What is Boston Career Forum 2021?
Are you a Japanese university student who has expectations of working in a multinational company? Or, are you someone who is mid0career trying to crack into a different field, such as finance or investment banking? Perhaps you might be an MBA student, who’s looking for a summer internship program in Japan. If you are someone who’s thinking of finding a job in Japan, you might have heard of Boston Career Forum.
The Boston Career Forum is one of the largest Japanese-English bilingual talent recruitment fairs in the world. It is held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, the USA from around October to November each year (Dates may vary depending on the year). It is one of the world’s largest Japanese-English bilingual talent recruitment fairs, in terms of the number of companies participating in the fair, and the number of job-seekers participating in the event.
Every year, including foreign companies, more than 100 companies participated and more than 8,000 students participated in the three-day event. The organizer is DISCO Corporation. The Career Forum typically provides bilingual juniors, seniors, and first and second years of master’s degree students with opportunities to find full-time positions, second-year, and third-year students, and first-year master students looking for internships for the coming summer, as well as providing opportunities to the job-seekers with work experience to change jobs.
The organizer of the Boston Career Forum, DISCO Corporation, also organized the London Career Forum, Los Angeles Career Forum, New York Career Forum, Sydney Career Forum, Tokyo Summer Career Forum, and Tokyo Winter Career Forum for bilingual professionals.
Step by step explanation of Boston Career Forum 2021
Now you know the overview of what the event is about, it’s time for us to dig deeper about the event, and be prepared for the interviews and application process. In this article, we will explain step by step what you need to know about the process, and how you can prepare for them perfectly.
Specifically, this article will explain, where and when the event will be held, and steps and tips on how to prepare for companies you are interested in. Also, we will explain what kind of unique companies and positions Boston Career Forum 2021 has.
Most traditional Japanese companies and even some Japanese offices of foreign companies don’t hire all year long. They either hire a large number of freshly graduated university students or a handful of highly specialized mid-career talents. However, as an exception, a lot of these companies also participate in the Boston Career Forum and hires bilinguals (Japanese and English) as exceptions.
Therefore, anyone who’s thinking of changing careers or students who think that they have a higher chance of getting into their desired company in BCF should follow the step this article will provide, so you can prepare extensively before you actually start applying to a whole bunch of companies.
When and where is the Boston Career Forum 2021?
Boston Career Forum, sometimes called BCF, usually holds events in Boston as mentioned above. However, a lot of job-seekers may be wondering where the event will be held this year or perhaps wondering if there will be any career forums at all? To answer this, the quick answer is, “Yes, there will be a career forum this year, but not in Boston”.
So, if it is not in Boston, where will it be held? According to the announcement by the DISCO corporation, this year the BCF will not be a 3-day event but will be held completely online over several months. The dates of the Boston Career Forum 2021 are as follows.
Boston Career Forum 2021 Dates
・Registration starts: June, 21st (Mon.)
・Online application to companies starts: August, 1st (Sun.)
・Event ends: November, 30th (Tue.)
If you haven’t signed up, you can register for the event from this page.
Boston Career Forum 2021 will have a lot of different types of events during the 4 months period. Some examples of career events are virtual booth events presented by different companies and CFN networking events with working professionals. These events are only accessible for those who have registered, so we recommended you sign up as soon as possible. If you are wondering what kind of events there are, you can have a look at the schedule map listed below.
On this schedule map, it says that the estimated interviewing period will be from around September to November, and the estimated job offer period will be from around October to January of 2022. However, it is important to keep in mind that some companies set their application deadlines earlier than others.
For example, if you are someone who’s thinking of cracking into finance, or the banking world, you might want to consider applying for the Bank of Japan. Bank of Japan is participating in this year’s career forum and is hiring positions for a regular full-time position with the prospect of promotion. However, depending on the time you start preparing for the application, the deadline might be already passed.
The most important thing you should know about BCF 2021
If you look at the image below, you will see that in the “Recruitment Process” section, it says “First Deadline: August, 31st (Tue.)”. If you are applying for any company, it is ideal to apply at the first batch of applications, because a lot of companies tend to decide who to recruit from the first batch, and who knows when the hiring quote will be filled. Therefore, especially this year it is crucial to prepare as early as possible.
By the time when you have found the perfect company for you, the application might be already closed for the year. Most people may naturally think that this year BCF will just be online and the dates will be the same. This is the most important thing you should keep in mind. Some companies set their deadlines as early as August and may be too late for you to apply.
How to check for companies with approaching deadlines
So, the first thing you should check is whether you are eligible to apply for the company in the first place, and also the deadline for applications. You can scroll down every job position, down to the “Qualifications”, “Recruitment Information” areas, and find out this information. However, it might be hectic to navigate every position out there and check if the deadline is approaching or not.
Here is a trick to make that process easier. In the image below, there is a red circle surrounding the “1 WK. TO APPLY” button. By clicking this button, you can see job listings with deadlines set to within 1 week from now.
You can also sort job listings by clicking the “Display Order” button. You can sort companies alphabetically, or from the ones that have the earliest deadlines. For example, down in the image below, is the job listing for Citi Bank’s 2022 Summer Internship & 2022 Full-time Position. You can see in the red circle that it says that the deadline is set to August 31. At the moment of writing this article, the date was August, 24. Therefore, this job listing popped up by following the steps stated above.
(Note: Some companies write their deadline in the “Recruitment Information” section, but some companies don’t. It might be easier to check the deadlines by checking the application deadline by looking at the Red circle shown below. Every company will have a deadline displayed here.)
Company list: Boston Career Forum 2021
As of August 24, 2021, there are 128 companies and 273 job listings on the website of BCF 2021. There is a diverse list of companies participating in the event, from traditional Japanese companies to foreign startups. The event also has participants from the government sector as well. For example, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs （外務省）are participating this year.
In the private sector, there are companies from pretty much every industry. There are companies from investment banking and consulting, to real-estate and high-tech industries. There are also small to mid-sized companies to large corporations. With so many options to choose from, it may be hard to look for the perfect company that is most suited for you. Therefore, we will explain how to search for companies efficiently in the next step.
How to search for companies efficiently
Now we will explain how to swiftly navigate through participating companies. In the image below, you can see that there is a bar where you can select wither “ALL”, “CURRENT”, “NEW” and “1 WK. TO APPLY”. All will show the whole list of companies participating in BCF, and current will show listings where they are still open. New shows you listings that are relatively new and we already explained what 1 WK. TO APPLY means.
By clicking on the “Advanced search options” button, you can also filter companies by industry types and by keywords as well.
There is another way to search companies and that is by clicking the place where it is surrounded by a red circle in the image below. If you click “Company Online Seminar Schedule”, you will be able to see when each company is presenting. You can also look at the company’s promotion videos by clicking on the “Company Information Videos” as well.
How to apply to companies, BCF 2021
Now let’s dive into how to actually submit an application to a company through BCF’s website. First click on the “apply to this job posting” button, on the top right part of the job description page. When you click the button you will see a screen like the image below.
If you already have an account, you can log in to your CFN account first. After you have logged into your account, if you click the “apply to this job posting” button, you will see a screen like an image below. (You can jump right ahead to step 3 where they ask you to respond to additional questions.)
How to prepare for your interviews
After you have successfully submitted your application, your next step will be to either take an online test or an online interview. (Only after receiving your result from your initial application process.) If there is an online test, the testing style will typically be wither SPI, TG-web, or Tamatebako (玉手箱). However, some companies such as McKinsey & Company and P&G will have their own unique tests. There is a lot of used textbooks for preparation on Mercari, or on any e-commerce site such as Amazon.
After you have passed the test, you will have an online interview. In some cases, the interview may be held over the phone. If you are not used to taking an online interview, it always helps to stick post-its(sticky notes) on the edge of your computer screen frame. Write all the answers to the questions that might be asked by the company on it, and you can just read it off when they actually ask the question. This way you can look at your post-its without moving your eyes so much off the screen.
You can also gather company information by accessing xkula.com. You should also actually check out the company home page and gather as much information as possible, before starting your interview.
What kind of events are there at BCF 2021?
Another way you can prepare for your job hunting is by participating in one of the online events that DISCO corporation hosts at the Boston Career Forum 2021. There are a lot of events during the 4 months period, and you may be wondering what kind of events there are. Below is the list of some of the events that will be held online at this year’s career forum.
There are events aimed at a specific group, such as events for UK/EU university students, or events for US/Canada university students. There are also events for the general participants, such as “3. How to Plan and Prepare for the Boston Career Forum Online Selection Process”. These events are certainly helpful for relevant participants, and if you are interested in any of these events, you can check out the dates here. The dates for the events differ depending on the types of events. A lot of these events in the image above will be held in either August or September.
All prepared for the Boston Career Forum 2021!
Now you are all set for the Boston Career Forum 2021, congratulations! By following the steps written above, you will be able to navigate swiftly through the website. Now all you need to do is learn as much as possible about the company and try to prepare for the tests and interviews. Try not to miss the deadline and give your best! Xkula hopes that you can join your ideal company! We wish you the best of luck!
