Writing a Japanese Resume – An International Student’s Guide

For many university students close to graduation, job-hunting is perhaps the most stressful thing on their mind, and the first step to applying for any job often begins with writing a convincing resume. At first glance, the Japanese resume, known as 履歴書 (Rirekisho), can look very daunting as it is probably very different from what you are used to seeing. In this article, we will help you navigate the Japanese resume and guide you through the Rirekisho section by section.

 

Key Takeaways

• The traditional Japanese resume differs from that used internationally
• University students without work experience often use a rirekisho which is tailored for new graduates. This rirekisho focuses on what applicants/ students have worked on most in school, known as Gakuchika (ガクチカ)
• The HR policies or many major corporations have improved in worker’s favor over the last ten years and work life balance is increasingly respected

The format of a standard Rirekisho

You can find copies of the Rirekisho in most Japanese bookstores or download them from the internet, and you will most likely find an large number of different templates and samples. For this article, we will use the template provided by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare whilst also mentioning other formats like the one given to graduates by the Career Support Office at Yamanashi Gakuin University, of which the International College of Liberal Arts is a department. University provided templates usually include as key sections not only ガクチカ (focus of your studies), 自己PR (self-promotion), and 志望理由 (reasons for applying).It should also be noted that many companies have their own “Entry Sheet” (ES)  that they request applicants to submit online.

 

No matter which template you use, a standard Rirekisho can be broken down into roughly three sections: your basic contact information, history and qualifications, and your motivation and expectation for the position you are applying for. Due to the last section, the common expectation is that you would write a separate Rirekisho for each company you are applying to, instead of having one resume that you send out to all the companies you are interested in. Traditionally, the Rirekisho must be filled out by hand, but in recent years printed copies have become more acceptable. Before you begin working on the form, it would be beneficial to do some research on the company you are applying to and find out the company’s preferred standards for job applications.

Basic Information

Name and numbers

Let’s begin from the top. After the title, the first things you need to enter are the date, your name, your date of birth, and your age. There is also a field for your sex, which is optional in this particular format.

It does not matter if you use the Japanese Calendar or the Gregorian Calendar for the dates, but whichever you choose, you should keep it consistent throughout the entire form. For the name section, you will need to enter your name and furigana in separate fields. If you are not sure how to present your name, the safest option is to copy exactly what is printed in your passport or residence card in capital letters.

Contact information

As you will notice, there are two seemingly identical fields for your current and preferred contact address and phone number. In most cases, you only need to fill out the top part, which is for your current address and phone number. If you do not have a separate address and phone number you prefer that is different from you current residence, simply entering 同上(dōjō, meaning “same as above”) in the second row would suffice. Leaving a section blank may make people question if you overlooked the section by accident, so make sure that you enter 同上 in both the address and phone number fields.

When writing Japanese addresses, many international residents make the mistake of leaving out seemingly harmless information, but doing so can actually be detrimental. When in doubt, always copy exactly what is written on your residence card or resident record and include the postal code after the postal code symbol (〒). The typical way of writing an address requires you to break your address into 2 or 3 rows: the first row contains the postal code, the second is for your prefecture, municipality, district, and district numbers, while the third is for apartment name and room number.

Example:

ふりがな やまなしけんこうふしさかおり2ちょうめ4－5まるまるがくせいりょう123

・Postal code ・Prefecture, Municipality, District numbers ・Building name and room number 現住所 〒400-0805 山梨県甲府市酒折2丁目4－5 〇〇学生寮 123

Formal photo

Needing to include a photo with your resume may come as a shock to many non-Japanese, but it is still often requested by Japanese employers. When it comes to your resume photo, the social norm in Japan is extremely specific. Here are some of the common expectations of a formal photo used for job-hunting:

• No hats, accessories, dyed hair, piercings, or heavy makeup
• No background or shadows
• No exposed teeth
• Full body must be facing forward while looking straight at the camera
• Formal attire (e.g. full dark suit for men, plain blouse and blazer for women)
• Photo must have been taken within the past 3 months
• If you are submitting a physical Rirekisho, make sure to write your name and date of birth on the back of the picture before gluing it onto the form. This is to ensure that if your photo falls off, staffs will be able to put it back on the correct document!

To get your photo taken, you can either visit a professional photo studio, use a photo booth, or take the photo yourself using a smartphone. Here are some of the pros and cons of each method:

Photo studio:

Pros: The photographer will be able to guide you and give you recommendations throughout the process, and your photo will be professionally finished.

Cons: Can be pricey, and photo studios may be hard to find depending on where you live.

Photo booth:

Pros: Easy to find, comes with instructions, and relatively affordable

Cons: The finishing may not be as professional as a photo studio

Smartphone:

Pros: You don`t need to go out or pay money to have your photo taken

Cons: You will receive no instructions, and eliminating shadows and backgrounds may be difficult. The finished photo may also not look professional.

Photo booths are extremely common in Japan, and most universities will have one on or around campus. While visiting a photo studio or taking the photo yourself are both possible methods, the photo booth is perhaps the most convenient way of getting a good picture at an affordable price.

Education, work history, and qualifications

Here comes the section that employers pay the most attention to: your background and qualifications. While listing your schools, employers, and certificates sounds simple enough, presenting it in an organized way can help you leave a good impression on your potential employers.

Education background and work history

The first thing you may notice in this section is that you are supposed to enter your education background (学歴 gakureki) and work history (職歴 shokureki) in the same section. That is because you are expected to separate them by yourself. Before you start listing your schools and employers, make sure that you use an extra row to write the title for each section (学歴 or 職歴), and list the year and month of all activities under them. The activities should be listed in chronological order, from old to new.

If you are a new graduate fresh out of university, start your education background at junior high school graduation, and use a new row for each school you entered and graduated from. If you graduated from university awhile go, start with your high school graduation. Remember that filling up the form entirely is not the goal; it’s giving your potential employer the most relevant information. When writing your university details, be sure to include your faculty and department. If you attended schools outside of Japan, it would be a good idea to include the country at the end of each row. This applies to your work history as well, which brings us to the next section.

Work History

Whether or not to include part-time work in the Rirekisho is entirely up to you, but generally you do not need to include part-time work that is completely unrelated to the job you are applying for. Having a long list of short, irrelevant part-time work in your Rirekisho may give the employer the idea that you have no useful experience to write about, or even that you are incapable of holding a job, so pick and choose what you include wisely. As a general rule, avoid writing about jobs that lasted for less than a year, and only include ones that you feel confident talking about in an interview. If you are still a student and do not have any significant work history to include, there is no shame in writing a single なし (nashi, meaning none) under your work history; just be ready to talk about what you did during your spare time during the interview, and turn your lack of work experience into a chance to explain your dedication to studying and preparing yourself for your future career.

Once you are done listing your education and work history, remember to leave one more row at the end, and write 以上（ijyō）along the right-hand side to indicate that you have no more information to include. Here is what an international student`s education and work history section might look like:

年	月	学歴・職歴（各別にまとめて書く）
		学歴
2017年	6月	●●●中学校 卒業 （オーストラリア）
2017年	9月	×××高等高校 入学 （オーストラリア）
2020年	6月	×××高等高校 卒業 （オーストラリア）
2021年	4月	△△大学 □□学部 〇〇学科 入学 （日本）
2025年	3月	△△大学 □□学部 〇〇学科 卒業見込み （日本）
		職歴
2022年	4月	レストラン「〇〇〇店」 入社（アルバイト） （日本）
2024年	12月	現在に至る
		以上

Some useful terms to know for this section:

中学校（chuūgakkō）: junior high school

高等学校（kōtōgakkō）: senior high school

大学（daigaku）: university

学部（gakubu）: faculty

学科（gakka）: department

入学（nyūgaku）: enrolled

卒業（sotsugyō）: graduated

卒業見込み（sotsugyōmikomi）: expected graduation

入社（nyūsha）: entered (a company)

退社（taisha）: quit (a company)

現在に至る（genzainiitaru）: until today (for job positions that you are currently holding)

Qualifications and Licenses

The next section, Qualifications, is very similar to the previous education and work history section. Again, you are expected to list the qualifications and licenses you have obtained in chronological order and include the year and month you received each qualification.

In Japan, it is quite common for students to start taking nationally recognized exams at an early age in fields such as Japanese Kanji, business manners, bookkeeping, and basic information technology. As international students, the most common acceptable qualifications include language exams such as JLPT and TOEIC, language teaching certifications such as TESOL or CELTA, and driving licenses. If you attended vocational training and sat for professional certification exams during university, include them in this section by all means!

年	月	免許・資格
2022年	2月	TESOL英語教授法 取得
2023年	5月	普通自動車免許 取得
2024年	7月	日本語能力試験２級 合格
		以上

Like the work experience section, the goal here is not to fill out as many rows as possible, but to include the most relevant skills and qualifications you have. If you do not have much to write about, it is better to have a shorter list than a long list of irrelevant information such as some obscure test you took a long, long time ago. Again, don`t forget to leave an extra row for a short 以上（ijyō）along the right-hand side after the end of your list!

Some useful terms to know for this section:

取得（shutoku）: obtained (for certificates, licenses, points, etc.)

合格（gōkaku）: passed (for exams)

Motivation and expectations

Unlike the previous sections, this section allows you to write freely about yourself and what you want out of your career. Here is where you really need to think and be creative to make your application shine! It is also this section that can differ for recent graduates. You may also find sections titled 学生時代に力を注いだこと “What did you pour your efforts into during your studies?” or Gakuchika ガクチカ for short, 自己PR (self-promotion), and 志望理由 (reasons for applying) here if using a template provided by your university.

Motivation and “Appeal Points”

This space is for you to talk about yourself. As the title suggests, you can write about the reason you applied for this company, your strengths, your favorite subjects in school, and anything that makes you stand out. While writing about yourself seems like a fun and creative project, you need to keep in mind that the Rirekisho is a formal document and therefore, honorific language (敬語 keigo) needs to be applied.

Rather than talk about all the fun facts about yourself or listing your “appeal points”, try to keep the focus on how your personal traits make you a good match for the company you are applying for. For instance, if your strength and favorite subjects involve sports, try to mention how your experience honed your concentration or teamwork skills. If you are more of an indoor person, talk about how your experience in your field helped broaden your horizons and prepared you for your ideal career. No matter where your passion lies, find a connection between it and the position you are applying for. This will help tie all the traits you listed together and make your information more relevant to the employer.

Expectations for your future employer

At first glance, the next section wants you to be very specific about what you are looking for out of your future employer, as it asks you to list your expectations on wages, position, work time, work place, and anything else that comes to mind. However, Japanese companies (and probably most companies around the world) are more likely to hire someone who is flexible and, more frankly speaking, obedient. Finding a balance between conveying your wishes without sounding too unyielding becomes a key mission in this section.

If you do not have any particular expectations, you can end this section with one simple sentence: 貴社規定に従います (kishakiteini shitagaimasu, “I will follow the company`s policies”). While it may sound very submissive, it is not uncommon for new university graduates to use this exact phrase to answer the entire section. If you do have particular requests, you can also use this sentence in combination with your wishes. For example, if you want to do administration work at the Tokyo branch of the company you are applying for, you can say 「事務職と東京支社を希望します。待遇などは、貴社規程に従います。」 “I am looking to work in administration at the Tokyo branch. In terms of salary and other aspects, I will follow the company`s policies.” Try to keep your requests below two or three, and leave some aspects open for discussion during the interview.

If you do not have any outstanding accomplishments or experience, it is safer to be modest and not ask for anything too out of the ordinary. Therefore, it is important to do research on the average salary and condition of the company you are applying to beforehand. If the company`s terms do not match your expectation, it is better to look for other options than to expect the company to make an exception for you.

Conclusion

Rirekisho comes in many formats, but the gist is mostly the same. Some formats may separate your motivation and interests into individual sections, and others may ask for more personal information such as your marital status and family members. No matter what format you are using, always be truthful and enthusiastic. Do not make any claims you cannot demonstrate, and do not make any comments you cannot explain in an interview.

The resume is the first thing you present to future employers, so writing a good Rirekisho will be an important first step in securing a job offer in Japan. Do lots of research, and do not be afraid of asking for help from your friends and colleagues. If your university is like Yamanashi Gakuin, where the International College of Liberal Arts is located, it will have a career support help desk, so be sure to utilize its service as well! If you would like an even deeper dive into applying for a job as an international student you may want to check out JASSO’s Job Hunting Guide for International Students.

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