My Own Changing Career Path: From the "Command Center" to the "Battlefront"
Ok, perhaps a bit exaggerated to say that my career will completely change from this, but it was announced last Sunday morning that I will end my post at the CEO Office and move to Sales Development starting the coming Tuesday (making this the last weekend I got before I will have to start introducing myself a bit differently). Despite my continued speculation of where I work in the future, the sudden shift to a sales position still surprised me (not to mention flabbergasting the others who heard the story) to quite a shocking degree.
One of the main reasons is that I believe the top management have been increasingly reluctant to send foreigners into Japanese sales positions. After all, being the most traditionally Japanese-style workplace in the company, the sales departments are high pressured places where people are compelled to be in a high state of tension constantly seeking to achieve their numbers. Work-related phone calls and emails never stop, while having causal relaxing weekends is considered a luxury.
And with such grim reality of emotional well-being being completed ignored at work comes the simultaneous attempt to hide that reality from the public (and other parts of the company) with shameless tweaking of outputted numbers. For example, Sales Development work one of the longest hours in the entire company (plus weekends), but they are forced to only record the standard 9-6, Mon-Fri on their time sheets without any possibility of getting any sort of financial compensation due to overwork.
Obviously, being a vocal, individualistic, opinionated, foreigners do not usually take this sort of work environment without some outward complaints. Worse, they can potentially gather in groups to spread their discontent, and actually gather a big enough group to make themselves heard through certain "undesirable" actions.
Think about it, what does an authoritarian regime fear the most? Answer: unwanted, unauthorized gatherings (definitely no freedom of assembly in this place). In sales, the use pf intra-company instant messengers are blocked for new graduates by the higher-ups (oblivious to the Boss) just so that the new graduates can keep their discontents to themselves and not producing a situation where many of them coordinate to disappear from work at the same time (it seems this sort of thing has happened before the IM ban was initiated).
Fear of direct complaints aside, putting foreigners in sales really is not good for the image of the company. Becoming a major Internet shopping mall in Japan while not having a tradition of being innovative or rapid-reacting on the technology side means that Rakuten has been quite dependent on a professional sales force to crack a Japanese marketplace originally ignorant of the Internet's possibilities. With their language and cultural barriers, foreigners are obviously not ideal targets to be trained into professional salespeople.
Thus, I was rather shocked to hear that I will be a regular salesman when I asked to be transferred to revenue-generating "battlefront" not that long ago. I was expecting myself to head to marketing functions downstairs to do similar work as now (thinking up marketing strategies to increase sales and doing data analysis as proof of potential effectiveness of my strategies). But since I did asked to be transferred downstairs without specifying where specifically to go, I know that I must take my new position calmly.
Without a doubt, the new position is not going to be easy in any way. When I did door-to-door knife sales back in high school as a summer job, I was horrible at it and quite after a couple of months. And when we did sales practices as part of training for new graduates back in November of last year, I probably had the hardest time of everyone who participated. But I must forget about all that right now and play a whole new role of looking at the company from the "bottom" rather than the "top."
And, in my opinion, being from the "top" does give me an additional role in Sales Development. Having been highly critical of how sales is done in the company, I may become a sort of bridge between the "command center" and sales so that the Boss may have a vague idea of why so many new graduates in sales are quitting the company at such early stages of their careers. Sure, overemphasizing this role may lead to higher-ups in sales treating me differently from other new grads, but whats more fun than being a "infiltrator"?
One of the main reasons is that I believe the top management have been increasingly reluctant to send foreigners into Japanese sales positions. After all, being the most traditionally Japanese-style workplace in the company, the sales departments are high pressured places where people are compelled to be in a high state of tension constantly seeking to achieve their numbers. Work-related phone calls and emails never stop, while having causal relaxing weekends is considered a luxury.
And with such grim reality of emotional well-being being completed ignored at work comes the simultaneous attempt to hide that reality from the public (and other parts of the company) with shameless tweaking of outputted numbers. For example, Sales Development work one of the longest hours in the entire company (plus weekends), but they are forced to only record the standard 9-6, Mon-Fri on their time sheets without any possibility of getting any sort of financial compensation due to overwork.
Obviously, being a vocal, individualistic, opinionated, foreigners do not usually take this sort of work environment without some outward complaints. Worse, they can potentially gather in groups to spread their discontent, and actually gather a big enough group to make themselves heard through certain "undesirable" actions.
Think about it, what does an authoritarian regime fear the most? Answer: unwanted, unauthorized gatherings (definitely no freedom of assembly in this place). In sales, the use pf intra-company instant messengers are blocked for new graduates by the higher-ups (oblivious to the Boss) just so that the new graduates can keep their discontents to themselves and not producing a situation where many of them coordinate to disappear from work at the same time (it seems this sort of thing has happened before the IM ban was initiated).
Fear of direct complaints aside, putting foreigners in sales really is not good for the image of the company. Becoming a major Internet shopping mall in Japan while not having a tradition of being innovative or rapid-reacting on the technology side means that Rakuten has been quite dependent on a professional sales force to crack a Japanese marketplace originally ignorant of the Internet's possibilities. With their language and cultural barriers, foreigners are obviously not ideal targets to be trained into professional salespeople.
Thus, I was rather shocked to hear that I will be a regular salesman when I asked to be transferred to revenue-generating "battlefront" not that long ago. I was expecting myself to head to marketing functions downstairs to do similar work as now (thinking up marketing strategies to increase sales and doing data analysis as proof of potential effectiveness of my strategies). But since I did asked to be transferred downstairs without specifying where specifically to go, I know that I must take my new position calmly.
Without a doubt, the new position is not going to be easy in any way. When I did door-to-door knife sales back in high school as a summer job, I was horrible at it and quite after a couple of months. And when we did sales practices as part of training for new graduates back in November of last year, I probably had the hardest time of everyone who participated. But I must forget about all that right now and play a whole new role of looking at the company from the "bottom" rather than the "top."
And, in my opinion, being from the "top" does give me an additional role in Sales Development. Having been highly critical of how sales is done in the company, I may become a sort of bridge between the "command center" and sales so that the Boss may have a vague idea of why so many new graduates in sales are quitting the company at such early stages of their careers. Sure, overemphasizing this role may lead to higher-ups in sales treating me differently from other new grads, but whats more fun than being a "infiltrator"?
＞they can potentially gather in groups to spread their discontent, and actually gather a big enough group to make themselves heard through certain "undesirable" actions.
ReplyDeleteUm, I think this has a name. What was it....oh yeah, UNION.
good for you. the chance to see what actually happens from the 'inside' of the sales team may provide some additional insight into the heart of the company. working on the 'battlefront' should be quite rewarding for you: let's hope your peers and superiors recognise, acknowledge, and praise you for your 'will' to learn. promoting change from within/bottom up is much more effective. good luck with the new (s/t) posting.
ReplyDeletethanks, I really hope I will do fine...
ReplyDeleteand about union...it goes back to the same question why there isn't one....
http://xiaochensu.blogspot.com/2010/12/why-is-there-no-labor-union-at-rakuten.html