INSEAD Blog by Zanat0s the INSEAD(er) @ Tokyo ! The Biggest among INSEAD MBA blogs. Insead is over, blogging not.

Hong Kong first trip

Yes I also visited Hong Kong. I have been travelling to China for quite some time but every time I needed to visit Hong Kong something would happen: (SARS, Army, No tickets available, no time, no money etc). THis April was the golden opportunity to visit Hong Kong.

The place is exaclty what I like: a fast paced metropolitan city with everything within walking distance. I love walking and I managed to walk 2 of the Islands within 2 days. The view is fantastic and the skycrapers marvellous. During my visit the SEVENS, a rugby tournament was on but I hadn't made any plans so I didn't meet the INSEAD gang there.

This is a bit personal but I think I should post it! At a club in Hong Kong I started talking to a girl and I told her I come from Greece. She wanted to know which city. I am used to people not knowing my hometown, Thessaloniki. She was from Brasil(a model) and I bet with her that she wouldn't know my city. Guess my puzzlement when she told me she was in the club with a Greek friend of hers.
Anyway I hooked up with this Greek guy from my hometown, who is a model by the way and we went bar hopping. All the bars put us in through the VIP line, we paid no entrance fees, nothing for the drinks(some perks that come in handy) and it was incredible. We had a great time. Who would have expected it? What were the chances of meeting in a foreign country somebody from Thessaloniki and especially a someone who knew all the right people and who KNEW ME from this blog(read the passport saga)!

The story doesn't end there. At one moment I hear someone calling my name! I think I was hearing things(alcohol can do this to you). The voices didn't go away and then i felt a hand over my shoulder in the club. I recognize the face: It is Fei. Wait! Fei is in France in Fonty! What is happenning? She was there for an interview and she went out clubbing later. OK! Now tell me what are the chances of meeting a person form INSEAD, whom you know (around 300/450) in a city-state in the same club? We live in a small world after all.

Some really nice photos from HOng Kong can be viewed here

Trip To Japan Nr2

Since most of you don't know it I will make a post about it. In April I visited Japan for some job interviews and networking. I was there for 5 days. I hooked up with Alumni, headhunters, other job seekers, companies and etc.
What was really devastating was that in April and during Hanami it snowed. Me, coming form singapore and staying out for drinks was a recipe for disaster. I got a really really bad cold. I had an interview and I was having a fever of 39 degrees celcius.
I also met future INSEAD students that was a real pleasure, although there was a mix-up with the meeting place....
other than that I didn't have a great time because believe me: I was sick and I was having more or less 7 meetings per day. Therefore I couldn't give my body the time it needed to recover.
I will travel to Japan again maybe in June and try to see what will happen. Here are some photos from Japan.
By the way the best period to visit TOkyo was then, during the Sakuras :P

Zanat0s in Japan 3rd TIME: Zanat0s gets sick

I have a lot of stuff to do tomorrow but i cannot concetrate. It was freezing in TOKYO today. i could never have imagined to be like that. I got a cold and i cannot concretate. ALso the blog is losing visitors, that is preposterous. I will take a hot bath now in orer to imrpove the temperature of my Body. At least though i can say that i walked through SAKURAS(cherry Blossoms) with snow(basically iced rain) falling over my head.

Best Regards

Travel to Japan and China

I had the best vacations ever this CHristmass, with some other INSEADERS. I have so much to write and describe but i won't do it yet. I will do it In SIngapore. I miss Japan and China so much that i just cannot write about the best 10 days in 2006(i was a soldier so 2006 SUCKED most of it). THe photos have been uploaded but access is LIMITED only to the guys who accompanied me, after 2 weeks i will release the EDITED versions. I just have to say this. WE stayed in one of the best hotels in KYOTO :P and we were treated like KIngs, or hsould i say emperors? what about Shoguns?

Zanatos @ JAPAN

NO COMMENTS. i just needed to do this. A post from Japan. I have to go now. there are so many places to visit and things to see. Home sweet Home.

INSEAD/ JAPAN/ PARTY/ Life and experiences

hey to every1! i am so excited and i don not know why! My blog will reach by the end of this week 4000 visitors. That's something to celebrate, but there are more important things happenning. First of all Christmas are coming. My favorite time of the year + my NAMEDAY. Where will i be this time for my Nameday? It seems like a dream, but i will be in the Imperial city of KYOTO. KYOTO, can't wait to c everything i have read about it. Visit all the old temples and castles. To walk through the roads that famous samurai gave duels. Oh boy!

It is Tuesday after the exams. Today we had the LO exam. Lo exam, like the LPG one was a group exam. This time no1 really cared a lot. All the guys took it easy, because after that Freedom was expecting us. You can look our crazy faces during the exam... INSEAD is the Best thing that can happen to somebody's ACADEMIC life. Come to insead people. you don't know what i am talking. Also yesterday we got our P1p2 Shirts. they were containing all the places INSEAD went for these 2 periods.

Lo exam after 4 days of exam? A great way to finish the exams period..... Of course here in SIngapore it had ruin AGAIN and ruin our Party at the courtyard. But this is Singapore? Where else can you take 12 months of Summer with 8 months of rain :P ?

SInce it is Christmas and some GREAT GUYS are leaving to Fonty(their mistake :P) I decided to say goodbye by giving them Christmas cards. Of course i couldn't write card for 157 people. It would be suicide so i gave some. I would like to give one to every1 but then i would need a secretary to do it for me. You can see Stefan here opening his card. Stephan Graff i hope you liked my surprise. it was Like a game. I would like a card for a specific Person X to Z! Z then would come and say Thank You Stefanos. person Z then would receive a card to deliver to person K and so on.

Now i have to go home pack, prepare for the trip and for the Party! Time is not enough but i will manage it! i always DO! GO STEFANOS GO!

I will travel to TOKYO then Beijing. 3 days there. Hmm not enough but i will eat lot of food like always and drink my favorite green TEA!

Some thoughts: Work/ Job search/ Japan/ Ideas/ Suggestions

I think a lot of the readers here ar einterested in Japan mostly so I will write my and my mates' experiences in relation to Working in Japan as an expat. I hope this helps and gives you a better understanding of what is happenning. If you have further questions feel free to approach me. My schedule is really packed so I may not get back to u soon. But please do try.

First of all let get some facts straight. It is virtually impossible to get a job at a Japanese company as your first posting. They prefer to hire their own and shun foreigners. Most foreigners who work in Japan have either been transferred there, expats working for foreign companies in Japan or are sent to the headquarters in Japan.

An example of the first case is provided by my flatmate, Akshat. Akshat worked for Goldman Sachs and was transferred for 2 years in Japa for the TOKYO office. The second case consists of people working for Toyota in the USA and get transferred to the HQ. The second case is not very common though.

Some info regarding Job search in Japan. It is very difficult. The society is very closed. Your language skills if you want to get a job must be minimum a JLP lvl 2.  A wide network of contacts will help you land a job. Your skillset must convey you with a specific competitive advantage.  Your competitors probably will be locals and do believe me, companies in japan prefer to hire Japanese.

I am not saying that there are no foreigners in Japan, but it is quite difficult to get yourself hired. Women are in a much worse situation than men are. If you are female sometimes the work enviroment can be so demoralizing. I know women who were paid handsomely but their repsonsibilities were limited and they had no way to climb the corporate ladder.

Education is reverred in Japan, but most European Business Schools do not command high brand recognition in Japan. Spending time for educaitonal purposes in Japan improves you chances to get employed but only marginally.

What sometimes can be really depressing though is the workload. If you are used to work 8 hours per day forget it. Japanese companies will reward you for your loyalty but will demand 145% of your capabilities and time. It is quite common to spend aat least 1 hour to commute per day to your workplace and spend at least 12 hours at your office to finish some projects or catch up with the new developments.

According to the people i know(expats and locals), it is almost a ritual to go out with your colleagues for dinner or drinks out after work. You can understand that in the end there is no free time left. Lastly but not least you have to wear a suit almost every day, especially if you work in an office, which you probably will. The etiquette is of dire importance and they way you adress and talk with you superiors, clients is closely monitored. it is fair to say that the japanese working enviroment is not the frendliest out there. To avoid culutre shock(believe me) I suggest you try and search some international companies, which are not run by Japanese.

here are some tips i have prepared for you...

1:) Try to get an internship if you can. You may love Japan but working there is not as pretty as it sounds, unless you are an expat.

2:) Ask people, ask their experiences. you never know. They have been in your position before. value their knowledge.

3:) Expand your network. If you really want to work in Japan, You need a concise message. Add clarity to it and try to convey it to every1 you meet. You never know when some1 will be able to help you in the future.

4:) Do not go on saying i like Japan because you like anime. It may be true but they won't care. Probably they will laugh.

5:) do some soul searching. Why do you want to go and live there? It may be a hard sell if you have never visited Japan. they will ask you how cna you be sure when you don't know what you are talking about. It would be wiser to say to everyone that you would like to try living Japan and check whether it fits with your dreams

6:) Do not get disappointed if you don't work in Japan. I know people who have tried to stayed there after their assignments were over but didn't manage to get a job.

7:) Keep your options open. Always

That's it for today. WIll get back to you ASAP.

check these links

kaigai.rikunabi.com/tcf/index-e.html

www.careerforum.net/

www.jobsinjapan.com/links/joblinks.html

www.carouselexpo.com

Last day In China/ Back to SG

due to unforeseen situations I returned to Singapore a day in advance. I took advantage of that developement and went to have fun out in Guangzhou. Not exactly fun, but to see how Guangzhou is. I have been there some time but i never never saw anything else except the exhibition. I saw guangzhou insdie a car :)! Guangzhou is let me say allright. What was amazing was that it was Sunday, after midnight, around 1 AM and there were a lot of people outside. It was extraordinary. I am tlaing aobu tfamilies, young people and couples. if I didn't know the exact time i would think it was around 8.oo PM!

Next morning i had to do some chores. I didn't organise well and i didn't complete the last one. i went to take the express bus to the airport. they told me to buy a ticket and i did. the only problem was that they left without me. Then i had to wait ofr the next one. of course driving in China is a gamble of its own. While i was n the bus trying to relax, a truck almost crashed on us. Fortunatley we are all still alive.....

So here I am back to Singapore. I do not know if the fair was a success or not. TIme will tell, after January

3rd day of the exhibition...

OK! the day hasn't ended... But my performance is not above par so my boss told me to go back to the room. I am not doing OK! GUYS GUYS! I am LOSING IT! I can understand which product will sell but i do not have the energy to go there and try to order it!

Today at the exhition i had a surprise. WHile i was searching for products something happenned. I was at a stand examining products and colors while suddendly some customers locked the way out of the stand.... Of course i understood. They were sectert service. SOme1 importnant was visiting the place. It was the Vice-president. What an HONOR! Of course i have to make a remark. The people guarding him and the undercover security were more than the rest of us.... One momment i tried to put my hands in my pockets and i could see the sharp movement of one of the guys. I froze, i thought now it is my time for jail....Of course i were overreacting. The guy came took pictures said good work and left. Of course i couldn't leave the ooth for 15 minutes...

Once again it mad eme happy that people remembered me. So back to the main point!

Kart today used her PC at bali in a restaurant. That gets the award for P1 Nerd!

2 more days of work and then I am free

Writers block + Random thoughts

Second day at the Fair. Today i was more prepared, although still worn out. But i had to show that i had energy! How couldn't I do that? My oss slept at 4.00 working my data... and ideas! He is something to respect. He has an unlimited supply of energy. He falls asleep sometimes but he works much more than me, maybe not so efficiently...

Today i thopught i wlll revel in ideas. I was deaf wrong. I was thinking what will my INSEAD buddies be doing in bali today? I had a self-confidence crash. THinking that i lost my ability to find the right product and the best supplier. I knew i was being negative! SO what did I do? I tried to find something to eat around 3.00 PM! there was nothing available.... That's was my greek self use to eat lunch around 3~4! SInce i had no alternatives i went to MCdonalds. Stop laughing...

I felt even worse, eating unhelathy and americna food in China. It felt so weird. THen i had a stroke of brilliance... I would DYE my hair. And so i did..........

I hope it looks nice. Do not care about the photo if i Look bad or even dead. That's me after partying and working all week long + studying, just for the record. Although i don't like to tout my own horn, I was asked 3 times to be photographed 2day and asked like 3847385 times whether i have a girlfriend. I was also invited for dinner...  My boss always jocks to me that i should use that to get better discounts. Watching a change i got my senses back and i was on fire. I went to Jinhan and then to China! i placed like 3~4 orders and even found a great collection. I finished my day to a good supplier where we were singing old chinese songs.  I really like that guy. He respects me even though i may make mistakes when i talk to him.

Of course i had to have a share of bad luck. At the hotel there is a lucky draw every day. We give our name cards and if we are "lucky" we get free lunch at the buffet. I implied to her that I want to  the winner tomorrow. Her reply shocked me! what is your room numer....! WHile i was there an Italian guy started complaining that there was no limosine tomorrow. I was caught in the fight. I wanted to go home and get ready to sleep. It was like 24.20. AFter i left the manager thanked for helping her. i DID nothing....

Of ocurse i couldn't sleep yet. My boss had to scold because most of the pics i took weren't good enough. He was right but i just couldn't care. I wanted to relax and write this article.