The Tokyo-based chairman and corporate planning trainer of a large, multi-national human resources company recently conducted job search workshops on the BYU-Hawaii campus to help Japanese students better prepare to enter the labor market back home. In fact, their visit is believed to be the first time a Japanese company has ever carried out such training in the United States.
Mark Du Ree, Chairman of Adecco Ltd. — a subsidiary of the leading global HR firm — and a professor at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Tokyo, explained that he and his colleague, Chika Kano [pictured at left], Adecco's corporate planning trainer who normally works with hundreds of hopeful university students in Japan ever year, elected to spend several days at BYU-Hawaii "as a part of our corporate social responsibility activities. We've learned that many of the Japanese students who come to BYU-Hawaii, as well as other Japanese students in the United States, are not prepared to go back into the work force when they return home."
"We've been helping them think about the things they need to prepare to enter the work force in Japan," said Du Ree, who served a Latter-day Saint mission in Japan and graduated from BYU in Provo. "Sometimes when they go back, they have great knowledge of the things they've learned in the university, but they have completely forgotten their culture."
"We need to remind them that they need to be prepared to step back into their culture as soon as they get off the airplane. Culture is very important in Japan," he said. "Of course, they've gained English language skills and the knowledge of another culture."
"The Japanese students here are really very good, and I'm really impressed," said Kano, in comparison to their counterparts in Japan. She added that she worked with them on how to write proper business letters in Japanese, and the importance of using appropriate keigo or honorific Japanese that is often required in business settings.
"Japanese people still value Japanese customs and language, so it's very important to speak proper Japanese. It's also very important to write and read proper Japanese," Kano said.
BYU-Hawaii student Masahiko Honda, a junior information systems major from Tokyo, described this aspect of the workshop as very helpful. "We learned about business manners," he said. "I've been away from home for three years, and I've almost forgotten some of those manners, so this was a good experience to bring it back to my mind. For example, we had a workshop session on bowing: Here at BYU-Hawaii we don't have much opportunity to bow to each other, but back home, people care about the angle of your back when you bow. This training definitely helped me to improve my social skills and business manners."
Du Ree [pictured at right, on the right, with a student] pointed out that "the job market is very, very good" because the labor force in Japan is declining; and Kano said information technology graduates are particularly sought after right now.
"There are many, many jobs in Japan," Du Ree said. "The key points we're seeing that Japanese students need to focus on, however, is number one: What is it that they want to do? Work is more than just going to the office from 9-5 and earning a paycheck at the end of the day. Work has an element of contribution to society. If the students are prepared to contribute to society when they return to Japan, then they're going to find it much easier to find a job."
He also noted that the obligatory after-hours entertainment that typified Japanese business practice in years past is not as prevalent any more. "Now days many people don't drink or smoke, and people aren't as pressuring as they once were, say 20 years ago."
But he emphasized that "Japanese people still work very long hours, so the issue of working overtime until 8, 9 or 10 o'clock in the evening is still there. What does that do for family life?" Du Ree asked. "It becomes difficult for young Japanese who have families to disengage from work and go home. That's still a difficult challenge."
For non-Japanese who want to work in Japan, Du Ree said, "They need to be prepared to start at the same level as Japanese university graduates. They cannot believe they're going to be a manager the day they graduate. This is not possible."
He also said in Japan "new recruits or interns or often placed wherever the company wants them, not necessarily where their specialty is. They end up with broad, rather than deep experience."
Du Ree said he's found the BYU-Hawaii students he has met to be "kind and warm. I also find that, compared to many other universities, the students here are clean cut, well dressed and neat in general; and it seems like they're a little bit better prepared to meet the world."
"I feel the students from BYU-Hawaii will have excellent job prospects in Japan; however, they must remember that the pace [of life and business] will be faster in Tokyo than in Hawaii. As always, the language ability that BYU-Hawaii students have is very helpful, and in some cases, even critical."
"Remember your culture," Du Ree said. "Do a lot of reading in Japanese while you're here. Remember to read business books. This is very important."
— Top photo by Mike Foley; lower two photos by Monique Saenz