Hello! I am Setara Yeasmin from Bangladesh and I have been living in Japan for the last 5 years. I graduated from Tokyo International University (TIU) in 2020 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics. Currently, I am working as an E-commerce consultant at GDX, a Japanese IT firm. Japanese culture and lucrative work opportunities have always fascinated me which inspired me to start my career in Japan. In the future, I want to gain more experience working with various professionals in this field and climb the ladder to the top.

What I put the most effort into • my most memorable experience in university

Volunteer Activities

I personally like to always help people with anything I have to offer. Throughout my university years, I have given academic as well as job-hunting guidance to several juniors of my university to make their paths easier. In addition, I was also a part of TIU’s volunteer club through which I contributed to many social works. 

Exploring Different Courses

In TIU, students were given the opportunity to study different courses besides their main majors. For example, although I was a Business Economics major, I also studied in the IT field, as IT was my second main field of academic interest after business. We actually had some courses through which we could do internships in several international organizations, and this is where I got the chance to work as an intern at Honda. I also took one basic IT course where I learned how to make websites, how to speed up my typing, and how to edit videos. I was already set on what I wanted to do after graduating, so these classes were great preparation for my future career.

Juggling through different part-time jobs

Besides my studies, I also did several part-time jobs which helped me improve my Japanese communication skills as well as taught me how to deal with different kinds of people. I believe the experience that I earned from the part-time jobs in different industries played an important role in securing my current job.

Things that I regret not doing during my university life 

Reading 

I am personally not a bookworm at all, and I usually did not read books aside from my textbooks. However, now that I am a business professional, I truly understand the significance of reading books outside the university curriculum. I wish I had spent more time in my university life reading more and more books which would have contributed to helping me grow as a better and more knowledgeable individual.

Know more about yourself

Make sure that you are prepared enough and know yourself regarding your future goals and career. You should first imagine where you want to see yourself five to ten years from now and decide what makes you happy. Making a priority list—such as which industries you wish to pursue—will make you more interested and focused. If there is nothing special, don’t force yourself to fit into a certain career spectrum and rather focus on exploring yourself by studying different industries and companies. After that, you should specify if you want to see yourself in a particular career, then set up your priority list if you can.

Interpersonal Skills

There are many different types of interpersonal skills that will be useful when you work in a company. These include building up your leadership skills and learning how to work in teams, as many Japanese and international companies tend to focus on teamwork more than anything. Communication skills, or how well you can communicate with others regarding your profession, will also help you in the long run. Furthermore, developing proactive listening skills will be beneficial as well as being a good listener allows you to become a good speaker or to be good at any profession in general. If you can practice these skills and instill them in you early on, it will undoubtedly be a big advantage to you.

Software Skills

Regardless of the position or industry you get into, skills in using Microsoft Office—such as Powerpoint, Word, Excel, etc.—are a must-have. Additionally, the more you know, the more beneficial it will be for you!

Japanese Communication Skills

When working in Japan, it is definitely useful to have a good level of Japanese proficiency skills. Try to at least obtain an overall N2 level of Japanese by the time of your graduation. Also, it is best to have good speaking skills in Japanese that is proficient enough to convey your message to your recruiters during your interview or in any situation.