Sep 22

JETwit Job Hunter Profile: Vanessa Yee

JETwit Job Hunter is a feature started by Autumn Widdoes (Okinawa-ken 2010-14) where we share the profile of a JET or JET alum currently seeking work and invite JETwit readers to share any advice, suggestions, or perspectives.  Autumn is a writer with a focus on performance and film who is actively on the job market.  She’d like to put her four years of experience in Japan to good use in future employment.

Job Hunter:  Vanessa Yee (Nagano-ken, 2010-14) just completed her JET tenure, having taught two years as an ALT in Shiojiri City and two years as a Prefectural Advisor in Nagano City.  She is currently living in Los Angeles, where she is pursuing her MBA part-time at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Objective:  Vanessa is seeking a full-time position in the HR field as either an HR Generalist or HR Specialist in talent development and training or organizational management. On the JET program, she was a Prefectural Advisor and has leadership skills and experience in program management, event organization, administrative and personal counseling, workshop presentations, as well as training and hiring.

Areas of Interest: 

  • Human Resources
  • Talent development and training
  • Organizational management
  • Entry level positions

Job Hunting Strategies:

  • Undergraduate and graduate school career services offices
  • Personal contacts in the Los Angeles area
  • LinkedIn
  • Japanese recruitment agencies such as PASONA, QuickUSA, and Teruko Weinberg, among others

Challenges:  Vanessa is in the process of a career change. While she does not yet have direct experience within the HR field, she has prior work experience that has given her transferable skills aligned with her target industry. While looking for jobs via search engines and websites, she is finding it difficult to determine the level and class of job she wants that will not only match her interests but also her qualifications.

She has also been in contact with Japanese recruiting agencies. She began reaching out to them in May in preparation for her move home, but they required her to wait until August to begin actively searching for her. They did offer to set up Skype interviews for her while she was still located in Japan.

She has also actively reached out to her personal contacts who have helped her secure informational interviews, sent hiring notices to her, and have been very supportive of her job search.

Vanessa would like to continue conducting informational interviews and is seeking contacts with people who have careers in Human Resources. She is also looking for HR related job listings located in the LA/SoCal area. She is determined to find the right job for her and is seeking any leads that will help her reach her goal.

Web Presence:

  • To contact Vanessa visit her LinkedIn.

To help this JETwit Job Hunter, post your comments below, or contact Vanessa Yee directly. 

If you’d like to be profiled, click here to submit your information through the JETwit Job Hunter Google Form.  

Reminder that there are a number of JET Alum professionally oriented LinkedIn groups set up to help you.  By joining groups in fields that interest you, you can find and connect with other alums in that field.


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