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headhunters in Japan

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

For several years, it was possible for foreigners with sub-standard Japanese to make a living in Tokyo working in the financial field.

This took a huge blow following the 2008 financial crisis, (what the call the "Lehman shock" in Japan). During 2009, and to some extent in 2010, it was damn difficult to find work in the field in Tokyo. And I didn't!

Now things have changed. For the past few months I've been getting hits from headhunters looking for the kinds of roles I was looking for a year or two ago. Having left last year in search of greener pastures (successfully), I'm amused at how things turn. I was by no means alone in having to leave, I can only assume from the trickle of leads that are coming my way that the employers in Tokyo are having a hard time of finding people these days.

I was very lucky to have the opportunity in Japan that I did, but I can't see uprooting my family yet again for high-wire act. That's how it works, young people come in to fill the positions of those who can't take their chances on the rarefied Tokyo gaijin job market because they've got a family to support. I'm glad to have experience it; pity I wasn't five years younger when I arrived.