In 2011, there was a huge celebration at my workplace today, Mynavi, now the “Indeed or Monster of Japan” because we climbed up to the No. 1 position among all the online job platforms in Japan.
While celebrating with the other 2,000 employees, I was ecstatic since I joined this company two years before this explosive growth but also because I do feel that I did play a part in growing the company into the industry’s leader by starting its branch in Korea leaving for Korea alone.
It was tough of course, but my love for HR truly offset everything.
But I am thirsty. I do not want to merely help them find a job. Instead, I want much more – I want A to Z of HR. And for this, I will start a truly comprehensive, holistic, data-driven HR consulting company in Japan, the 4th largest economy in the world in terms of the GDP.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, number of foreign workers in Japan increased four times in merely 10 years, but this is not enough. According to the Cabinet of Japan, by the year 2070, one out of nine companies in Japan needs to rely on foreign workers for survival.
Thus, on my graduation, I will be walking out with more than the precious diploma from your program; I will be walking out with a business plan as well since my former boss (former Executive Director) who trained me to whom I am today, and who also grew Mynavi into the No. 1 promised to invest in my company.
For this I need your program to study the following in-depth.
First and foremost, People Analytics & technologies interest me greatly.
If there is any one lesson that I learned after working in HR for 14 years is that it is not easy to work with people because they are rational, but also irrational, and logical but also emotional.
However, to me, this a question of “how”. That is, it is a question of identifying and adding on many more variables for People Analytics. Even when a human being is never 2D, but 3D (or even 4 or 5D), still People Analytics would enable considerable degree of quantification – which is why I must study People Analytics to measure their satisfaction (or dissatisfaction), identify how to motivate, quantify the effect of the HR programs and policies adopted precisely to motivate, forecast to prevent departure, for instance. That is, I need to understand each of the employees as if there is anything I learned after years of HR, it is that people are really different from each other. And placing them to the just-right positions, this as we all know is the key.
For this, I also want to study ways to collect data via online. As my company is a company that grew via offline job fairs, although our platform is online, still our DNA is very much that of the offline. Although offline is also critical, still the online is just as if not more powerful. For one, whereas the 1 to 1 interview conducted to assess their needs, for instance, can be biased as their answers may depend on the interviewers’ reaction, for instance, what they post up freely on the SNS could reflect their views more accurately. Of course, protecting privacy is a must, but I do feel that the online is like a treasure box that is not yet opened fully.
Moreover, I want to study how we can leverage technologies such as AI interviews, and data analysis tools and techniques to draw out patterns from the millions of resumes we receive every year.
Of course, there are efforts underway today in Japan to leverage technologies to the HR. But close to 80% of such efforts are rather limited; they merely stop at migrating offline service information to the online or improving the UI/UX, which is critical yes, but not sufficient.
As your program is a very holistic and interdisciplinary program, I really look forward to working with technology experts like the Computer Science students to carry out interesting and essential collaboration projects, me feeding in HR related information.
It is often said that the HR tech field in Japan is at least 15 years behind the US. That is why I need you.
In addition, my company will also work with the companies to help to align their organizations according to the changing needs of the job seekers, as the only constant in the labor market is that it never stops to change – really.
Last but not the least, inclusion is my other interest.
I worked with close to 30,000 companies in Japan and Korea for many years. And they were all very different – different industries, different corporate cultures and different working styles and so forth.
But they all shared one common denominator – lack of inclusion.
This is not my experience alone. We often read news on the many lawsuits in the world, against the multinationals such as Samsung, LG, Toyota and others.
This is what I am set out to change, and for this, I really need your program because not only do I need to develop training programs for greater inclusion, but also conduct thorough analyses on why diversity, respecting differences matter, how inclusion translates into real gains for the companies (although inclusion should be respected for what it stands, still for the companies, knowing the ROI matter). For instance, reporting to the companies that inclusion is effective for improving corporate image may not suffice. Instead, that ability to measure actual tangible benefits, this is what I need.
For instance, inclusion is a must due to labor shortage, for instance. In case of Japan, as of 2040, it will need 11 million workers to ensure GDP 1.24% growth per annum. Thus, it needs not only automation, but also human power. It is estimated that demand for foreign workers will increase to 7 million in 2040 (compared to 2 million in 2023), and by the year 2070, one out of nine will be foreign workers.
But it is not yet ready – and this goes for most of other groups such as women. Japan’s gender gap is ranked 118th among 146 nations. Although the Japanese government is trying to increase the number of female executives, for instance, still it is an uphill battle due to deeply rooted beliefs and bias, even if it is unconscious bias.
Moreover, the set of infrastructures required such as care centers for their children is lacking.
This goes for most of other so-called marginalized workers like senior citizens, disabled, LGBT and others – whom we need.
These are the reasons I need your program. Besides all that I mentioned above, I need to study labor law, HR policies, strategies, and much more from the amazing professors who have rich hands-on practical experiences as well.
In fact, the list of my interests is very long; strategy development, organizational design, leadership development, executive coaching, talent selection and development, performance management, compensation, HR team effectiveness, AI analytics platforms that monitor sentiment in real-time, strategic workforce planning, talent management, and diversity and inclusion.
As a last note, I dream of a HR company that can really realize quotes like “Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to” (Sir Richard Branson) and “when people go to work, they shouldn’t have to leave their hearts at home” (Betty Bender) with the mindset, “Human Resources isn’t a thing we do. It’s the thing that runs our business.” (Steve Wynn).
