A JISR graduate working hard under the COVID-19 pandemic: A new career at a Japanese company and hope for the future

Mr. A has been working for a car manufacturing plant since the autumn of 2019 after completing the JISR program. In the early months of his employment, he moved from one section to another in order to experience different types of work. He began working at the present section at the end of his probationary period. The team at his section consists of various nationalities. He explained that it was essential for him to adapt to a working environment with people of different nationalities. Mr. A has made himself the strict pledge that he will be punctual and keep his promise in his daily work while honouring team work to achieve a better overall work performance. Even though he finds it difficult to improve Japanese proficiency and understand Japanese customs, he is determined to steadily improve his relationships with his colleagues as well as trust relationship t at his place of work.

While Mr. A believes that economic activities and the employment situation in Japan are unstable in general because of the COVID-19, he wants to establish a stable life through his commitment to his present work in order to keep his feet on the ground. This attitude is, in fact, a manifestation of his gratitude for the chance to live in peace and safety and also of his resolution not to forget the importance of making continuous daily effort. It comes from his past experience in his own country where he constantly faced threats to his safety and the future.

Although life in Japan is safe and peaceful, Mr. A was quite anxious about life in Japan when he first arrived because of the cultural differences between Syria and Japan and the difficulty of the Japanese language. However, he could overcome such anxieties and gained the confidence to adapt his life in Japan through honest communication and a smile in the various situations as he explained during the interview at the time of his graduation (referring to : "First Round of Participants: From Study to Fully-Fledged Members of Society", October 30, 2019). Finding a job while studying to obtain a degree was not easy, but his proactive effort to challenge every opportunity based on what he could do led to a job . He is well aware of the importance of adapting to the environment in a flexible manner, at any stage of his life: student life, job hunting, and even working. He believes that his successful experience at a graduate school has helped him to challenge and overcome any problems at his present work. He has a medium to long-term career plan while working as hard as possible. Having completed a MBA course at a graduate school, he now hopes to obtain a doctors' degree in MBA to establish a business which bridges Japan and the world in the future. We sincerely wish him a successful future as he looks firmly ahead and consolidates his own base for life.

Note: The interview with Mr. A took place in August, 2020.