I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Rakuten in May 2018
Interview
It was a joke. The hiring manager whom I talked to was nice and helpful, but the HR person was absent and not only did not let me know that the requirement for Japanese language for this offer was business level (my level is intermediate), but also did not let the manager know about me or my profile. I am not sure the manager even received my CV prior to the interview.
I was also asked to wait after the call for the HR to come back and have a quick debrief chat with them - this never happend though I waited for about 30 minutes.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
1. self-introduction and presentation of profile and past experiences
2. what business do you want to work in?
3. how do you see yourself in 5 years?
The whole recruitment process was straightforward and fast, there were level of interviews. First was HR interview, then a user interview, and finally the final interview. The whole interview process took about 1 month from scheduling, but was about 2 months from application.
Referred by Rakuten employee and got up to 3 positions to apply. After HR checked your resume and fit, totally 3 interviews came: hiring manager, team leader & senior manager.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What kind of project have you ever led? Scale and responsibility ?
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Rakuten (Tokyo) in Dec 2025
Interview
One interview with 2 members of the team. The questions were related to the job scope and background to understand if both my background and personality could be a good fit for the role
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What was a difficult time you had to face in your current role and how did you react to it