Personal Ambitions and Nonexistent “Congrats” from the Company
"I have decided to graduate from Rakuten and go become a teacher in Uganda!" The tone from an outgoing coworker cannot have sounded more optimistic and forward-looking to a globetrotter like me. A sudden message indeed, and no doubt caught most of the people on the recipient mailing list with great surprise. While I am reading and feeling absolutely jealous and in complete respect for the courage of making such a risky move, I at the same time wonder how others are feeling about the same announcement.
One of the issues I discussed with a couple of high school students back in that Nagano MacDonald's was the highly entrenched tendency for the Japanese to seek stability in the process of job search. Especially for a place like Rakuten, where initial new grad pay is higher than most other Japanese companies, many applicants seek stable lifetime employment despite a repeated public announcement by the Boss himself of the company’s “venture” identity.
And thanks to superb efforts by our Recruiting staff, it seems that we have weeded out most of the obviously stability-seeking candidates during the hiring process. But since the Japanese population is stability-seeking in general, we have to say that even those who are employed here are not without their own plans to last their entire working lives in the company…And unfortunately, the thoughts of making Rakuten a lifetime employer is becoming more and more pronounced among the staff.
The case is especially true in sales, where generated contents and acquired knowledge of the staff are highly specialized for Rakuten. Even with superb sales skills, they would find a hard time learning the ropes again doing sales in another company. From such an environment, it is obvious that they would react with anxiety (if not hostility) toward anyone departing the company, especially if the departing person leaves in a short time and without substantial achievement.
In fact, as a personal example, I have to say that since I have gradually made public my decision to head to LSE for grad school, I have not received a single word of positive feedback from the sales staff. Sure, most staff not having enough knowledge about schools outside Japan may explain the silence, but a bigger reason may simply be utter incomprehension on why I would depart a company that pays so well and provides such a “good environment for personal growth.”
I am not saying their incomprehension is illogical or unfounded. In fact, for someone without foreign experiences and do not wish to have any, the uncertainty associated with leaving Rakuten is indeed just too big to worth the risk. But to believe that every person should and must believe in the same reasoning (based on some elusive concept of “gratitude” toward the company) is simply close-minded to the utmost.
The courage of teaching in remote Africa, just as getting accepted into one of the most competitive grad schools in the world, is an act worthy of warm and genuine congratulations. To be quietly disapproving (not to mention the open expression of being “wasteful” for the company) is truly disrespectful of the individual’s right to choose and open siding with the individuality-suppressing system worthy of derision.
And finally, as the person in question, this time is Japanese, I also wish the instance can be used to reduce a sense of “foreigners’ exceptionalism” concerning individuality. Just as the head of Rakuten Ichiba mentioned when he became the first person from the sales side who congratulated me, “I would like to keep you, but I understand that this is a step up and ahead…I wish the best of luck and hope you can come back in the future.” Only with such open attitudes can we expect highly educated people to remain in the company...
One of the issues I discussed with a couple of high school students back in that Nagano MacDonald's was the highly entrenched tendency for the Japanese to seek stability in the process of job search. Especially for a place like Rakuten, where initial new grad pay is higher than most other Japanese companies, many applicants seek stable lifetime employment despite a repeated public announcement by the Boss himself of the company’s “venture” identity.
And thanks to superb efforts by our Recruiting staff, it seems that we have weeded out most of the obviously stability-seeking candidates during the hiring process. But since the Japanese population is stability-seeking in general, we have to say that even those who are employed here are not without their own plans to last their entire working lives in the company…And unfortunately, the thoughts of making Rakuten a lifetime employer is becoming more and more pronounced among the staff.
The case is especially true in sales, where generated contents and acquired knowledge of the staff are highly specialized for Rakuten. Even with superb sales skills, they would find a hard time learning the ropes again doing sales in another company. From such an environment, it is obvious that they would react with anxiety (if not hostility) toward anyone departing the company, especially if the departing person leaves in a short time and without substantial achievement.
In fact, as a personal example, I have to say that since I have gradually made public my decision to head to LSE for grad school, I have not received a single word of positive feedback from the sales staff. Sure, most staff not having enough knowledge about schools outside Japan may explain the silence, but a bigger reason may simply be utter incomprehension on why I would depart a company that pays so well and provides such a “good environment for personal growth.”
I am not saying their incomprehension is illogical or unfounded. In fact, for someone without foreign experiences and do not wish to have any, the uncertainty associated with leaving Rakuten is indeed just too big to worth the risk. But to believe that every person should and must believe in the same reasoning (based on some elusive concept of “gratitude” toward the company) is simply close-minded to the utmost.
The courage of teaching in remote Africa, just as getting accepted into one of the most competitive grad schools in the world, is an act worthy of warm and genuine congratulations. To be quietly disapproving (not to mention the open expression of being “wasteful” for the company) is truly disrespectful of the individual’s right to choose and open siding with the individuality-suppressing system worthy of derision.
And finally, as the person in question, this time is Japanese, I also wish the instance can be used to reduce a sense of “foreigners’ exceptionalism” concerning individuality. Just as the head of Rakuten Ichiba mentioned when he became the first person from the sales side who congratulated me, “I would like to keep you, but I understand that this is a step up and ahead…I wish the best of luck and hope you can come back in the future.” Only with such open attitudes can we expect highly educated people to remain in the company...
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