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Supporting every endeavour to realize dreams and hopes

A stark reality bites many JISR participants who find it difficult to return home after their graduation because of the situation in Syria. To address this issue, the JISR program offers support for job hunting, in addition to opportunities for study at a graduate school. Such support includes training of interviews, bridging between JISR participants and companies that provide internships, and providing job fairs and employment-related information.

As the type of desired occupation and the specialized field vary from one participant to another, custom-made support for each participant is an ideal way of firmly securing employment opportunities. Under the JISR program, therefore, each participant is generally assisted by two supporters and receives guidance on how to write a unique Japanese-style resume and business emails, self-analysis to discover one's own skills and strengths, ways of finding employment in one's own specialized field and self-promotion in line with the requirements of the position which is applied for.

This type of custom-made assistance is provided by the Support Team (approximately 30 members in all at present) consisting of volunteers responding to in-house pro-bono^[1] recruitment drive at Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC, LIFULL Co., Ltd., etc^[2] . We interviewed some members of the Support Team as well as a participant who has received the assistance. Here is a report on the ongoing assistance activities for employment-seeking participants, focusing on the underlying ideas and passion behind them.

[Interviewed Members of the Support Team]

Ms. Sae Tamagawa
Consultant, Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC

Mr. Shuhei Nitta
Marketer, Operation Headquarters, LIFULL HOME's, LIFULL Co., Ltd.

Ms. Minami Nishiyama
Consultant, Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC

Ms. Shiho Hasebe
Senior Designer, LIFULL Co., Ltd.

Hoping to Support JISR Participants Pursuing Happy and Successful Life in Society

Q: This support in preparation for job hunting is entirely provided by volunteers. What motivated you to join the Support Team?

Ms. Tamagawa: It started when a staff member of the JISR program was introduced by UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) Representation in Japan to us. At that time, we were thinking about what Deloitte could do to support refugees. I later became a mock interviewer for the training for JISR participants seeking employment and found a situation of them not being as active as they could be in our society even though their experience and technical level was excellent. That made me think about helping them to find employment through the Support Team.

Ms. Hasebe: One of the recipients of my company's donations as part of its CSR activities supports refugees. I have long been interested in helping to solve social problems, including the problems faced by refugees. An in-house recruitment drive for volunteers was held and I applied.

Mr. Nitta: My involvement in the Support Team is based on my concerns regarding situations in which people cannot live a happy life because of the circumstances beyond one's control. I have been a member of the committee which assists volunteer activities of our co-workers in my company and I am now directly involved in providing assistance for the job seeking activities of JISR participants.

Ms. Nishiyama: When I was studying in Turkey, I witnessed Syrian refugees escaping to Turkey. This made me more aware of the problems faced by refugees. So, I responded favorably to the in-house volunteer recruitment drive. Such in-house recruitment makes it easier to respond as it lowers the perceived barriers to make a move. It would be nice if more companies join us engaging in such support activities.

Rewarding Activities that Connect People

Q: What are the good or challenging experiences you have had so far during your support work?

Ms. Nishiyama: Obviously, one of the good experiences was that a participant I had assisted got a job offer. I am very happy when they said, "thank you". I also feel very much rewarded when I find a participant improving his/her skills compared to the previous meeting.

Mr. Nitta: I am responsible for one participant in a team comprising another person from a different company. It is good to work with someone from another company as such occasion is quite rare. I am grateful for the opportunity to work in a team to achieve a shared goal, i.e. to have a JISR participant receive a job offer. In fact, almost all members continue the activity, which clearly represents that the team members "feel rewarded" by their support activities.

Ms. Tamagawa: When we are not sure how to proceed with our support work, we organize get-togethers or use a chat tool to discuss difficulties and how to solve problems with other members. At such meetings, many Support Team members express positive feelings about their involvement. After the COVID-19 pandemic, we have to continue working remotely which makes it difficult to meet new people and to create an in-house network. However, through this support activity we are able to get to know new co-workers and to expand our own in-house network. I hope that many more companies will join us in the coming years to expand the community of supporting companies.

Ms. Hasebe: Through my experience as a Support Team in getting to know and talking with other people with different cultural background, I have come to understand that "being different each other" is a normal state for people. In Japan, we are expected to "read each other's mind" on the grounds that "we are the same kind". As such, Japanese society functions rather well without any burden of making too much effort to understand someone else. I now believe that understanding difference or diversity is not a burden but is an important process to widen our view, which I think will lead to a peaceful and happy life. I believe that such awareness is really rewarding.

Ms. Tamagawa: JISR participants have only a limited amount of time to spend on job hunting. In addition to the research in their master's degree course, they are also busy studying Japanese language which is said to be difficult to learn. The pressure to improve their language ability to a business level is intense, necessitating great effort. In addition, finding employment in a foreign country must be truly daunting in terms of time constraints and mental stress. I believe that it is essential to start our support activities as early as possible and to hold regular meetings to smoothly move forward.

Sympathizing with Participants Who Make Every Effort to Overcome a Harsh Environment

Q: Please describe your impressions of the JISR participants.

Mr. Nitta: My impression is that Syrian participants are generally very smart and outstanding. I respect them because they live and act positively with determination to overcome an immeasurably harsh background and make such an effort in an entirely new environment. If I were them, I probably would not have been able to do the same.

Ms. Hasebe: "highly educated", "wide perspective" and "care for others and kind" are my impressions to them. Personally, I am truly happy to have become acquainted with such good people and grateful for the opportunity to join the Support Team.

Grateful to the Support Team for Its Encouragement

[Voice from a participant who has been assisted by the Support Team]

Mr. Asaad Mahmoud
Information Science and Manufacturing Engineering Master's Course,
Graduate School of Engineering, Ashikaga University
Scheduled to complete the course in September 2022. Has received an offer of an employment from Company A where he will be able to use his knowledge and skills. Previously worked as an engineer in Syria.

Before receiving the assistance of the Support Team, I was going through some recruitment information and found Company A to be particularly attractive. However, their Japanese language requirement was high at Level N2 (Advanced) and I thought it's a non-starter to apply. However, the Support Team members I consulted actually encouraged me because they believed that this job would suit me. They told me I should focus on my own strength and skills to match this position instead of giving up because of the current level of my Japanese language ability. What I realized was that the important points to apply for a job are how I fit the image of a person a company wants to recruit, how I can contribute to the growth of the company by working for them and how I can grow by working for the company.

Based on these thoughts, the Support Team provided me with guidance on how to talk about "how I can be useful" through a mock interview. When correcting my resume, one suggestion was to attach the drawings of electric circuits that I had made when working in Syria, to clearly demonstrate the compatibility of my skills with the one that the company was looking for. Without such concrete guidance by the Support Team, I would not have been offered a job. I am extremely grateful for their encouragement.

Editorial Note

This support is for JISR participants to become economically independent in Japan after their graduation. The members of the Support Team we interviewed told us that they were happy to join the team and that they felt that the work was very worthwhile without exception. The participant also expressed his own sense of gratitude. The support activities have led to encounters with other people, creating a circle of people who are then linked with smiles on both the supporting and supported sides. Together with these Support Team members, the JISR program continues to provide assistance in the hope of achieving successful employment for the JISR participants.

If your company agrees with the spirit of assisting the employment-seeking efforts of JISR participants and is willing to encourage your staff members to join the Support Team on a pro- bono basis, please contact one of the following bodies or the JISR desk.

[Contact]
Supporting organizations for the JISR program: Japan Development Service (JDS)/Japan Association for Refugees (JAR)
JISR Desk e-mail: jisr-kouryuukai@jds21.com