Two days ago, I posted up my resume on a few career websites. It has only been 2 days, and I have gotten more than 2 dozens employers' inquiries without applying for their jobs. At the same time, I have also applied to a few jobs in the financial industry that pays well or companies that are on the Fortune 500 list related to my industry.
It believe I am getting hits on my resume because of my language skill - I put "fluent" for Cantonese, "knowledgable" for Mandarin, and I indicated the number of years I have studied for Japanese. I didn't apply to any of the phone messages or emails, until I came across the name - Fujisaki. Never have I imagined having to speak Japanese for work - until now.
I missed the company's phone call in the morning. In the afternoon, I found the email from Ms. Fujisaki. After I googled the company, I replied to the email. The company that she represents is a recruiting company for bilingual and non-bilingual jobs in various industries such as sales, marketing, etc. By "bilingual," they really just mean Japanese and English. Of course, I did not want them to think that I am fluent. As a result, I clearly stated that in my email.
Within the next hour, Ms. Fujisaki called me. She had the typical Japanese speaking fluent English accent. When I continually clarified that my Japanese conversational skill is minimal, she was in disbelief because of the number of years I have studied Japanese. She asked me if I can use my Japanese at work / to deal with clients over the phone. I said, NO! She then asked, "How about with some practice?" I shrugged, and said, "I guess..." Then, SHE WANTED TO TEST MY JAPANESE!
First of all, I haven't spoken in Japanese for ages. The last phone conversation I had with Eun-Jung was chaos. I woke up from my nap, my mouth opened wide and nothing came out. So, Ms. Fujisaki asked me some basic questions. I feel like I was having my oral proficiency exam in one of the classes in Japan. She asked, "How did you like the lifestyle in Japan?" / "What did you study in Japan?" / "In what ways did you study for Japanese in the classes at Chiba University?" / "Are you fluent in Cantonese/Mandarin?"
Despite the fact that my words were so colloquial, she kept applauding my language skills. I understood everything she said. However, I did not respond with the most polite form.
In the end, she wants to interview me. Therefore, I am meeting with her at her company on Park Ave on Friday. She asked me what industry I would like to work in (since she has a long list to choose from). I said no to her suggestion for Sales, and settled to her next suggestion for Marketing. According to their website, they have many employers from the Fortune 500 list. Now that I know what I am doing, I will probably see if she can put me in a Fortune 500 company for finance.
