Quote:
Originally Posted by ptbrock
Your ability to get a job at a bank/hedge fund will depend on your japanese language ability. Fortuntely for you, sales and trading jobs tend to be less demanding in terms of language, but that just means you will need business level fluency rather than native level.
I know it's a stretch for you, but if you're in the states in November, the Boston Career Forum is hands down the best place to interview finance jobs in Japan. All the big US banks send reps from their Japanese branches.
CFN | Boston Career Forum 2008 |
ptbrock is right, Boston CF is the place to go for finance jobs in Japan. I actually went there last year, and can say for sure that you can get employed with zero Japanese, especially if you're working for a foreign-based company.
I have a degree in journalism and really have no finance/trading knowledge, so I went just for interviewing experience. I interviewed with RBS, JPMorgan and Societe Generale, and all three interviews were in English and spoke nothing of Japan. As expected though, I didn't get past the first round for any of them, so they MAY ask about "why Japan" as you move past the rounds. But my friend got his job in Boston last year, can't speak Japanese, arrived in Tokyo a month ago, and still can't speak much.
It would also depend on what position you're interested in. I'd assume front office requires the least amount of Japanese compared to back/middle.
A lot of people who attend BCF can't speak Japanese at all and some don't even have any interest in Japan, but only go since all the major investment banks have booths there. So speaking a bit of Japanese could give you a boost, but I'd say for finance, they mostly look at your degree/experience, and it looks like you're in good shape. Good luck!