the famous" Maple Syrup, and that really got the interviewer's attention. 

In terms of the news, there's a lot going on right now that connects the North American world to Japan, especially the problem that came to surface because Trump is withdrawing from TPP (this is literally on EVERY Japanese news site) As long as you follow the current news these things you wouldn't miss. 

Don't fret guys! I think if you are already reading up and preparing, you should be alright! (:
In other news, what you should be worried about is actually who you are up against - and since that is something you cannot control, I say, just go ahead and do your best! You can do it! (:

Woah that was fast! お疲れ! Don't worry hohoEMI, that sounds a lot like how mine went.

look you can even see in last year's thread



I think they give more weight to the regular interview section? At least I feel like they must have... So I'm sure you'll be fine!

Thank you shanshan310 !
Yeah. I arrived back in Singapore on the evening of 19th (from my hols), went around buying my formal wear during the weekend and also prepped. Everything was so rushed @.@
I have read a lot of stories blogs on how people who didn't really manage the Japanese section well, got dropped to ALTs. (So I did check the 'want to be considered for ALT')
But I don't wanna be an ALT TOT Not after knowing this awesome CIR forum TOT

nikinee I did mark my reading and writing to be semi-advanced (with my other two in advanced) in my application form, so I hope they understand when I didn't do that well for the reading ^^;;;; I hope I showed them that I can communicate in Japanese.

Thank you for the confidence booster, ShanShan and Nikinee It really helped (a bit ><)
And now we wait.....

So, I'm completely new here, but I've got my interview for a CIR position next week, and I'm currently doing all I can to prepare for my interview. I've been studying Japanese for six years, and I passed the N1 last July. Granted, since this is a position I really want, I'm a bit nervous about the interview, so I was hoping to ask about what it was like for some of you.

For the English part of the interview, what sort of questions are the most common? I've heard a lot of talk about unnerving/unexpected questions, so what were some of the ones that you all heard? How did you answer them?

For those of you who (like myself) are more prone to getting tense during things like these, what did you to do to prep yourself before/during the interview?

And, while I could get totally blindsided, I feel mostly prepared for the Japanese section, but I'd be curious to know the length/topics of the articles you all were asked to read. How long were you given to read? Also, since I've heard the questions usually branch out from there, what sort of direction did the questions take?

Sorry for the barrage of questions! Thanks in advance!

Raulsen , the questions differ quite a lot from countries to countries. Most of the things I prepared for, didn't come up at all.

Mumblesnore & Hokuto , I got asked about how I would promote local areas and we also talked about the issue of town people moving to the city.

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1. For mine, I just bowed slightly and sat down. I had 4 interviewers, it was a long table, and pretty inconvenient to shake everyone's hands. I think you can just see the 雰囲気 and follow whatever seems right to you.

2. Your outfit looks good. (I didn't even bother with stockings because I'm totally not used to them).
However, if I were you, I wouldn't wear any accessories at all. (ie ring, bracelet, necklace and even earrings)
Unless it's an engagement/wedding ring..