The New Salaryman
Faded jeans, blue t-shirt emblazoned with the company logo, and running shoes - the new Japanese salaryman uniform? Not yet, but if the popularity of the Google booth at Sunday’s MBA career forum is any indication, a desire for change may be afoot.
Participants Scott Monteith and Masaru Noma came to the event to network and to get their names out there. Noma, in his third month of job searching says, “American companies are willing to invest in you. But Japanese companies want to see the ROI (return on investment) right away.”
Monteith concurs, “They don’t value the MBA degree here as much as they do elsewhere”.
Damon Mackey, president of Catalyst, says this is the reason he started his company and organized this event.
“The idea of the MBA Career Forum is to promote MBAs to the top organizations that target them, as well as raise the awareness of the benefits of hiring multi-cultural, bilingual people that are experienced and have a wide breadth of knowledge in providing modern business solutions.”
The 206 participants from over 25 of Japan’s top MBA programs were dressed in the requisite black suit and white suit but the high calibre candidates were clearly open to change and eager to take on the management challenges of the future.