State of the Mike

I feel like it’s been a while since the last update (according to the archives it’s been about a month ago but it seems a lot longer). So, let’s update.

The good news is that I’ve passed the coursework component of the College of Law. Hooray! This means that I’m one step closer to being admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales.

The bad news is that I’m not sure this is much help job-wise. While initially feeling quite confident I’d be able to get work here as a lawyer I’ve become decidedly less sure as time goes on. It seems that without awesome Japanese skills (of which I am unfortunately bereft) and with no real experience (it seems you need at least two years) no one’s exactly falling over themselves to hire me.

At this stage the plan is to keep working as an English teacher and try to get my Japanese up to business-level by next December (in time for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test). I have no idea how realistic this is and indeed I’ve heard that even business-level Japanese isn’t going to cut it. This may be true but frankly having better Japanese couldn’t hurt and it’s something I want to do anyway.

That still means I’m basically treading water. Going home is of course the obvious option. I’m pretty confident I could find a job somewhere in the legal profession if I returned to Australia. Unfortunately, that doesn’t square so well with what Rui’s doing over here professionally. England is an alternative I’ve given a little thought to (it’s close to Europe which is a plus from Rui’s point of view) but that’s a pretty big move and I’m not sure if I’m attractive enough to an employer to be worth the risk. Also, I’m a bit worried that any hope I have of learning Japanese will evaporate if I’m not in an environment that forces me to be around it. Which suggests the best option is just staying here until my Japanese is up to scratch. But how long will that take? While I’m only 25 I imagine there is a point at which you’ve left university just too long ago.

In short, then, it looks like the hand wringing will continue for some time to come. Usually something works itself out. Hopefully that’s the case here, too.