More and more companies are offering working adult internship programs, in which participants can experience temporarily working at firms other than their own.
Many people participate in such programs to improve their abilities and use the experience to look for a new job. By offering these programs, companies also gain an opportunity to obtain knowledge from outside human resources and hire exceptional employees.
CyberAgent, Inc., a major online advertising company, conducted an internship program for working adults at its headquarters in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, on a Saturday in mid-February.
About 30 company employees mainly in their 20s and 30s who spend their weekdays working for information technology firms and manufacturers took part in the program. They were divided into groups of four and tasked with drawing up advertising strategies for automobiles and apparel businesses.
"I could get a good grasp of what the company is like," said a 24-year-old woman who works for a major consulting firm in Tokyo. "This was a new experience for me."
Only a limited number of companies offered internship programs for working adults before February, when Recruit Career Co. introduced the new business, lifting interest in such programs.
Typically, the major human resources service provider mediates between those wanting to participate in internship programs and companies hoping to accept them.
About 30,000 people are registered with the system at the moment, and about 40 companies, including Toyota Motor Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd., use the system to accept candidates.
Participants take part in job experience programs on weekday evenings and on holidays at companies that accept them.
As many Japanese companies do not allow their employees to have side jobs or part-time jobs, participants categorize their participation in internship programs as going to study meetings. As a result, in many cases, they do not get paid for the work they do as interns.
Many of the participants learn about jobs they have never done before and use the experience when considering a career change or move. For those looking for a new job, they can learn more about the feel of the company and the content of a job by working there as an intern. Such an experience can help them know what to expect after fully joining the firm.
By accepting interns, companies hope to hear opinions from different types of people other than their own employees and effectively utilize them for business. Firms can also observe the skills of those in internship programs before hiring them as new employees.
There were 3.06 million people who switched jobs in 2016, exceeding the 3 million mark for the first time since 2009, when 3.2 million people did so.
Due to a labor shortage and positive business performance, many companies have become active in mid-career recruiting, likely meaning they will use internship programs for adult workers more.
Earlier this month, an expert panel of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry compiled a report stating the experience of a different organizational culture could subsequently play a part in building new careers in the future after transferring to different departments and changing jobs.
"More people will think about their future careers and plan a job change in light of their experience of working at other companies," said Koichiro Kabata of Recruit Career.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
