“WebNow! Vol. 2 - Straight Talk from the Web Industry Frontlines × Recruiting” Event Report

On 21 October, we hosted the “WebNow! Vol. 2 - Straight Talk from the Web Industry Frontlines × Recruiting” event in our Shinjuku head office's seminar room.

This event, planned in cooperation with faculty staff at both the Japan Electronics College and the Tokyo Electronics College, aimed to convey to students the attractiveness, fun and sense of fulfilment of working in the web industry. Cooperating with us for the successful delivery of this event were KINOTROPE, INC., KDDI Web Communications Inc. and Gohako Inc.

For this event, we updated the format of last year's well received “ WebNow! - Straight Talk from the Web Industry Frontlines ”, so that seminar content was designed in such a way to facilitate more in-depth career consideration among job-hunting students.

This year's participants were all first-year students at both the Japan Electronics College and the Tokyo Electronics College. Moderators were second-year students from both colleges that have already accepted positions in the web industry upon graduation. From our company, Kazuhito Kidachi, Corporate Director and CTO, and Mayumi Endo, Art Director, both participated as panelists.

During the first part of the event, participating panelists gave presentations overviewing their companies, their career paths and why they decided on a career in the web industry, they then introduced the latest trends, spoke about the enjoyment of working in the web industry and shared advice on job hunting.

From our company, Mayumi Endo, one of our leading Art Directors, took to the stage. While reflecting on her time at Mitsue-Links, she stated that "the web is interesting because it's always evolving, this provides a constant motivation to learn about fresh, novel ideas, techniques and technologies".

In the second part of the session, the group was divided so that one panelist participated in a roundtable question-and-answer-format discussion with seven students. The students asked questions on themes such as “how rewarding the work is”, “what's required to become a good member of society”, “the balance between hobbies and work”, and “what skills can be useful for gaining employment and succeeding”, the panelists then enthusiastically responded based their own experiences.

For this year's event, it was decided to hold discussions in small group units to reduce the feeling of distance between the panelists and the students. While being relaxed and with much laughter, students enjoyed interacting with panelists and fellow students.

After closing, students could be heard commenting “I thought it'd be difficult to get a job without experience in the web industry, but my view has changed", “I can visualize myself working in the web industry” and ”there are various policies and features that differ by company, so I've realized that it's important to participate in internships and study vigorously". There seemed to be many students inspired by the event and they are currently considering their future career paths.

We hope that the students who participated in this event will be active in the web industry in the future.