"The Second Trial After Graduation —

SUMMERY

A Youth was fulfilling the role of a “model student” within the capitalist educational system. As a club leader and a diligent scholar, he was being cultivated as a prototype of the “ideal labor force in training.” Yet, he bore a fatal flaw: a lack of skill in marketing himself—what the system demands as the art of “self-commodification.”

In capitalist society, job hunting is a ritual of labor commodification, where corporations—as capitalists—select “human resources” optimized for profit generation. His vague motivation—“just because I like it”—stood in stark contradiction to capitalist rationality and was swiftly rejected in the selection process.

Defeated, he chose the path of escape: a working holiday abroad. This was a temporary departure from the capitalist core, a form of exile for the alienated worker seeking self-reconstruction in a foreign land. Yet, it was not mere flight. His inner resolve remained unbroken. Armed with newly sharpened language skills, he prepared to re-enter the battlefield and confront the violence of capitalism once more.

My Story of Returning to Job Hunting
Two Years After Graduation

I graduated in March 2024 and pursued job hunting as a candidate for entry in 2026.
Many of those reading this may have experienced the unfortunate “second round” of job hunting.
Although I wasn’t a member of any “repeat-year” student circles, I too went through a year of repeating (thanks to the ※Phoenix system, without officially failing) and experienced job hunting twice.
I hope this record of my job search as a graduate will provide useful insights for those in similar situations.

※The "Phoenix System" is a slang term used by Keio University students, derived from a famous item in a Japanese video game.
In the game, an item called the “Phoenix Down” allows a character to return to battle even after being defeated. Similarly, at Keio, this term refers to a peculiar academic system in which a student who fails to advance a year can still be treated as if they hadn’t repeated, provided they earn the necessary credits the following year.
This irrational system exists only in the Faculty of Law and on the SFC (Shonan Fujisawa Campus).

Let me begin by sharing the story of my first attempt at job hunting.
In the spring of 2022, when I was supposed to advance to my third year of university, I lacked the necessary credits and had to repeat my second year.
Being introverted and having few friends, I completely missed the wave of job hunting. I didn’t attend a single summer internship or company information session.
(In Japan, internships typically refer to short-term workplace experiences or company briefings lasting 1 to 5 days.)
Thanks to the Phoenix system, I was able to return to third-year status in the fall, but I made no effort to catch up.
Worse still, passing the selection for an internship at my top-choice company made me overconfident, and I ended up underestimating the entire job hunting process.

Even during spring break, I remained in the same mindset and didn’t even attempt any OB/OG visits.
(In Japan, much like Ivy League networking, there is a strong culture of alumni connections. If you're lucky, an OB/OG visit can even exempt you from the initial resume screening.)
Having no experience with job interviews, I ended up receiving no offers—not even from my top-choice company.

Around that time, my sister recommended a working holiday. I had always been interested in the idea, so I decided to reset my job hunting and start a working holiday in Vancouver after graduation.
In interviews, I explained that I chose to go after graduation so I could focus on finishing my studies properly. But in reality, I had forgotten to submit a leave-of-absence form, and my father was against the idea of taking time off from school.
As I’ll explain later, I honestly regret graduating when I did.

And so, I closed the chapter on my first round of job hunting.

In April 2024, I began my second round of job hunting while on my working holiday.Learning from my previous failure, I did my research and preparation, attended online company briefings, and felt I had a solid start.I was also able to practice interviews and group discussions online, so aside from the time difference, I was able to handle most aspects of the process without major issues—even from overseas.

However, job hunting during a working holiday comes with one major and unavoidable challenge.
In job hunting, one of the most important things is to make sure company representatives remember your face and name.
To achieve that, meeting them in person is crucial—but while on a working holiday, casually attending networking events or employee meetups in Tokyo is simply not possible.
I actively participated in online briefings and roundtable sessions, but when it came to face-to-face interactions with company staff, I felt I was significantly behind.

I returned to Japan in January 2025 and began to fully commit to job hunting.
With the help of my seniors, who reviewed my entry sheets (ES), I came to realize the true power of personal connections.
However, one major drawback of having already graduated was that I could no longer use the university’s OB/OG visit system—a crucial tool for self-promotion during job hunting.
Following advice from a senior, I directly called my target companies to request OB/OG visits. As a result, I successfully arranged meetings or company visits with about seven alumni.
That said, many of the companies I was most interested in only accepted appointments through university channels, and at that moment, I truly regretted having graduated.
Still, I actively participated in company briefings and workshops to engage with employees, and I believe these efforts significantly contributed to receiving a job offer.

At the time, I was using a job-hunting support service, hoping it would help with gathering information and practicing interviews.
However, it ended up being nothing more than a pushy sales pitch for companies I had absolutely no interest in. I wouldn’t recommend using such services.

After that, I went through the standard selection processes, and ultimately received a job offer from a company where I had participated in an in-person workshop. I officially finished my job hunting in early June.

From my two rounds of job hunting, I’ve learned three key lessons:

Seize the moment and make sure your face and name are known to companies.
Build and maintain a wide network of connections.
If possible, complete your job hunting while still enrolled in university.

Thank you very much for reading to the end.

My Story of Returning to Job Hunting Two Years After Graduation

My Story of Returning to Job Hunting
Two Years After Graduation