Job-hunting in Japan as a developer may require you to create an English resume, a Japanese resume, or both. While the companies posting on TokyoDev expect an English-language resume, companies with a mainly Japanese workforce may have different requirements.
There are two types of Japanese resumes:
- Rirekisho (履歴書): A personal profile that contains a standard set of information, such as name, birthdate, address, and a timeline of professional and educational history.
- Shokumu keirekisho (職務経歴書): A detailed history of employment and responsibilities that is roughly equivalent to a Western-style resume.
Of these two, the latter document is both more critical and more complicated to create. Following is a detailed manual on when a shokumu keirekisho is necessary and how to write one, including:
- The role of the shokumu keirekisho in hiring
- How it should be organized and written
- When you can use machine translation
- How to make it appeal to recruiters
- Common mistakes to avoid
What is a shokumu keirekisho, and what is it used for?
In post-war Japan, companies developed the custom of evaluating, not only a person’s skillset, but their background and character, through a standardized form. The rirekisho was established as a fixed-format, personal profile sheet that included information such as the applicant’s school, address, age, and family background.
Since at that time companies also engaged in mass new-graduate hiring and lifetime employment, the rirekisho alone was considered sufficient: new hires usually didn’t have any work history to describe. However, as mid-career hiring and foreign-affiliated companies became more common in Japan, a more detailed document was required, one that could also describe the candidate’s work experience and achievements—the shokumu keirekisho.
Today the rirekisho is primarily used by HR to manage candidates’ data, rather than playing an important part in the hiring process. Applicants fill out a standardized template that includes basic information such as name, address, qualifications, and a brief timeline of education and employment history.
In the past, handwriting the rirekisho was seen as a sign of sincerity, and the quality of a candidate’s handwriting was believed to represent their character. While there is less expectation for rirekisho to be handwritten today, don’t be surprised if someone suggests that you do so.
It’s easy to understand why the shokumu keirekisho is essential, especially for mid-career applications—if you submit only a rirekisho, you won’t be sharing any details about your actual work experience. Even if you have little or no formal work experience, writing about personal or freelance projects on your shokumu keirekisho is strongly recommended.
How to write a shokumu keirekisho
In those cases, preparing the document in Japanese allows you to demonstrate your language abilities. Even if the company doesn’t ask for one, if you know that the position requires some Japanese, it may not hurt to give them both an English CV and your shokumu keirekisho. According to TokyoDev’s client representative Sayana Takagi, applicants who submit both have a noticeably higher screening pass rate. If there’s only a single resume field, then you can combine the different forms together into a single document.
Your shokumu keirekisho should follow a template, and be written in black and white and in a traditional font. It shouldn’t include graphics or personal branding.
Organization
A typical shokumu keirekisho contains these sections:
- Career Summary
- Work History
- Skills
- Self-Promotion
Career Summary
In this section, you’ll briefly summarize your overall career, preferably in three to four sentences. The goal is to give readers a clear overview before they dive into the details.
In Japanese:
In English:
Work History
This is the main section of the document, and includes not just what companies you have worked for, but also details on individual projects, the technologies used, and your achievements. All of this information should be written in reverse chronological order and divided by company. This information is frequently organized in a table, and there are many free templates available online.
Begin each new company section with a short summary of your overall responsibilities. Then, break down your work for that company by project. If you have worked at a company for a long time, you would be expected to list multiple projects for that term of employment. For each project, include the following:
-
Project Overview: the purpose and scale of the project
Role: your job title in that position or for that project (e.g., Tech Lead, Backend Engineer) - Responsibilities: use bullet points and describe what you actually did, not what the team did
- Tech Stack: specify the technologies used, and if they were different for each project, list each stack separately. You should use the actual name of the tool rather than katakana (e.g. “Redis” vs “レディス”)
- Achievements/Results: explain how you contributed, using quantifiable outcomes as much as possible (e.g. “Reduced expenses by 30 percent”)
In Japanese:
In English:
Skills and certifications
Your skills are commonly listed in a table and divided into sections, such as Frontend, Backend, and Infrastructure, with your years of experience and proficiency level described for each one.
You should also include relevant certifications and awards in this section, especially if you have not prepared a rirekisho with this information.
In Japanese:
In English:
Self-Promotion
This section is just as described—you should promote yourself. Really, the purpose is to ensure the company wants to meet you, so you should do your best to write from the company’s perspective. This means first understanding the job description, then highlighting your most relevant experiences.
Usually this part contains three short sections of around five lines each. Following is an example for a management-focused position.
In Japanese:
In English:
Can I use machine translation?
You can use machine translation to help create your shokumu keirekisho, but proceed with caution.
First, as most people who have used machine translation already know, it doesn’t always produce natural-sounding language. If you do use machine translation, you should have a Japanese speaker give the document a quick review for awkward phrases or bad translations.
Second, keep in mind that the company will make assumptions about your Japanese level based on the document: if it’s in perfect Japanese, your interviewers may assume your spoken Japanese is equally fluent. For candidates who have better spoken than written Japanese, this could be a beneficial assumption. For those who don’t have much Japanese ability at all, it may still be worthwhile to send in a Japanese shokumu keirekisho, but you should state your actual Japanese level clearly in several places. Otherwise, when the company discovers that you’re not fluent, they may feel that you’ve wasted their time.
How do recruiters use the shokumu keirekisho?
A recruiter’s top priority is determining the candidate’s fit with the specific job opening. That’s why it’s important to clearly include as many requirements and nice-to-have skills mentioned in the job post as possible.
When it comes to your work history, employers focus more on business and engineering results than on the tasks performed. Performance improvements, reduced workload, increased sales, and user growth are the sort of metrics of success recruiters want to see. In addition, self-initiated or proactive efforts in the workplace are highly respected, so be sure to list as many of those as you can.
Recruiters also look closely at your role and level of responsibility, such as leadership experience, your involvement in tech selection, and the scope of projects you’ve handled. The more senior the position you’re applying for, the more important these aspects become.
Final advice
The goal of the shokumu keirekisho is to highlight your unique strengths, so its exact format and details will naturally vary. However, applicants frequently make certain mistakes that reduce the document’s overall impact.
While the shokumu keirekisho is a flexible document, following the guidelines and examples above should produce excellent results.
If you’d like to consult with others who have written a Japanese-style resume, or discuss other aspects of applying to Japanese companies, you can join our Discord.
If you’d like to read more about getting a software developer job in Japan, passing the resume screening stage, or working with a Japanese recruiter, check out our extensive library of articles.
