March 11, 2024
Days with Progress, in the Scent of “Blue Spring”
It’s like wandering into the world in a dream-like state, leaving the world I have lived for 22 years. It’s like the story of “Spirited Away”. One thing is totally different from the story though: there are a lot of passionate and waaaarm team members who always support and push me to grow as a better individual (of course, they are not any phantoms or scary witches).
Hello! I’m Takeru. Everyone at the office calls me “Taks” (not tax!) because it is easier to say. I’m from Japan. I love to listen and play classical music (I play the bass trombone), and to travel around the the world!
I am a PH Team Marketing Communications Intern. I have two major tasks: 1) create a new business proposal and 2) analyze our social posts on Instagram to contribute insights on how we can improve its performance.
I experienced a lot of difficulties while working on these tasks. Of course, “language barrier” is a major difficulty, but the biggest problem is the “lack of the ability to think logically.
When I need to accomplish work at school, I could get detailed instructions from my teacher, and ask easily without thinking about it too much. The status of being a “student” protected me from any troubles. There was an environment which I could spoil myself.
However, in the world of business, I can never spoil myself. There are no teachers who will tell me what I need to do from A to Z. To make things even more challenging, more often than not, there is no just one clear answer or solution to a problem. I need to think on my own and come up with an answer. Moreover, upon finding myself in the corporate world,I came to realize that the status of being a \”student\” doesn’t have any meaning; the end result of your task is what matters.
Working on those two tasks was like driving in a dark tunnel. The important thing was to think logically, make decisions bravely and efficiently. Logical thinking was like flash light in a dark or shovel in a cave. I lack this ability because I had spoiled myself at school.
Kyon (CEO) and Kara (MC Team Leader) gave me lots of advice and feedback. They treated me and helped me grow as one of the team members, not as an intern. I received feedback from them, such as to read more books and practice my learnings, so I can gradually improve my logical thinking. I have yet to master it, but now I can think and work with much more logic compared to pre-YOYO days.
I owe this growth to the team members who gave me feedback and who kept an eye out for me. The culture and environment in the office, created and influenced by the members’ passion, made me look forward to another day every after office hours. In Japan, we call the younger days with full of passion “Sei-shun (青春, Blue Spring)”, the same meaning as “bloom of youth”. I felt a very passionate and positive atmosphere of Seishun in YOYO. Every members enjoyed developing progress proactively and spontaneously, without any feeling of restraint. This atmosphere was refreshing for me, because I have seen many office workers with dead eyes in Tokyo every night! Because of this atmosphere, I am more motivated to strive for progress.
I had lots of fun experiences outside work: Indonesia office team members brought me to Karaoke and introduced me to a lot of Indonesian songs (I love TULUS), and the Philippine office team members invited me to Badminton game and shared a delicious dinner together after. These beautiful memories are all motivation for me to continue making progress in all of my tasks. Thank you so much po for all!!
I’ll keep making progress even after this internship so I can be just like the team members of YOYO, who have ownership, professionalism, and spirit of one for all.
For students like me who are looking for opportunities to hone your skills and experience growth in challenges (and have lots of fun in the process!), send YOYO an email or message via its LinkedIn or social accounts! 😊
Follow their LinkedIn account and send your CV at career@yoyo-holdings.com.
Indonesia office (Pop Digital Indonesia)
Philippines office (YOYO Philippines)
Signing off as MC Intern,
Taks