We want to incorporate a realistic global perspective in order to plan and develop services of global significance

Q.Why did your company decide to take on interns? What did you aim to achieve?

We are company with a creative studio located in Nihonbashi Bakuro-cho, Tokyo where we have engaged in resolving marketing issues for various companies since our foundation five years ago. As we enter our sixth year, our goal is to plan and develop our services for both the domestic and overseas market. More than half of our members speak English and other languages, and while we continue to advance the development of service for the overseas market, we want to directly experience the feeling of conducting business on the international stage. Consequently, we felt it important to incorporate culture from overseas and decided to apply for the internship program. We wanted our interns to become involved in both interacting with clients and the planning and development of services, and learn about producing “Made in Japan” quality for new business proposals from a global perspective. In addition, we decided to accept interns as we were planning to enter overseas markets in 2017, and we examined entering the markets of the home countries of our interns.

Maximizing the performance of interns through extensive orientation and motivational activities

Q.What kind of internship did you run? What difficulties did you face and how did you resolve them?

We accepted interns from Vietnam (hardware/overseas adult), India (software/overseas student) and Indonesia (design/overseas student) respectively who all graduated from top universities in their countries. Since we wanted to attract the most talented interns, we decided to conduct all conversations in English so as not to be limited by language skills. The president of our company held in-depth discussions with the person in charge of the interns in order to determine how to increase the motivation of the interns. At the orientation conducted on the first day that the interns arrived at the company, we discussed “what we expected”, “what the company can provide” and “the aim of intern activities (including sharing ideas on what the company considers “fun” activities)”. As the interns had already experienced fierce competition, we decided to ascertain their ability through “tests”. We felt that this would be one way to efficiently advance their internship. Next, the interns refined their various skills by planning proposals and operations to web design and creation through planning events and website building. After they acquired the necessary skills, they advanced to interacting with clients and planning new business. In terms of new business development, they participated in external competitions for making new business presentations where they received objective criticism and feedback. This also provided them with an opportunity to brush-up their business skills and maintain their motivation.

IoT device development utilizing the strengths of our three interns

Q.Comparing before and after the internship, what effects did it have on you, your employees, or your organization?

The first achievement of our interns was the creation of the idea for the IoT device that was proposed as new business project. This was a joint effort by all three interns. Our intern from India with a strong academic background came up with idea. Then, our intern from Vietnam with experience in robotics at a mechanical engineering vocational school developed a sample product and our intern from Indonesia created the brand design. We hope we can make an announcement both in Japan and overseas in the future. The second achievement was the impact on the hiring of staff. Our recruitment activities conducted during the internship period generated good PR for the company and attracted new applicants from Japan and other countries including Germany and Argentina. The interns were like a magnet that attracted even more talented personnel. And the third achievement was the expansion of possibilities in overseas markets. Our intern from Vietnam had experience with programming and as a teacher at a university, but did not have any experience in web design. However, within three months, the intern was able to create a website from scratch. From commencing without any knowledge of the subject, the intern learned how to acquire skills from zero and developed a system for learning from people. In the future, we wish to continue training and offshore business development in Vietnam as a business partner.