ウォ－ル ストリート アソシエイツ ジェレミー・サンダ－ソン氏 インタビュー
Recruiter urges Japanese businesspeople to seek out, not hide from new challenges
Raise personal bar to successfully meet change, increased competition
By SHINICHI TERADA
Staff writer
Though Japan's electronics and auto manufacturers may indeed be enjoying higher profiles in the global market, Jeremy Sanderson, director and chief operating officer of recruitment firm Wall Street Associates, urges Japanese businesspeople to take on more challenges in order to grow and become more competitive.
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| Jeremy Sanderson, director and chief operating officer of recruitment firm Wall Street Associates, smiles at his Tokyo office. |
Sanderson urges Japanese to prepare for lifelong learning and personal growth in order to be able to successfully vie with others in emerging markets, including those of India and China. The current business environment, he points out, is all about being multiskilled and able to multitask as well as be specialized.
Sanderson's observations come largely from personal experience -- a lot of hard work and risk-taking -- and from his years in Japan observing Japanese businesspeople.
The world's second-largest economy has been turning around, buoyed by strong exports and consumer spending, while many companies are cutting costs and boosting profits. Corporate Japan now needs to hire. However, the recent Bank of Japan's "tankan" quarterly survey, which indicates economic sentiment, shows more companies are experiencing a labor shortage compared with the previous survey.
This is particularly true of foreign-affiliated companies entering the Japanese marketplace. Sanderson says multinational companies of all sizes are scrambling for experienced and knowledgeable bilingual specialists with international education and work experience. Nonetheless, these companies are also experiencing a shortage of qualified labor.
The reason, according to Sanderson, is that the typical Japanese mind-set still does not fit the bill for the foreign-affiliated company. Companies are not looking for what has been traditionally sought in Japan; bosses giving instructions and employees simply following them. Foreign-affiliated companies expect employees to be largely "self-starters," people who have initiative, "think for themselves and take a greater degree of personal responsibility for their work," Sanderson explains. "This requires a totally different mind-set."
From the workers' standpoint, employers may not fit the bill either. Though there may be plenty of jobs in the market, it is hard to find optimal employment. As workers can no longer expect lifetime employment, more importance is placed on job security, as workers take more and more responsibility for their own career development.
Thus, job candidates may benefit from "a cooperative partnership with a (recruitment) professional who has access to job opportunities," Sanderson says. A professional "can help you make a wise choice, and present yourself well to a prospective employer."
"Even if a candidate is too junior for us to help, or not well-suited to our clients needs, we'll give career advice on how to improve in order to become more competitive in the job market," Sanderson says. He hopes that such advice can contribute to producing more competitive Japanese businesspeople.
Wall Street Associates, whose clients consist mostly of foreign-affiliated companies, has focused its business on four burgeoning markets -- human resources, high-tech, finance and accounting -- since starting operation in 1997.
One example of current needs is the steadily growing demand for experienced and knowledgeable internal audit and compliance specialists. This demand, Sanderson says, is partly because of stricter corporate governance requirements in the wake of accounting scandals such as Enron's case.
Sanderson's sincere support and well-wishes for the Japanese is likely rooted in his longtime passion for Japanese culture.
In college, the British native immersed himself in Japanese classic literature. As a salesperson for an online recruitment advertising company, he taught himself marketing. To further himself yet more, he spent his extra time studying network engineering.
Now, he is studying accounting to learn more financial management skills. "I make it a habit to read a book a week," says Sanderson, who recently became a father.
Sanderson, who has a degree with honors in Japanese from London University, finds that many young Japanese are astonished by his enthusiasm and cannot understand what he so values about the Japanese culture.
Many of Japan's youth, he says, "have lost a sense of pride in their own country and in the richness and wonder of their own cultural heritage."
"Before looking to foreign countries for cultural stimuli I wish more people would learn to love their own culture first. It's sad that a foreigner has to remind the Japanese of what an incredible history and culture they have."
Having said that, Sanderson acknowledges that he recognizes and is heartened to see that Japanese in general, including the older generations, are taking an increasingly proactive attitude toward career self-manage- ment, though this change in attitude is happening albeit at a slower rate than he would like to see.
In Sanderson's definition, the recruitment business tries to develop mutually beneficial relationships between job candidates and companies. It also assimilates and disseminates information to produce business opportunities.
"Our business is people, and learning to understand their fears, their motivation, what drives and influences their decision," Sanderson says. Of the relationship between the job candidate and recruitment business industry in general, he says, "If you make absolutely sure you understand and cater to their needs, it is an industry of infinite subtlety and communication."
