Almost

Remember the job interview I had two weeks ago? Well, I finally got a response today.

They love me.

Okay okay, accounting for my friend being overly nice, let’s state that they like my background, they like my potential, they like what I can do (I’ve made suggestions as to solve two of their current problems), and they even like me as a person (I know, nerds are easily charmed). That’s great, isn’t it? Well, almost.

I still don’t have a job.
They cannot afford me.

The problem is not that my demands are so high, the problem is immigration. Immigration law in Japan gives a certain threshold any foreign worker has to earn to get a work visa. As you have to be a university graduate to get a work visa in Japan, this threshold is quite high (at the moment it’s 250.000 YEN per month, although I’m not sure if this is before or after taxes) so they can protect their own work force. Unfortunately, the company is a tiny startup and already during our interview the CEO told me that they are cutting costs wherever they can (for example, they don’t have an office, but all of them telework from home). Essentially they could hire me and risk losing the company, so, they did the only smart thing…

Almost.

Right now I’m feeling very old and rejected and desperate. I have a glass of wine and a bar of chocolate next to me – and I guess I’ll need more than that…

I need a hug.