Why I, a former serious balancer, want to "provide value in a way that goes beyond recruitment"

"As the middle child of three sisters, she was the family balancer."
That's what Yoko Takahashi, who joined XICA as a human resources employee in October 2020, said.

Takahashi says, "I think my seriousness comes out. I admire people with unique personalities," but listening to her talk, I also get the impression that she is the type of person who throws herself into places that she finds interesting.
When we asked Takahashi what he wants to do in human resources, we could see his unique career vision, based on his having worked in the position of balancer since he was a child.

A serious balancer who admires unique people

── First of all, please tell us about your childhood.

I am from Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture, and I am the middle child of three sisters, with an older sister five years older than me and a younger sister five years younger than me.

── What is it like being the middle child of three sisters?

It feels like he is always watching his family from a step back.
Mediating a fight between my father and sister,Balancer positionI think he was there.
This may be the origin of the fact that I have done a lot of coordination work up until now.

── What kind of character were you at school?

When I was in elementary and junior high school, I was the kind of class representative who would tell my classmates to be quiet and make them chuckle (laughs).

I realized that if I kept doing this, people would dislike me, so I started doing things more casually, but people still tell me that I'm "too serious."

── I can't hide my seriousness.

I'm not aware of it, but I think there's a seriousness to it that leaks out.
I've always had a desire to become a more interesting person, and I really envy people with unique personalities.

── After graduating from high school you went on to Rikkyo University. What did you study there?

I majored in classes that explored the relationship between images, the body, and the mind in the Department of Visual and Physical Studies in the School of Contemporary Psychology.

I was a big TV fan since I was a child, so that had a big influence on me.
When I was little, I liked anime like Sailor Moon and Digimon, and from around the upper grades of elementary school, I started watching dramas at 10 p.m. I played volleyball in elementary and junior high school, but I joined the volleyball club after watching the Olympic volleyball competitions on TV.
When I make a choice, it's often influenced by what I see on TV.

I have been studying for a year as a ronin student,"If I'm going to study for another year anyway, I'll go to a place that I find interesting, even if I don't understand it well."The department I attended had been established about three years ago, but I liked video, so I decided to study at that department.

An "adult field trip" to a company that seems interesting

── After graduating from university, you got a job at Ageha Inc., a company that produces videos for new graduate recruitment. What was the focus of your job search?

When I first started looking for a job, I went to an information session held by a well-known company, but it was so boring that I wanted to leave halfway through."Go somewhere that you find interesting."I decided to do this and started looking for a job at a video company, which I've always loved, and that's how I came across Ageha.

When I went to the information session, I intuitively thought, "It might be really interesting to work here." From then on, I just kept pushing forward.

There were about 10 students at the information session, and the president was explaining the company, but when he asked me, "Does anyone have any questions?", I was the only one who had to ask three or four times. When he asked me, "It's time, does anyone else have any questions?", I raised my hand and said, "One more question please!" (laughs)

── Amazing! (laughs)

It seemed the president liked people like me who didn't read the atmosphere and just went ahead and did what I wanted, so I ended up joining the company.

── You said you wanted to work for a company that you found interesting, but what was it about it that you found interesting?

Ageha was a company that produced company introduction videos and interview videos for new graduate recruitment. At the time, our philosophy was to properly convey information to new graduates and eliminate problems such as early resignation due to mismatch and inability to perform despite being talented.

I am also a recent graduate and am currently deciding which company to work for.I agree with the idea of ​​using video to alleviate students' anxieties　

Also, I thought it would be interesting to hear stories from different people in different companies through my work."Social Studies Field Trip for Adults"We came up with a catchphrase, and that's exactly what it felt like to be excited about it.

First, I want to solve the problems of the people around me.

── After you were in charge of production management at Ageha, you also became involved in employee training, right?

Yes. At first, I started by training the junior staff in the production assistant position that I was in charge of.

There were times when young sales staff would work as production assistants to get to know the production site, but because they didn't know the basics of production assistant, they would often receive complaints from customers and production partners and things would not go smoothly. But I thought, "It's a shame that they only receive complaints when we haven't properly taught them."

── I want to solve the problems of those around me first.

I want to help solve the problems of the people around meSo I volunteered to be in charge of training. Then my boss at the time, who was also the head of the human resources department, asked me if I wanted to go to the School of Human Resources (※1).

The way of thinking of the teacher I met there resonated with me very well, and I began to think that human resources might be interesting.

*1:https://www.fournotes.co.jp/school/

── That's what led me to work in human resources.

"The job of HR is to align the vectors of company growth and employee growth." "Everything is connected from before a person is hired to after they leave the company, and HR is involved in that person's life."I really resonated with that story.

Without a sense of belonging and an evaluation system, you end up relying on the motivation of each employee. This means that people who lose motivation will quit. In the process, they will become increasingly exhausted. It would be sad if the people you like who work with you ended up like that.

If employees respond to what the company wants and the company responds to what the employees want, and the two parties grow together through a synergistic effect, the company will become even better.This really resonated with me and made me want to work in human resources.

I read all the employee interviews on the website.

── You worked at Ageha for five years and then moved to MyNet. What was important to you when you made that move?

People we work with.

I feel motivated when I work hard for the people in my company. So if I don't like the people in my company, I won't be able to maintain my motivation.

So, for companies that have recruitment pages, look at them from top to bottom.I read all the employee interviews that were published.This person seems like they would have similar ways of thinking, or this person would be interesting to talk to.

── You were in charge of new graduate recruitment, mid-career recruitment, human resources and labor affairs at MyNet for about two and a half years, and then you moved to XICA. What made you decide to join XICA?

The axis has not changed, the first"Man"is not it.

── It's so consistent!

Maybe I'm not flexible enough (laughs).

Another factor is the content of the work. If you start as a career hire, can you expand the scope of your work from there?

── Can you tell us why you want to expand your business?

I want to understand HR in general and find my strengths.I think that if possible, I would like to work in a position that allows me to utilize my strengths. The role required of HR changes depending on the company's phase, so I would like to become a person who can work flexibly within the framework of HR.

Being able to do everything allows you to have strengths in specialized areasI think.
Since HR work continues from before you join the company to after you leave, what you can do will be completely different depending on whether you have "broad knowledge but are strong in recruitment" or "only know about recruitment."I think that if you can do more things, you will be able to do a variety of multiplication operations.I don't know.

── What role do you plan to play at XICA in the future?

We plan to communicate with agents to form a pool of candidates, hold casual interviews, and provide support to both agents and candidates who are in the selection process.

I want to be able to demonstrate my value in a way that is one step beyond recruitment.

── What kind of work do you want to do in the future?

Human resources jobs cover a wide range, from jobs with a strong sales element, such as recruitment, to jobs that involve untangling and organizing complex tangles.

Among them, II like thinking about how to organize complicated things and make them more efficient, how to do things without making mistakes, and how to make things easier for the people at work.I think.

Even when I was working as a production assistant at my first company, I was particularly conscious of the initial steps and risk detection so that everyone could create something good, easily, and on time. Some people submit their work right before the deadline, and some are very careless, soI enjoyed the process of adapting my approach and the way I communicated to suit the person I was speaking to, and found it rewarding.Hm.

── He felt that improvement work, which involves making existing operations even better, was suited to him.

I think so.

When I joined XICA, I thought,Really everyone is a good personAt key points, they noticed when I was having trouble, and they invited me to help them blend in, so I really felt the kindness and consideration of the people.

That's why I wonder how much I can support everyone's careers as a human resources manager. To put it simply, I really hope that everyone who joins XICA will be happy.It would be great if we could become a company where you can work to become the person you want to be, and you can move forward toward the person you want to be without sacrificing what is important to you.I think.

To that end, I believe there are still many areas in the HR department where we can improve efficiency and organize, so I would like to work on those areas.

── It really comes down to whether the vectors of the company and its employees are aligned.

It is important to first determine at the time of hiring whether an individual's career path matches the company's goals, and we would like to work together with employees to find the best possible career for them as they grow.

The more you get involved in HR, the more you tremble (laughs).

── I look forward to seeing your continued success in the future! Thank you for today, Takahashi-san.

*The affiliation and title of the interviewee are those at the time of the interview.