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On Campus Recruiting-Unique to APU, the On Campus Recruiting program, involving human resource personnel from different companies and organizations coming directly to APU to hold recruitment seminars, interviews and examinations specifically for APU students, is gathering extremely high interest and recognition.
Running since last year, this program has welcomed participation from over 100 companies, including 87 companies in its first year. This program is taking hold, a lot faster than expected, as a program that gets results for both parties.
We followed the on campus recruiting activities of Toray Industries, Inc., which came down to APU on May 28 to recruit international students.
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12:50 |
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The 15 students, all dressed in business attire and looking nervous, were already in the classroom, waiting quietly in anticipation for the company seminar to begin. |
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Ms. Akiko Konishi, Toray industries Personnel Recruitment Division Manager, along with two other personnel recruitment supervisors, began the company seminar, which of course was held entirely in Japanese. This was followed by a Japanese video presentation introducing Toray Industries Inc. The day's program began on the assumption that all students could understand Japanese. Despite Ms. Konishi telling students to “relax and ask questions freely”, the students remained nervous. Only after Mr. Ishii, the person in charge of the presentation, started to make a few jokes, did the students begin to relax, but not once did they lose their concentration.They continued to listen in earnest to the presentation while reading the Toray company pamphlets. |
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After the presentation there was question and answer session. A Chinese student asked “wouldn't we be able to meet our full potential if, after we were employed, we went to work in our home countries, where we already understand the language and culture?” Ms. Konishi answered this by saying “instead of automatically assigning Chinese employees to offices in China, we want our people to master their work and the corporate philosophy as key personnel in the Toray Group, able to function on the global stage.” |
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14:30-17:00 |
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Recruitment examination and interviews |
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The written examination and interviews began. Students were divided into groups of three for their interviews and there was an array of different expressions on their faces as they entered and exited the interview room. |
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Despite there being a lot of standard interview questions like, “Why do you want to work at Toray?” and “What are your strong points?”, the interview atmosphere still made it more difficult than expected to effectively express and sell oneself. A Taiwanese student commented that “being nervous was the biggest hurdle. I practiced interview questions many times with my friends but I still got nervous when it came to the real thing.” One student also commented that one of the merits of having a group interview was that you could compare yourself to the other two candidates, and discover your weaknesses. |
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(an interview with recruitment personnel Ms. Konishi and Mr. Ishii)
Ms. Konishi, who was participating in the on-campus recruiting program for the second year running, commented that “APU is the only university that goes to this much trouble. The program is very effective, meaning that we don't have to rush the recruitment process. It is great that Toray Industries is becoming known amongst the students. I strongly felt that students knew exactly why they want to work in a Japanese company and what they are interested in. As a materials manufacturer we want more than to just sell products, we want our materials to help provide our international customers with solutions. To accomplish this, employees must be interested in people and also be able to understand other cultures and lifestyles. I think that students studying at APU are getting this kind of training, and we want to help these students realize their full potential on the global stage, as employees of Toray.”
Mr. Ishii commented that “after listening to the students talk during the interviews, it is clear that they carry a strong sense of pride for APU. The on-campus recruiting program at APU is becoming more and more known within the corporate world. APU will no doubt continue to gain favorable recognition in the job market as upcoming graduates succeed in their chosen professions.”
APU is planning on turning its on-campus recruiting programs into long term internship programs that will lead directly on to full time employment. |
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