We have used Nihon Shigoto Hyakka as a recruitment liaison for Monosus many times. There, we have a wonderful job introduction article written by Nozomi Nakajima, who probably knows more about Monosus than we who work there.
(Interviewer: Kensaku Saguchi)
He makes everyone he meets feel warm and fuzzy, and before he knows it, he's talking about more than usual... What does Nakajima think, how does he work, and how does he get that mysterious magnetic power? I was so curious that I asked him to appear on Meguru Monasashi.
Profile of Nozomi Nakajima :
Born in 1985, raised in Toride, Ibaraki, and currently living in Ryugasaki. Living in a house 50 steps from his parents' house along the river, he commutes back and forth between Tokyo and Ibaraki. He runs "Nihon Shigoto Hyakka," a job search site for people who want to work like they live, and "Little Tokyo," a place where people can encounter different ways of living and working. He is active in his hometown of Toride, and runs "Tomorrow's Suburbs" and "Toride Art Real Estate" as part of the Toride Art Project. He travels to Bangladesh once a year as part of start to [ ] activities. He recently opened a chai shop called "Kimi Chai."
He became interested in international cooperation, learned Vietnamese, and became an active NEET. Before he knew it, he was working two jobs in Japan.
"I didn't want to be a writer, and to be precise, I'm not a writer now. At Nihon Shigoto Hyakka, we have writers who are only in charge of interviews, editing, and writing manuscripts, and my main job is general affairs and overall management. Writing accounts for about 30% of the total. So, sorry, I'm suddenly going off topic today (laughs)."
Nihon Shigoto Hyakka is a unique job search site with many readers and fans, with the catchphrase "Job search for people who work like they live." Monosus has worked with Nakajima-san of Nihon Shigoto Hyakka on many occasions, and it was Nakajima-san from Nihon Shigoto Hyakka who perfectly captured the thoughts of Monosus about both "Tomohata" and Kamiyama and compiled them into a manuscript.
*Tomohata = an abbreviation of "Working with people who want to live together."
This is one of the keywords that is often discussed at Monosus, including by our CEO, Hayashi.
However, he suddenly declared, "I'm not a writer." The interview began with some surprise, and we proceeded by asking Nakajima about his life before he joined Nihon Shigoto Hyakkaten.
"During my junior and senior high school years, I began to feel an affinity with Africa and started to pay attention to the news. Even as a high school student, I became interested in the issue of poverty and wanted to learn more about it in college."
Nakajima applied to a faculty where he could study international cooperation and developing countries. He majored in Vietnamese at university and studied international cooperation for four years. He realized that "life in Japan is fun, and I don't want to devote everything to going abroad and doing something."
When he started job hunting, he thought, "The White Band Project was popular that year, so I thought there was a way to cooperate in this way," and got a job at a company that produces web sites and plans campaigns. While working in sales, he thought, "In the future, I want to help NPOs with their activities in terms of sales promotion."
"I ended up working there for four and a half years, but then I wanted to change jobs, and when I looked on the company's website, I saw that they said, 'We're currently hiring at Nihon Shigoto Hyakkaten.'"
Although he was unable to transfer to that company, Nakajima felt that "Nihon Shigoto Hyakka is an interesting website." "At the time, I was starting to hate my job at the company. I was inspired by the fact that there are people who are working so positively and healthily," and he became a reader.
After that, until he left the company, Nakajima-san worked on a campaign to "attend events that interest you as much as possible." He participated in events and classes organized by the web magazine " greenz.jp ." There, he met Nakamura Kenta, the representative of Nihon Shigoto Hyakka, who came to the event as a speaker and guest lecturer.
"At first, I just thought, 'Oh, he's from Shigoto Hyakka...' but then Nihon Shigoto Hyakka was recruiting interns. It said, 'Working adults are welcome,' so I thought, 'Maybe if I do an internship here I can find an interesting job!'"
After a casual interview, he was contacted later saying, "We have an upcoming event, so please help us out," and so the internship "just started." During the NEET period after he quit his job, he would go to the office once or twice a week to transcribe audio data from interviews, accompany interviews, and help out at events.
"Actually, around the same time, I was also volunteering at an art and urban development NPO* in my hometown of Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture. It wasn't that I was particularly interested in art or urban development, but the people there were just as interesting as the people at Nihon Shigoto Hyakka."
* Toride Art Project (TAP) is an NPO that runs the "Art Housing Complex" and "Half-Farming, Half-Arts" projects.
Here is an interview with Nakajima by greenz.jp about his activities there.
As my unemployment insurance period was coming to an end, Nakamura asked me if I wanted to join, while an NPO in Toride was also planning to launch a project with a three-year grant and asked me if I would sign a contract and take charge of the project.
"By coincidence, the timing coincided when I started receiving money from both. I thought that if things continued going well, I'd be able to continue to be in contact with the interesting people at both. Even if I quit one of them and got a different job, we might continue to be friends, but a friendship and a working relationship are different, aren't they?
I thought it would be fun if I could continue working with these people for a little longer. So that's how I started doing both."
He continued this balance of working three days a week at Nihon Shigoto Hyakka and the rest of the time at the NPO in Toride for three years until the end of the grant period. He gradually shifted his focus to Nihon Shigoto Hyakka, and his involvement changed from self-employed to part-time, and now he is a full-time employee. However, he is allowed to work from home, and he values the time he spends in his hometown.
A view of Nakajima's neighborhood. Apparently, he walks his dog through scenery like this in between work at home.
TAP initiatives that Nakajima is involved in
(Photo courtesy of Toride Art Project)
The project site is a housing complex where people with diverse backgrounds and values come together, and through the new "activities" that residents and artists create through their interactions in the course of their daily lives, we hope to open up new possibilities for expression and new values that can only be found in a suburban city.
The project " IN MY GARDEN " is a project to paint mural art in Togashira Danchi. Based on memories and stories of Togashira Danchi shared by residents, artist Uehara Kosei has expanded on his ideas and imagination, treating the walls of Togashira Danchi as a canvas and turning the living space into a work of art. (Photo: Ito Yuji)
(Left) Sun Self Hotel , an art event with overnight stays run by the residents of Ino Danchi themselves. (Right) Guests at Sun Self Hotel stroll around the area with solar wagons that store electricity for their stay. (Photo: Ito Yuji)
This project partners with artists who express themselves through close ties with agriculture and nature, and attempts to create new ways of living while expressing oneself, as well as new lifestyles that are possible only in a suburban city. In addition to experimenting with growing Japanese cotton and blueberries and creating paints from plant pigments, the project also works on an artist-in-residence program. ( Click here for an overview)
"I hope my friend's daughter joins us"
By connecting people's personalities, your message will reach the people you want to reach.
Nihon Shigoto Hyakka has established a unique position that is different from other job search sites. The structure that makes you want to read it focuses on working people and working styles, and even people who are not looking for work become fans and readers. As one of the creators of the Monosas site, I asked him about the attention to detail he pays when interviewing and writing articles.
Japan Job Department Store http://shigoto100.com/
"The most important thing is always the reader. It may be a forum set up for a two-hour interview, but we write honestly and as we feel it. I think that ultimately it's a good thing for both the person joining the company and the people who hire them.
Even if the company marks up a lot of the manuscript after it has been submitted, we almost never make any changes. The revisions are made to convey the message in a good light, so although it would be a bit harsh to say we reject them, we explain to them that 'this will not lead to a good employment opportunity' and ask them to reconsider."
Normally, in such cases, the client's wishes and requests take priority...
"The way the Nihon Shigoto Hyakka website is designed doesn't allow for a search function. In other words, you can't just see the jobs you're looking for. You don't know what jobs are available unless you read the job postings. So, the people who read it regularly are enjoying it as a read, rather than looking at it because they're looking to change jobs.
And it's a job I'd never thought I'd try, but when I read about it, it seems surprisingly interesting. I want to work with this person. That's the kind of motivation that leads to applications. The readers become applicants. So while valuing the Nihon Shigoto Hyakka-ness, I respond by saying that I will give priority to what the writer honestly feels, and I will rewrite the words in red to make them more Shigoto Hyakka-like."
The interview begins with Nakajima saying, "I'll tell you exactly what I feel," and he seems to think about these things as he listens to the story.
"I like to listen to what the organization values and when I get a good idea of what kind of person I would like to be, like, 'I wish my friend would join this organization,' I think that's the end of it. I find it easier to write that way, and it's easier to get hired. That's why Shigoto Hyakka doesn't keep track of the number of pageviews for each article. It's surprising these days, isn't it? But the reason for that is that I feel that articles that get a lot of views don't necessarily lead to good hires.
If you can imagine the type of person they want when you hear that they are looking for someone like that, then you can write an article that that person wants to read. For example, if in an interview they say, "We want someone with a gloomy personality," instead of sugar-coating it and rewriting it to make it less offensive, you can give it a title that a gloomy person would want to read. Even if only one person reads it, that one person might apply, which will lead to the job being hired.
This attitude was certainly reflected in Monosus’ job postings.
"In that respect, during the interviews for Monosus, Hayashi-san was very clear about the type of character he was looking for, so it was easy to write. For example, during the first Monosus seminar, he told me, 'This is the perfect Bakabon dad.' At that time, I thought to myself, 'He's such a cute guy!' (laughs)"
cute!?
"I felt that he was not the most serious person, but was also open to being very unique, so if applicants did not understand that side of him, it would be difficult for them to get in. So I think it was the article from the second Kamiyama Monosasu Juku . I chose a cute photo of Hayashi resting her chin on her hand."
A photo from the recruitment ad for the second session of the Kamiyama Monosasu School, " Working with People You Want to Live With "
The photo that was the talk of the town caused a stir within Monosus, with a request being made to "make it a photo of the rice terraces of Kamiyama." However...
"However, during the interview, I was told, 'We don't want people who want to develop local towns.' I thought that photos of rice terraces would attract applications from people who want to move to the countryside, so I thought that wasn't the right choice. Rather, I thought it would be better to attract people who want to click on Hayashi's photos, which have a slightly mysterious atmosphere, so I turned him down."
As a result, after reading the article written by Nakajima, over 80 people applied, and we had such a wonderful group of students that the students were asking each other, "Why did you choose such great people?"
One of the reasons for working is
To be with people who help me stay healthy
Nakajima said that he also sympathized with "Tomohata."
"I think the story of "Tomohata" is similar to the reason why I wanted to work at Nihon Shigoto Hyakka and Toride Art Project. I want to work with these people. I like the sense of distance between the people who work here. People at work see each other every day, so they're close to each other.
This may be because I am easily influenced by others, but I think our sensibilities and values are similar. So when I think about what I want to be in the future, I think it's better to be around people who are similar to the image of what I want to be.
I don't particularly want to be friends with a huge number of people, but I want to maintain relationships with people who make me feel healthy. So when I heard about "Tomohata" from Hayashi-san, I thought, "Ah, that's right."
During the interview, Nakajima repeatedly used phrases beginning with "not particularly" such as "I never wanted to be a writer" and "I wasn't particularly interested in urban development or art." However, these were not negative words, but rather keywords to give him the courage to jump into the people and neighborhoods he likes.
"I'm basically a lazy person, and I'd rather just relax at home (laughs). But I have to work. So I want to get closer to what I think is best.
For example, when I was volunteering in Toride, Masataka Baba, an architect and the initiator of Tokyo R Real Estate, was involved in the NPO as a producer. When I was thinking about quitting my previous company, I read in a book by Yoshiaki Nishimura (" How Do You Work and Live? " Kobundo, 2010) that Baba was introduced as "a person who moves like blood." When I read that, I felt a strong connection with him, and thought, "Maybe I can do something like that too," even though it may be presumptuous of me.
It really left an impression on me, so I was able to meet such a person in Toride, and now I'm going to be working with Nishimura-san, who was the one who introduced me to Baba-san, at Shigoto Hyakka. When I approached the person I liked, my life took a truly mysterious turn. I think it's really important to meet people."
Nakajima also says, "It's because I have a job that I can meet so many people."
"The people I interview, including Ms. Hayashi, are people I can meet because I work at Shigoto Hyakka. Even if I go up to them and say, 'Nice to meet you, I'm Nakajima Nozomi,' I wouldn't have a chance to talk to them, but if I say, 'I'm Nakajima from Shigoto Hyakka,' we can build a relationship where we can talk. It's work that allows me to build those kinds of relationships. I think that's very important."
We also met Nakajima through work, but what does he think of Monosus?
"Maybe I don't know much about the main business. I only know about the lifestyle and work aspects. But while there are many companies that are starting to pay attention to those aspects, Monosus is a company that is really starting to get into it with a lot of momentum.
For example, many companies slowly start things like going to Thailand as new experiments, saying, "Let's do it!" but sometimes they can't actually do it. But Monosus has started and is continuing to do things in Thailand, Kamiyama, and agriculture, which I think is amazing."
Why don't you just say, "It's fine," and do something with us, Nakajima?
"Is it okay for me to dress like this? I threw away all the clothes I had when I was in sales (laughs). I can't even wear heels."
It's totally fine.
"Well, I'll have a desk made for you then (laughs)."
Listen to the stories of people who started their own businesses
Another face that I started thinking, "Can I do it too?"
If you've read this far and are thinking that you'd like to meet and talk with Nakajima, here's some good news for you. Nakajima actually has another side to him.
It's a chai shop called "Kimi Chai" that opens once a month in rented space in Tokyo and Ibaraki prefecture.
For the latest information on "Kimichai", please visit http://www.kimichai.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kimiichaii/?fref=ts
"When I interview people, I meet business owners. They're all people who have started something on their own. Listening to their stories, I started to think, 'Maybe I can do something too?' Starting a business felt more casual than I'd imagined, or something close to me. When I was working at my previous company, I thought starting a business was something that had nothing to do with me.
Also, because I had the experience of starting a project at an NPO in Toride, I felt like the things I could ask people during interviews and the range of things I could understand had expanded. Maybe if I started something myself, I would be able to ask more questions and understand more. But I'm not running a chai shop or anything, I just run it once a month (laughs)."
Why a chai shop?
"During the time I was a NEET, I also went to Free University during the campaign to get out and about. I took a strange course called sleep studies, and someone I met there was doing a project to build a school in Bangladesh.
It wasn't that I wanted to go to Bangladesh, but that person had a lot of experience living abroad, so when I said, "I'm going to be a NEET, so I think I'll go on a trip," he invited me to go to Bangladesh with him. That's when I became a member of a voluntary organization that runs a school there.
The school was already open, and the chai shop was just a trial run to raise operating funds. It wasn't that I particularly liked chai, but I felt like I could make it. Oh, there's that "nothing special" again (laughs)."
After the interview: A letter to Nakajima-san
The recruitment article for Kamiyama Monosasu Juku, which appeared in the text, had over 80 applicants.
One of the people interviewed at that time was Iwaki from the Production Department, who was in charge of the secretariat. Due to this connection, he was also present for this interview, which made for a very lively time.
Iwaki reflected, "Nakajima's story was really interesting!" and would like to conclude with a message of gratitude to Nakajima.
It's not a pushy one, but it's also not a calm one.
Sometimes laughing, sometimes stopping to ask questions,
It's like he's enjoying what's happening there...Nakajima's interview style is not one of "interviewer/being interviewed" but rather,
It feels like we're "enjoying a conversation together."Because it will be over while we are talking smoothly,
Huh? Is this the end? Can I write an article about it? I was feeling nervous.
The finished article clearly expresses "our thoughts."How can I write it like this?
The interview started with that question, but took an unexpected turn with a constant stream of "I don't really care"s (laughs).But, how should I put it, it seems very life-sized and natural.
It's more like the vibe of a local matchmaker, and completely different from the usual "I think my friend would be a good fit for this company!" vibe of the harsh job market.So I'm sure it will reach the reader's heart honestly,
I think the people we think are great are the ones who actually come.Nakajima-san, thank you for your always heartwarming articles.
We hope you will continue to support Monosus for a long time to come!Production Department Kaori Iwaki
Monosus Site Team
How to create good blood circulation with members and other people involved? How can we deepen our relationships to do better work? While thinking about this, we introduce the people and work of Monosus. The secretariat has approximately five members. I love eating a lot.