Career and employment
Support 2022
~Sagamihara Campus Edition~
Career and employment support at the Sagamihara Campus
In 2019, the Sagamihara Campus opened the new School of Community and Human Sciences, providing more interdisciplinary learning than ever before. The campus's Career and Employment Office provides job-hunting support that takes advantage of the characteristics of the school and its location. In this article, we will introduce the latest job-hunting situation at the campus, specific support content, and noteworthy job-hunting support courses.
Career Support at Aoyama Campus ~ Career and Employment Support 2021 (Special Feature in AGU NEWS No. 104)
Job hunting status for 2022 and job hunting support at "ALL Aoyama"
Section Chief, Career and Employment Division, Sagamihara Administrative Department
Yoshihiro Sekiguchi
After working in the General Affairs Section of the University's General Affairs Department, the Planning Section of the Headquarters Comprehensive Planning Department, and the Professional Graduate School Academic Affairs Section of the University's Academic Affairs Department, he has been in this department since 2020 and in his current position since 2022.
■ Today's job hunting situation
In addition to the impact of COVID-19, there have been concerns that companies across the country will lose their willingness to hire due to changes in the situation in Europe. However, in reality, the job vacancy rate has risen from 1.50 last year to 1.58 this year (according to the Recruit Works Institute). Companies remain keen to hire, and students enrolled at our Sagamihara Campus are also riding this wave, so it can be said that job hunting is going well. Recently, there has been a trend of more students, especially those in science and engineering, choosing information and communications and manufacturing industries.
Online selection is now becoming mainstream. I hear that some companies are conducting all selections online, up to the final selection. However, unfortunately, online selection alone can lead to mismatches between companies and students, such as a lack of understanding. Recently, I hear that more and more companies are using a combination of online selection at the beginning and face-to-face selection at the final stage. This is because students are now required to prepare measures for both online and face-to-face selection, which is putting more of a strain on their job hunting than ever before. We at the Career and Employment Division (hereinafter referred to as "our division") would like to steadily grasp these trends and provide various support systems to support students in their job hunting activities.
Conducting mock interviews with the aim of combining online and face-to-face selection
■Job hunting support at the Sagamihara Campus
Our department provides support for job hunting with a focus on "job support that is tailored to the needs and current situation of students," "collecting the latest employment information," and "job support through 'ALL Aoyama.'"
◆ Employment support tailored to students' needs and current situations
As one of the efforts to provide job-hunting support that is in line with students' needs and current circumstances, most online courses are held live, but since it is expected that there will be cases where participation is difficult due to class schedules, archived courses are distributed on the career and job-hunting support system "Web Ash" exclusively for students of our university so that each person can take the course at a time that is convenient for them. In addition, we are holding lunchtime courses so that students can easily take the course during their lunch break, as well as on weekday evenings after classes are over, in order to diversify participation opportunities. Currently, there are many opportunities to hold courses in an online format, but for courses where it is thought that it would be better for students and instructors to hold them face-to-face, we are planning to hold them in a face-to-face format and are working to increase the number of such courses (reviving them).
Meanwhile, we have regular opportunities to exchange opinions with the career-hunting committee members of each faculty, and while working to cooperate with them, we understand the characteristics and current situation of each faculty and provide career-hunting support that meets the needs of each faculty.
◆Collecting the latest employment information
In addition to the "online and face-to-face selection" introduced in the previous section, the requirements for job hunting are changing rapidly, such as "AI selection" and "design thinking test". Our department strives to collect the latest employment information from various perspectives every day. We regularly exchange information and hold interviews with job-hunting navigation companies, participate in seminars for employment officers, and listen to the voices of students who are job hunting or have completed a certain amount of job hunting through questionnaires. After examining and considering them within our department, we try to reflect them promptly in the content of our courses and events. For example, "mock interview course specializing in both online and face-to-face selection," "self-promotion video shooting session," and "preparation course to think about design thinking" are in response to today's job hunting trends and have received high satisfaction from participating students. We have built a flexible system to be able to respond immediately to the latest job hunting situation, such as actively inviting lecturers with a wealth of specialized knowledge and the latest information from outside to improve practical skills.
An online lunchtime "Civil Service Job Briefing" session will be held, inviting recruiters from government ministries and local governments, as well as our university alumni.
◆ Job hunting support at "ALL Aoyama"
There is a lot of information about employment in the world, but in order to provide support that is unique to our university, the entire university, or "ALL Aoyama," provides employment support. We work closely with the Aoyama Campus Career and Employment Center to plan and hold various courses. We hold courses hosted by our department online, eliminating physical distances, regardless of the campus to which students belong, and for individual employment consultations, we make it possible to provide online consultations beyond the boundaries of the campus. While taking advantage of these characteristics, our department also puts effort into providing unique support that takes into account the characteristics of each faculty and the region. Approximately 60% of students enrolled at the Sagamihara campus commute from the Kanagawa and Tokyo areas, and there seems to be a growing tendency for them to want to maintain their environment and find employment in their local area. To this end, the prefecture is actively working to increase the number of opportunities to exchange information and meet with company representatives through organizations such as the Kanagawa Information Service Industry Association (SINCO), which brings together over 340 IT companies in Kanagawa Prefecture, and the Kanagawa Private University Employment Research Association (Kanagawa Shuken), which is made up of career support staff from private universities in Kanagawa Prefecture, in order to increase the number of job openings and strengthen opportunities to apply to target companies.
Soundproof booths will be installed on each campus so that students can take the online selection process between classes.
It is not uncommon to hear students say, "I know about the Career Guidance and Employment Office, but I don't know what to ask about, so I've never been there."
"I don't know how to proceed with job hunting..." "Where should I start..." and so on, no matter what kind of consultation you have about finding a job, our staff and career counselors strive to be sympathetic and listen attentively every day. We would be grateful if parents and others would also recommend the use of our Career and Employment Division. We will work together to support each and every student so that they can make a career choice that they are satisfied with. We look forward to your continued cooperation and support.
A job-hunting support event based on the concept of "broadening your horizons early on"
Sagamihara Administrative Office, Career and Employment Division
Misumi Sugihara
After working in the Academic Affairs Group of the Sagamihara Student Support Unit at the University of Tokyo (currently the Academic Affairs Division of the Sagamihara Administrative Office), he has held his current position since 2013.
In order to find employment without regrets, it is important to first broaden your horizons by acquiring sufficient knowledge about the industry and companies. Ideally, you should then carefully consider your options and make a final decision. However, in recent years, the entire job hunting schedule, including summer internships, has been moving forward, and there is a growing tendency for students to end their job hunting before they have had time to obtain sufficient information and without being able to broaden their horizons. For this reason, our department is running various courses and events based on the concept of "Let's get students to broaden their horizons early." Here, we will introduce the annual flow of events, focusing on events for 2023 graduates (3rd year undergraduates and 1st year master's students).
■ First half
Starting with the "1st Career and Employment Guidance" held in April, we held various preparatory courses such as "self-analysis, industry and company research, application document preparation, self-promotional video shoots, interviews, written and web tests." In addition, with an awareness of the timing prior to companies' summer internships, we held the "Summer Internship x Industry and Company Understanding Seminar" in May, providing an opportunity to hear directly from leading companies and organizations in the industry online from an early stage.
In order to find employment without any regrets, it is important to obtain sufficient knowledge by using various job hunting preparation books, company and employment quarterly reports, etc.
■ Late Period
In September, the "2nd Career and Employment Guidance" will be held, and from October onwards, we plan to hold preparation courses for winter internships and the final selection process. In particular, the "You'll definitely meet alumni! Winter internship x on-campus company research group" starting in October is a noteworthy project. This is an online event that combines roundtable discussions with our university's alumni who actually work in companies and joint company research groups, and is expected to have 84 companies from various industries participate over a two-month period. At the end of October, we plan to hold a presentation by "career tutors" who are fourth-year undergraduate students and second-year master's students who have already decided on their career paths and will support their juniors in their job-hunting activities. In December, we will hold a "Joint Online Mock Group Interview with Other Universities" jointly hosted by seven universities, including our university. Alumni with experience in human resources at companies will serve as mock interviewers, and a group interview will be held online just like the real thing. The careful feedback from the interviewers and the interaction with students and alumni from other universities will be a great stimulus. Finally, from February to March next year, we plan to hold an on-campus company information session mainly for those graduating in 2023.
In addition, our university provides opportunities for students to think about their careers from their early years. Starting with the "New Student Orientation," students can learn about career building from their early years in regular subjects in the university-wide common education system, "Aoyama Standard." Furthermore, in the "Career and Employment Guidance" in the third year of undergraduate studies, information is provided about continuing on to graduate school, allowing students to broaden their range of career options after graduation. Currently, about 40% of students in the Faculty of Science and Engineering continue on to graduate school, and the employment rate after graduation is also high and stable. Graduates who have acquired advanced specialized knowledge seem to be highly regarded by companies as human resources who can immediately put to work.
Our department provides individual consultations, job introductions, company information sessions, etc. throughout the year. Since support tailored to the situation is always available, we hope that students will feel free to make use of the Career Guidance and Employment Department and choose a career path that satisfies them.
"You'll definitely meet alumni! Winter internship x on-campus corporate research group" starts in October
Interview with successful applicants
After experiencing a break in job hunting, I reevaluated myself and moved to a company where I could expect growth
Faculty of Business Administration, Department of Business Administration, 4th year
Sumiko Fukunishi
We provide consistent support from early 1st and 2nd years to the time when job hunting begins in earnest in the 3rd and 4th years. We would like to introduce a student who made steady progress during his time at the university and secured a job offer from PwC Consulting LLC.
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Sincere effort without cutting corners in anything leads to growth and serves as a source of inspiration for job hunting.
Faculty of International Politics and Economics, Department of International Politics, 4th year
Yosuke Mochizuki
The support provided by our university aims to help students understand the meaning of work and take concrete steps to develop a career that suits them. Mochizuki honed his international perspective and objective viewpoint at our university, and was offered a job at Japan Airlines Co., Ltd.
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"When in doubt, take action" Motivation is to create a future that entertains people
4th year student, Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Science and Engineering
Hide Tanaka
We would like to introduce a student who aspired to study information engineering because he felt he could "make society more interesting," and who has now received a tentative job offer from NTT DATA Corporation, a systems integrator.
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The future is drawn along two paths designed with the study of the College of Community and Human Sciences as a guide
Faculty of Community and Human Sciences, Department of Community and Human Sciences, 4th year
Mai Fukuhara
Fukuhara has had an interest in child welfare since she was old enough to understand, and enrolled in the School of Community and Human Sciences. Based on the many realizations she gained from her studies and experiences at the university, she was able to find her desired career path.
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Turning worries about the future into learning and creating a career of my own
Faculty of Community and Human Sciences, Department of Community and Human Sciences, 4th year
Ryo Yamaguchi
Yamaguchi, who enrolled as a member of the first class of the College of Community Human Sciences, not only devoted herself to her studies but also to sports, joining the university's tennis club. Based on these various experiences, she narrowed down her desired employers and was offered a position at a financial company.
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