2019 CIR Applicants Thread

@kinbenkun  hmm, it makes me remember the nervousness and how not-fluent my responses etc were...but that makes me realise how far I've come and how much I've improved ^^
(ah, I was an alternate too!~)

Just found out I passed N2, which definitely acts as a confidence boost before the interview

Did you guys use keigo in your interview, or did you stick with regular 丁寧語 ??

kulido I'm not from New York, but I was worried that my Japanese ability wasn't good enough when I had my interview as well 'cause my Japanese level had really decreased since my year abroad, and I didn't have JLPT N2, but I managed to get through it okay, and although I didn't get straight through I did get put as a reserve and I ended up going to Japan that same year, so GANBARE!~ you can only do your best ^^ if you try looking at your statement of purpose and think of questions they might ask you about it, then practice how to talk about those things in Japanese, I think that would help =3

acouplefruits congrats on passing!~ I didn't use keigo in my interview, because I reasoned that in my case it was better to use normal polite form correctly than try too hard and end up using keigo wrong, but I didn't have any confidence in my keigo so if you feel much more comfortable with it, it can't hurt to use it I guess?

𝑜𝓇𝒾𝒽𝒾𝓂𝑒 kulido

It is strange considering that I had JLPT N1, yet still was wait listed. I thought the Japanese part went flawlessly (except for one hiccup).

After talking to CLAIR people during group C orientation (I was the only CIR at that orientation) they pretty much told me that there are sometimes too many 合格者 and not enough 求人 and sometimes that happens.

maybe she didnt want to talk to you HAHHAHA. 
i was pretty much staring at her using eye power to will her to talk to me 

𝑜𝓇𝒾𝒽𝒾𝓂𝑒 Thanks for the advice!! I'll think up some questions from my SoP and try monologuing

@kinbenkun gahh I guess there are those situations too, huh... Welp, ganbaru shika nai naaa

Roughly the first half of the article from my interview had furigana on it, so you might not need to worry too much. Another point about not being able to read the kanji is, it depends on your interviewer if they will tell you the kanji reading when you're stuck or not. I heard from CIRs that their interviewer said the kanji reading out loud when they couldn't say it, so I thought mine would too. I recall kind of waiting for her to say it when I got stumped but she didn't say anything, so I realized she just wasn't going to tell me any readings and just skipped reading a couple kanji I couldn't say after that.

Also, consider this: how you respond to the situation of not knowing a kanji is probably also part of the interview. It's not about determining who has maximal qualifications, it's about sussing out how you'll do in the environment you'll be placed in.

There were a few kanji/words that I couldn't read in my article. I was up front about it and just said I didn't know the pronunciation, and my interviewer read it for me. I think the main thing is to be able to understand the majority of what they will have you read so you can answer some questions about it. No biggie if you don't understand every single word.

Do your best to be confident and I'm sure you'll be ok!

I feel like I wasn't very GENKI in my interview and they didn't seem to mind, I feel like being too GENKI could swing it the other way and put them off XD

But yeah try to seem approachable/hulemdoly and polite at least, and definitely try to speak clearly
Try not to slouch or anything when you're sat there as well. I mean don't sit up so straight they think you're really tense, but don't just lounge there or huddle yourself up 'cause body language can also say a lot about a person (too loungey and you could look too laidback/careless, too huddled and you could look nervous/scared, like you're not a very sociable person etc.) ^^;;

Thank you for all your replies! I will keep that in mind
I guess being able to communicate in Japanese that I'm not able to pronounce this specific kanji and if that would be okay to continue is also very important! I didn't think of that before haha

Also, do you guys recommend taking off piercings during the interview? Other companies I have interviewed with were very open and okay with my ear piercings (just 4 visible on my right ear, hair is covering my left ear's piercings). It's 2 cartilage piercings and a double earlobe piercing... Nothing flashy at all. But this is Japan we're talking about...

出る釘は打たれる

What do you guys think? I've heard of a lot of people coming in with crazy coloured hair etc and passed. hue

As for keigo vs teineigo at the interview, use whatever you're most comfortable with. Both are adequately polite for the situation at hand, and it's better to focus on the content of your answer rather than tripping yourself up on any keigo forms, especially if you're already nervous. (If you're more comfortable using keigo than teineigo, by all means use keigo, but I imagine that most CIR applicants are more comfortable with teineigo anyway.)

It's also worth mentioning that each country (and sometimes each consulate) does interviews in a different way. For example, it's my impression that the average UK interview has more Japanese than the average US interview. So while it's great to prepare for the interview, if you're trying to find specifics, I recommend trying to find posts/advice from people who interviewed in the same embassy/consulate (or at least country) you're signed up for. (Also, 99% of the info on this board is from people who applied through "eigoken" countries/places with English as their primary or one of their official languages, so if you are an applicant from, say, Germany, your process may differ significantly from what's on here. We've definitely had German and Italian CIRs post on these boards before, but overall the info is eigoken-centric, so ymmv.)

As for Japanese ability: your Japanese ability isn't the only factor being considered; there are a lot of factors, each with its own weight. Will you be a good cultural ambassador for your home country/culture/region? Are you open and excited about (or at least willing to try) new experiences? How will you get along with a possibly all-Japanese-except-for-you office in your (for most applicants) non-native country? How will you problem-solve? Someone with "barely N2" ability who has all of those qualities in spades may very well be what a CO (contracting organization/your actual employer in Japan, often a prefecture/city/town office) wants in a candidate, rather than someone with "got 180/180 on the N1" but is inflexible, unf.riendly, knows a lot about Japan but not also their home country/culture/region, or otherwise seems like they can't or won't adapt well to a Japanese working environment. While in some placements, it will certainly ease your way to have N1 competency (I think especially if your position ends up being translation heavy), it's definitely not a "must" for a lot of placements. And you learn so much on the job that even if you feel like you're on the lower end of competency for CIR applicants, you'll be in a very similar boat to everyone else once you get to the office. (Office Japanese isn't academic Japanese -- which isn't to scare anybody, but more to say that everyone still has stuff to learn and if you're willing to put in the time/effort to learn once you get here even if it's overwhelming and hard sometimes, you'll be okay in the end! And imo THAT'S the more important factor, rather than base level of Japanese ability, in most cases.)

And sometimes it just comes down to luck. Which is really hard to accept as a factor, because sometimes you've done everything in your control and it still doesn't work out. Some years have way more slots than others, and usually that's just coincidental -- how many CIRs have decided to move on, for whatever reason, and thereby opening up a spot. Example: 2011 had an influx of new JETs, significantly more than usual, because so many people left after the disasters and opened up more slots than an average year. If most of them, say, stayed 2 years, that would mean there was probably fewer slots than usual in the 2012 intake. (This was the case for the prefecture I was placed in -- I think there were like 35-40 new JETs in 2011 and barely 20 in 2012. I ended up coming another year after that, and I got the placement I did because my predecessor just so happened to be in their 5th and therefore final year/had to leave and open up a slot.)

As for appearance, I've noticed a lot of blogs and whatnot will give absolute lists, like DO THIS or DON'T WEAR THAT. I think overall if you wear whatever is appropriate to a high-level/formal interview in the place/country you're interviewing, you should be okay. If you're in doubt and it'll make you nervous to wear or not wear your piercings, for instance, go with what makes you less nervous and that won't get in the way during an interview. (The interview panels are usually 3 people, 2 of whom are often from the country/place you're interviewing in even if they do have Japan experience, so they'll understand where you're coming from.)

tl;dr your Japanese most likely won't be the deciding factor of your interview; try to be yourself, do whatever makes you less nervous, and show that you'll be a good cross-cultural ambassador who's willing to learn, adapt, and work to improve; and sometimes it just comes down to the luck, and that's not on you. Hang in there!!

I don't know if I'd play the outsider American card, but just acknowledge that while you might think X, you understand some people can think Y and it is good to consider differing opinions.

That said, I got lucky and didn't get any crazy curveballs regarding current events except the MeToo movement which was easy enough to answer.