In Japan, April brings cherry blossoms, a new academic year, and a new fiscal year for businesses. It’s also a time when newly hired employees enter companies en masse. As part of an established hiring norm, many companies in Japan actively hold recruiting sessions for university students one year ahead of graduation. After students go through the job-hunting process and graduate in March, they are officially hired on April 1.
While SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) adopted a Universal Recruitment program in 2015, which means that highly talented and motivated candidates can apply when the timing suits them, a large number of new recruits continue to join SoftBank at the beginning of April.
Another well-established hiring ritual in Japan is for companies to hold entrance ceremonies for their new employees. Large companies typically reserve large facilities for the occasion, and top executives share their management philosophies while delivering words of encouragement. SoftBank held its own large-scale entrance ceremony at Tokyo Big Sight, a major convention center, on April 3, 2023, where it welcomed 455 new employees into the fold.
New employees voice their dreams and aspirations
At company entrance ceremonies in Japan, it’s common for employee representatives to speak on behalf of all of the new entrants. At SoftBank’s ceremony, three representatives took to the stage to receive entrance certificates and give voice to their aspirations.
They each declared how they would contribute to making SoftBank the most needed company in the world, and said they would like to "create an environment where people's lives are enriched and made more convenient through technology," "support management through the power of finance," and "create a society where all can make contributions by harnessing the power of digital medicine.”
“Stay ahead of the curve and create tomorrow’s normal”
After words from the new employees, SoftBank Corp. President & CEO Junichi Miyakawa addressed the audience. “We heard from our new employees about the dreams they wish to pursue at SoftBank. To make these dreams come true, you must make a plan, and once you’ve made it, you must execute it. Success awaits those who accomplish their plans. I’m relying on all of you to do this.”
“I’m very pleased to see so many new members today,” he added. “At last year's ceremony, I told the entrants that I wanted them to become ‘creators of time.’ Creating time means changing people's perceptions and everyday lives. A paradigm shift brings a dramatic change in people's common sense, values, and daily lives. Looking to the past, technological innovations have accelerated the speed at which values change. In the future, I believe that a new common sense will be created every year.”
Miyakawa noted that while SoftBank Corp. has been traditionally focused on telecommunications infrastructure, the company is now urgently working to build the next generation of social infrastructure by combining various technologies, and by collaborating with people both inside and outside the company.
“I want to make SoftBank a company that implements digitalization into society, not just a telecommunications company. I hope all of you will continue to grow our company by reading the trends of the future and by creating tomorrow’s normal. Today’s common sense was created by our forebears. My wish is that your thoughts and convictions will create the common sense of the future.”
(Posted on April 10, 2023)
by SoftBank News Editors
