I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Rakuten (Tokyo) in Jun 2013
Interview
Very typical Japanese style interview. First, you meet with person you will work for if you are hired. If he likes you, you will meet with his boss. If his boss likes you, you will meet with the last stage boss.
1) The person you will work for.
Even though it is a Data Scientist position. The person who is going to be your boss has little knowledge and experience about Data Science. Typical of Rakuten in my opinion. Ones who are good in their trade are not the ones managing but people who are good at politics and know people higher up.
Since my boss did not have good knowledge and experience, questions he asked were very general and random like "Do you know what is F-measure?". I did not even have to explain. Just say of course confidently and he moves on to next question. Easily convinced as long as you have a good resume and look confident.
2) Boss of my to-be boss
This guy asks even more general question HR like "What are your strengths?", "Describe one moment in life where you overcome an obstacle." etc. You will pass as long as you appear sincere and talk your way out which is an important survival skill in Rakuten.
3) The Big Boss
Basically, this guy just come in for like 1 mins and shake hands with you since he is too busy to be bothered with you. Then another HR girl will come in with the contract and some explanation.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe one moment in life where you overcome an obstacle.
this interview process had 5 rounds
2 was a tech test
３ were conversational in nature
with various managers from direct and indirect to the department manager mostly in Japan but also outside Japan.
1st Interview was simple leetcode task and some questions about Kubernetes. 2nd interview - classical ML and DL questions, Final interview is mostly informal, but there may appear some questions about specific experience and problem solving
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What is the difference between random forest and boosting?
Initial LeetCode coding test, hiring manager interview for profile and role fit, multiple technical rounds covering statistics, machine learning, SQL, Python, and case studies, concluding with behavioral interviews evaluating teamwork, communication, and cultural alignment.