Microsoft Innovation Center Report 2010-2011 vol.1
Microsoft Job Assistance Program for Students - Interns at BCN Weekly Published Newspaper; ‘Microsoft for Students’
Published: July 6, 2010
Japanese >>
May 10th, 2010, BCN Inc.
Since 2009, Microsoft has offered Microsoft Job Assistance Program for Students, which provides Microsoft Student Partners students with technical support and information, and introduces various internship programs. BCN Inc., which publishes BCN Weekly; one of the major IT industry newspapers, provided internships for this program. The company’s professional production team supported internship students from project planning to the coverage and writing involved in publishing Microsoft for Students, a newspaper reflecting the IT industry from a student viewpoint.
On This Page
Accelerating Students’ Motivation Fosters Human Resources with Initiative and Global Competitiveness
 | What students need most is support in preparing to job hunt. In Microsoft Job Assistance Program for Students, a program designed for Microsoft Student Partners (MSP), we provide assistance for students' job hunting, aiming at fostering human resource development for the future of domestic industry. |  | | Nobuhiro Ito
(Senior Manager, Academic Evangelism Group, Developer & Platform Evangelism, Microsoft Co., Ltd.)
| | |
Microsoft has offered Microsoft Job Assistance Program for Students, a program designed to enhance and support job assistance for students in college, graduate programs and specialized vocational schools since November 2009. As part of its corporate citizenship programs, Microsoft provides various programs and opportunities for students. These include DreamSpark which provides free self-learning content for students to foster the practical skills needed to generate innovation and sustain continuous IT industry growth, on-campus events where Microsoft employees present lectures to improve specialized skills and Imagine Cup, one of the world's largest IT technology competitions for students.
"Some recent job hunting data illustrate," noted Nobuhiro Ito (Senior Manager, Academic Evangelism Group, Developer & Platform Evangelism, Microsoft Co., Ltd.), "that this difficult situation will continue for a while. The number of new graduate recruits in 2011 stays the same as 2009 in 43.6% of companies, while only 9.5% of companies would increase their new employees out of school, keeping the number of 2011 new graduate recruits unchanged from 2009. Today, one job hunting student will visit up to 17 companies. In such a situation, what students need most is support in preparing to job hunt. In Microsoft Job Assistance Program for Students, a program designed for Microsoft Student Partners (MSP), we provide assistance for students' job hunting, aiming at fostering human resource development for the future not only in the IT industry but also in other industries in Japan."
Microsoft Job Assistance Program for Students has various offerings, including internship programs at Microsoft partner companies, free online training and other learning tools for certificate examinations and templates for academic Microsoft Office products. The only requirement for eligibility is joining MSP. Depending on their activities, the participants can achieve four MSP levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The more aggressively they participate in community activities, the more awards they can receive.
"The purpose of this program is," explains Shunichi Kajisa (CTO, Microsoft Co. Ltd, Japan), "to foster human resources with initiative and global competitiveness, and we consider the main resources to be students. Through MSP, We would expect them to meet people, gain insight in different fields and acquire the skill to combine all of these things to succeed. Such ability links to strength in modern business."
Providing Students with Practice Fields: Expectation for Initiative in Future Domestic Industry
| | Internships at such companies would help the students develop initiative and experience current social trends. | | | Shuichi Matsuda
(Professor, Waseda Business School; chief administration officer, Waseda Entrepreneurial Research Unit; chairman, WERU Investment Co., Ltd.;
ex-chairman, Japan Academic Society for Ventures and Entrepreneurs, Doctor of Commercial Science) | | |
Microsoft Job Assistance Program for Students offers internship programs for students with Gold or above level in their MSP activities. Microsoft Innovation Center and its local alliance organizations, as well as partner companies including Microsoft Innovation Award (MIA) winner companies and Microsoft IT Venture Support Program (ITVP) selected companies participate in this internship program. As an observer of Microsoft Job Assistance Program for Students, Shuichi Matsuda (Professor, Waseda Business School; chief administration officer, Waseda Entrepreneurial Research Unit; chairman, WERU Investment Co., Ltd.; ex-chairman, Japan Academic Society for Ventures and Entrepreneurs (JASVE), Doctor of Commercial Science) emphasizes the meaning of participating in internships at such companies.
"Today's students can get a lot of information from the Internet," says Professor Matsuda. "There are, however, few places for students to have serious discussions or try to bring their unique ideas to life. In addition, they may be assigned to positions they don't really want or their companies may be involved in M&A, and students would have to face such difficult situations. Rather than at traditional companies, Microsoft Job Assistance for Students program offers internships at venture companies utilizing cutting-edge Microsoft technologies. Internship at such companies would, I believe, help the students to develop initiative and experience current social trends."
BCN Inc. is one of these companies offering internships through Microsoft Job Assistance for Students program. The company's IT industry newspaper BCM Weekly, which also publishes marketing surveys and IT specialty magazines, assigned the interns to publish Microsoft for Students, a newspaper reflecting IT industry from a student viewpoint. BCN Weekly’s professional production team provided aggressive support from coverage and writing to production.
"It was very inspiring and exciting opportunity to work with our interns," recalls Yoshitane Tanihata (Chief Editor, BCN Weekly, BCN Inc.), "We decided what to produce, but we put emphasis on their initiative from project planning, coverage and writing to campaign design. We left the final decisions to the interns, while we just provided advice and support. The young students were full of unique viewpoints, and we had too many ideas to include in a 4-page paper. I am sure that in the future, they could do good work in the newspaper industry once they acquire the expertise and ability to take action. We would like to continue supporting students interested in IT industry."
Microsoft for Students: A Newspaper That Changed Intern's Future Career
| | We held interviews at a well-balanced variety of companies from large IT enterprises to ventures. We also got a sense of B2B (Business to Business), a field of the IT industry which most students rarely see. I believe this experience will help me to decide my future career. | | | Masaya Sugizaki
(Keio University)
| | |
Six interns participated in production of Microsoft for Students: Tomomi Ota (Keio University), Fumi Kanai (Hosei University), Masaya Sugizaki (Keio University), Miho Tanaka (Aoyama Gakuin University), Erina Hashimoto (Gakushuin University) and Yuta Matsumoto (Toyo University). At a post-production meeting, they recalled their valuable experience in joining MSP and Microsoft Job Assistance for Student program with satisfaction.
"I was responsible for communicating the attractive points of working in IT industry," said Masaya Sugizaki, an intern from Keio University, "Today's students know about IT industry trends, but are not well informed about how attractive working in the industry is. We held interviews at three different companies in our project, and talked to people working at a well-balanced, variety of companies from large IT enterprises to ventures. We also had a chance to listen to presidents of IT companies at Microsoft events, and got a sense of B2B (Business to Business), a field of IT industry which most students rarely see. I believe this experience will help me to decide my future career."
Another intern from Gakushuin University who worked with Sugizaki, Erina Hashimoto noted that her ideas of the IT industry changed to a great extent. Through her news gathering activities, she changed her career plans to include IT industry.
"I joined this internship because I was on the staff of my university’s newspaper," said Hashimoto. "BCN Weekly chief editor Yamahata helped me to get appointments to visit companies. While I was interviewing employees at one of the IT companies I visited, I got the impression that this company emphasizes relationships between people. Until I joined this project, I set mass communications as my future career. As I learned how attractive IT industry is, I also received a job offer from an IT company.
Another intern from Aoyama Gakuin University, Miho Tanaka agreed with her colleague interns that she gained a wider perspective on job hunting. In addition to her main field of mass communications, she also has added IT industry to her future career plans.
"I wanted to work in the mass communications field and was interested in newspaper production. I had some difficult times during my internship, but I was lucky to have colleagues who shared their meeting notes with me when I could not participate in the meetings, and they answered my novice questions. Also, I was surprised to receive a very kind reply from my contact at Microsoft after I sent her a rather personal mail asking about the rules in her business. Through my experience in this internship, I gained some knowledge about IT industry, and I am now thinking of finding a job in IT industry."
Valuable Internship Experience Changes Intern’s View of IT Industry
| | I joined this internship because I wanted to help students learn about IT. The visual images on our campaign site illustrate how marketing activities of IT companies can deliver something rather complicated in an easy-to-understand and attractive way. | | | Tomomi Ota
(Keio University)
| | |
Through their experience in this program, many interns learned about and were intrigued by the world of IT. For example, Fumi Kanai from Hosei University got a job offer from one of the major companies in Internet business. Yuta Matsumoto from Toyo University said his viewpoint on IT industry changed to a great extent after he saw Microsoft’s employees and visions for IT during his news gathering activities.
"I joined this internship without much knowledge about IT, and even in the planning meetings, I encountered a lot of things I did not know," recalls Matsumoto. "I ran into things I needed to study everyday: I asked questions to other interns, chief editor Yamahata and Microsoft employees. Through this project, however, I gained experience in the world of IT through searching for Web services useful to students and participating in various events. From this experience, I learned that a good IT company not only provides technology but also has a vision to enrich people's lives through IT."
Tomomi Ota from Keio University said she wanted to share her experience with many other students. Ota, whose ideas chief editor Yamahata highly evaluated, proposed a project to integrate paper and Web and managed this project by herself.
"When I attended some Microsoft events, I was really surprised by their sophisticated stage production and level of perfection. It would be effective to deliver attractive openings and sessions to deliver the latest technology as visual images. That's why I thought about integration between paper and Web, and I proposed a project to attract students through a Web site with campaign and paper. I joined this internship because I wanted to help students learn about IT. The visual images on our campaign site illustrate how marketing activities of IT companies can deliver something rather complicated in an easy-to-understand and attractive way.
All the interns involved in Microsoft for Students share the same impression: that Microsoft is a “warm company.” Their previous impressions of IT companies as incomprehensible and square have changed 180 degrees. After completing internships, those students see IT as an attractive industry where people enjoy working.
