Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)
serves as a proof of your language capabilities in Japanese
The test is made to be taken by non-Japanese people and it gives one a proof of your proficiency in Japanese. The structure of the JLPT has been updated so that it now contains five levels. In this new version, N5 corresponds to the old level 4, N4 to level 3, N3 is a new one in between the old level 2 and 3, N2 equals level 2 and N1 level 1.
There is a rough estimation of the skills you're bound to have for each of the old levels (roughly like explained above), which can be seen in the table below.
The new examination test is split into the sections shown below:
According to the research I've done, most Japanese companies wants their potential future foreign employees to have a Japanese proficiency
corresponding to at least N2.For further reading about the test, take a look at these sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JLPT
The JLPT Study Page