"Don't settle for a 'second best' job. Follow your heart."

After being harassed for six long years at work, Riho had had enough and was desperate to find something new. While job hunting, and hundreds of JDs later from various agencies, she was beginning to lose hope. But then Jeniffer from Robert Walters Tokyo stepped in to offer Riho roles which turned out to be a little more than she bargained for.

“I was working in business development management at the time, kind of like a sales job. As there was no proper HR team in the company, I had no one to turn to, to share just how bad the harassment was getting. I had even started seeing a therapist and eventually decided to leave without a new job to go to.”

So, with that, Riho left and her job search was on.

At this time, Jeniffer from Robert Walters Tokyo found Riho on LinkedIn and reached out to her, recognising what strong potential she had and then began sending JDs via email to her for new roles.

“Wow, finally, JDs I am interested in!" Riho thought.
"Jeniffer really understood what I was looking for and so I was very impressed with her professionalism, helpful insights and quick responses from the get-go. Even late at night, she would send me updates as she probably thought I was worried and waiting to get a new job. I really appreciated her kindness and determination to find me a job that I really wanted.” 

Riho was actually looking to move into a new role in HR rather than sales which she had been in for many years and have the ability to give support to people that she had lacked in her previous job.

“Other recruiters had basically told me to not mention about my harassment at work in interviews, so I was faking it a lot. When I opened up to Jeniffer about it, she was genuinely concerned about me and never told me to lie; on the contrary, she told me to be honest about my experiences.”

“It was this honesty that allowed me to connect deeply during one interview for a Head of HR role; in both an industry and function I was new to. It is rare to find such a company who is willing to take someone based on their passion for the job."

Jeniffer really cheered me on to go for the position saying, “just go for it!” so that gave me motivation to really put in 100%.

“Thanks to her, I was able to successfully receive an offer for the job which I was over the moon about. Also, I am very grateful I could step into a role in senior management rather than starting in an admin role where I would have to compromise my salary; I was able to secure a very good rate and the company has many perks for employees. My boss in Singapore is very supportive and encourages me to pursue my next goal one day of becoming VP of HR.” 

Riho’s final message to people, especially women who are job hunting, is that you don’t have to settle for a job that doesn’t fit you.

“Women in Japan get asked a lot of very personal questions during interviews and if you choose not to answer them, it is like you are rejecting them. Make sure to always be open and be yourself and when the interviewer also accepts and respects who you are, you know you have found a great company.” 

Riho Nishida*, Head of Human Resources, Global Food Firm
*This is an alias to protect the candidate's true identity.