Many people are wondering what path they should take after completing graduate school. On this page, I will introduce employment, which is one of the career options. We will also introduce the experience of job hunting of seniors.

Graduate student job hunting

Of course, there are various patterns when it comes to finding a job as a graduate student. If you start by attending information sessions and seminars like undergraduates, if you get a job at a research institute or a university-related institution, if you get a doctorate and get a job as a researcher... In any case, what is different from undergraduate job hunting is that graduate students are able to make more use of the specialized knowledge they have acquired in graduate school than undergraduate students.
Graduate school is where you can learn more deeply and longer in a specialized field than undergraduate, so you are required to make use of that knowledge in your work. You may get a good evaluation in that you have studied seriously enough to go on to graduate school, but at the same time, the level required is becoming higher. It is important to have a clear goal in mind and start planning early so that you can balance research and job hunting.
Unlike in the past, it is rare to receive a job offer immediately after being introduced by a faculty member. Better to keep it as good as possible. Let's use it as a window of information, including graduates of the laboratory.

job hunting period

The chart below shows a rough job hunting schedule. For job hunting for 2023 graduates, the government recommends that public relations activities should start after March, recruitment activities should start after June, and official job offers should be after October. However, since it is expected that job hunting activities will be strongly affected by the spread of the new coronavirus infection, we will strive to collect information by attending company information sessions from an early stage, and proactively seek employment information for the industries and companies that we desire. will need to be understood.

Job hunting experiences of seniors

A・K (2017 master's degree) Cultural and Human Informatics Course, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies

In general, it is said that job hunting for graduate students is disadvantageous, and I felt that this was actually true. In fact, I've seen many of my friends struggling to find a job. In the case of graduate students in the humanities, it is natural that they will be at a disadvantage when looking for a job because they do not have time for other things during the spring and summer of M2, when they often start full-scale research and analysis.
However, there are some advantages of being a graduate student. To the standard job-hunting question, "What did you do best when you were a student?", I can proudly answer, "My research." Efforts spent on research are surprisingly appreciated in job hunting. In addition, the perspective of objectively grasping one's own position cultivated through daily research and the ability to persuasively assert one's enthusiasm will be great weapons in job hunting, entry sheets and interviews.
Thinking about it now, I regret that I should have seriously started job hunting before the ban on job hunting was lifted. If I could have gained experience with entry sheets and online tests through the M1 summer internship, which I had time to spare, and if I had been lucky enough to have an unofficial job offer at the M1 stage, I might have been able to concentrate on my research during the M2 period.
When I was looking for a job, I went from school in plain clothes, and at the interview, I was picked up by the company where I talked about my mistakes in the seminar presentation that day. From 2017, I will work in the consulting and research industry. I think that being able to publicize myself as a graduate student, including all of my strengths and weaknesses, was appreciated in job hunting.

A.T. (2021 master's degree) Department of Electrical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering

I received a job offer from an electronics manufacturer using my school recommendation. As a result of participating in joint information sessions held by companies both inside and outside the university, I wanted to find a job at a company where I could make use of the fields I had learned. I was looking for a job at a company.
If you apply for a technical position, you will typically have a "technical interview". I also made slides about my research at interviews with any company, and explained the contents and significance of my research and the prospects for future research activities in about 10 minutes. After that, I was asked questions centering on explanations about my research, efforts I made in research, and things I put effort into in addition to research. These questions were often asked at every company, so I think it's a good idea to think about what you want to say in advance.
I think the form of school recommendation differs depending on the department you belong to, but in my case, it is necessary to have an unofficial offer to be recommended, and it was not possible to receive an unofficial offer by the end of March, and I was unable to find a job. It was difficult for me mentally, partly because my activities overlapped with the interim presentation of my research at the university, but in May, I was finally able to receive an unofficial job offer. Even if you use school recommendation, I think it's better to collect information about various companies and make entries without neglecting job hunting.

Mr. Y.A (2021 Master's Degree) Department of Computer Science, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology

In so-called information-related job hunting, there are cases in which internships and part-time job experiences can be used as they are, and there were people who were doing such job hunting even if they had the same major. Rather than going through such a route, I decided to go through both job hunting based on ``gakuchika'' and ``my strengths,'' which is probably no different from finding a job in a humanities field, and job hunting using school recommendations. has been decided (Note that there are also theories that some companies do not hire applicants who normally apply, and must be recommended applicants, so be careful about this).
The biggest difference between the regular application and the recommendation application is the support from the employee side for job hunting. Normally, applicants do not have the opportunity to receive individual consultations during the pre-selection stage, such as visits to alumni, unless there is a particular need to work on them themselves, and it is necessary to personally participate in internships and information sessions and collect information from there. On the other hand, although I think it depends on the department, there are also briefing sessions held within the department for recommendation applications, so I was able to set aside enough time to visit the alumni. Even at the selection stage, I felt like I was treated fairly, as they supported me to make things go well. It's easy to talk about your specialty, and it's easy to use what you've done at university as an appeal. In fact, it is speculated that the job offer rate for recommendation applications will be considerably higher than for regular applications, but it seems that it will not go well if you are not careful. Internships and briefing sessions are not essential, but I think that gathering information in the same way as a normal application and taking the selection process as a practice will probably be useful for recommendation applications as well.
Recommend applications have disadvantages, such as there are restrictions for each major, and basically you cannot decline, so we recommend that you think carefully before applying. In my case, I started applying for recommendation in May and completed it by the end of May, so I don't think there is any need to rush to apply. However, if possible, I think it would be good to have an opportunity to visit alumni. The seniors in my major are very kind and supportive, so it should be a great help mentally. doing). If you have a problem, it is good to use the support for some majors such as the Career Support Office and Science-Engineering Collaboration Career Support Office. I think you'll get good advice when you're really in trouble.