I went to the interview, but I still haven’t heard back after five days.

Maezawa here. You’ll usually hear from us within a week, so if you still haven’t been contacted after that, it’s likely that you weren’t registered. That said, in rare cases, we may be unable to reach you even if we want to, so please contact the branch where you had your interview, just to be sure. We recently had a woman contact us saying she hadn’t heard anything, but she had in fact been registered.

Aizawa here. To be honest, unfortunately, there is a possibility that you weren’t accepted. That said, it’s not impossible that your registration has simply been delayed due to the interviewer’s circumstances. In reality, there isn’t much of a hierarchy when it comes to occupations. Some professions are popular, but having a different job generally isn’t held against you. I believe the selection criteria come down to whether, overall, you seem likely to receive offers and whether you have any particular strengths or selling points. We’ve had people who weren’t accepted the first time find their unique strengths and get accepted at their second interview. I apologize if this sounds blunt, but I hope you’ll find your own unique selling point, lead with it, and come back for another interview.