The interview process was not too stressful.

There were two interviews. In the first, there was a Japanese translation and interpreting test; the second interview focused more on interpreting.

The first interview consisted mostly of the interviewer answering questions. During the second interview, the Japanese manager talked at length about the kind of talent he wanted and did not want, repeatedly emphasizing that the job would involve many miscellaneous tasks and that he did not want someone who would be overly concerned about the scope of their work.

During the interview, he also kept complaining about how bad the person who previously held this position was and how poorly that person met his requirements.

During the second interview, he repeatedly emphasized that I was not the person with the best Japanese ability among the candidates. At that point, I was filled with questions. What kind of person did he actually want? It sounded like he wanted someone with strong Japanese translation and interpreting skills, since he kept criticizing how poorly the former employee translated. Yet during the second interview, he relentlessly criticized me. He also said that I was the only person who had made it to the second interview. If he thought my abilities were insufficient, he could have invited someone else to the second interview. It left me wondering what kind of person he actually wanted.

He mentioned a date by which he would respond, but he did not get back to me within that timeframe. He repeatedly said that my answers were not what he was looking for. Since I applied for this job through a recruitment agency, he later said that, in fact, they were not planning to hire anyone for the time being. So I have to ask: Were you wasting my time? Don’t you know whether your own company needs staff? In short, I hope everyone will think carefully before going to an interview. After all, this company clearly was not urgently hiring.