【Questions from 3 new grads】Why is WOVN hiring new grads now?

WOVN is entering its ninth fiscal year in 2022, and is now hiring new graduates.
WOVN had focused on mid-career recruitment so far. Why did the company decide to hire new graduates now? Three new graduates interviewed Takaharu Hayashi, the CEO, and Rhythm Tanaka, the HR manager.

Q．Before I ask about new graduate recruitment, could you tell us about the history of Wovn Technologies?

Hayashi:
As someone with programming experience, I began WOVN as an extension of my hobby.
In the past, I was developing a logger system for collecting a variety of information about cars.
It made me realize then, that connecting the logger to the internet could create an impact. I was soon inspired by the possibilities the Internet had, and dove into the world of the Internet and software, which eventually led to establishing WOVN.

Q．Why did you choose to do localization after you decided to proceed along path of the Internet and software?

Hayashi:
The reason is complex, but one is that it was difficult to read a variety of information in English. I thought it would be nice to simply read English information in Japanese when studying software and about the Internet. Under such circumstances, I thought that the mechanism of the AB test tool that I used in my work could be applied to separate languages. From there, I thought that everyone would use a tool for localization freely if something like that were available, leading to the development of our localization software.

Q．WOVN, as mentioned, began as an extension to Hayashi-san's hobby and is in its ninth year. In fiscal year 2022, we recruited new graduate members for the first time. Why did you begin hiring new graduates?

Hayashi:
“To be WOVN-native” was one of the reasons for recruiting new graduates.
In general, unlike mid-career applicants, new graduates will take about three years to get good performance in their work. So it may be difficult to say at this point that new graduates are able to deliver their salary-based business value. On the other hand, while they are rich in experience, people who joined the company mid-career have difficulties adjusting to the culture and often quit. For this reason, I would like to see new graduates build their business experiences from scratch in this “country of WOVN” and become a “native WOVNeer” to deliver value as one who embodies the culture of WOVN in the future.

Q．Have you thought of recruiting new graduates when founding WOVN

Hayashi:
Honestly, WOVN products are difficult to make and also difficult to sell. Therefore, we did not initially consider investing in recruiting new graduates. However, we felt our company was in the middle of growing, having more than 100 members and the capability to invest, we finally considered recruiting new graduates. This was also part of the plan to create native WOVNeers.

Tanaka:
There are certain people who are in the middle of their career but aren’t identifiable in the recruitment market. These people often remain in their company long-term and climb up the corporate ladder, start a new business, and often change jobs only by referral from acquaintances. Some companies hire new graduates because the company wants to have a point of contact before they join different companies later on.

Q．“Excellence” is often used as a keyword, but what is the definition?

Hayashi:
In our case, the definition of excellence means “good for the company,” i.e., to be able to act in line with the values of WOVN. If you want to know more about WOVN values, try reading the article here.

Q．What attributes did you look for in new graduate recruitment for the engineer side and business side?

Tanaka:
There was no particular difference. We value people who can value teamwork and can work autonomously.

Q．Do “growing new graduates” have anything in common?

Hayashi:
This is not limited to new graduates, but it's important to stick to the same goals while being capable of adapting and changing styles, or being able to change ways if you are criticized. It's alright to be strict with goals, but it's also important to able to flexibly change if you know you’re not heading the right direction. WOVN originally had a freemium service, but we weren’t getting any closer to the lofty goal of “Localize the Internet,” so we then refocused our services towards enterprises. This is another example of how we changed our approach without changing our mission to “Localize the Internet.”

Tanaka:
I think being able to keep small promises.

Q．If you were a new graduate again, what skills or attitude would you like to attain?

Hayashi:
I would value carrying out actions based on beliefs, not just skills. A skill is only a means to an end, so I would like to start by deciding which mountain to climb if I were a new graduate again.
However, in order to decide which mountain to climb, I would need try my hand at a variety of things.

Tanaka:
To not fear anything just because I’m a new graduate. Rather than being silent the whole time, I think it’s better to speak out and be scolded or have mistakes pointed out.

Q．As a foreign citizen (Vu-san), I was looking at whether or not I’d be in an open environment when looking for a job at a Japanese company. I have a stereotype of Japanese companies being traditional, but why does WOVN have such a open culture? And how was it built up?　

Hayashi:
I think it’s just about listening to everyone’s opinions.
For example, WOVN doesn’t have holidays. This began after one of our foreign members said, “I want a Christmas holiday.” * It’s very similar to how Japanese people will be on holiday for New Year’s celebration in January.

* At WOVN, a holiday is treated as a normal work day, and there is a system which adds those days as paid holidays

Tanaka:
To be honest, I haven’t paid too much attention.

Hayashi: Rather than worrying beforehand, I think we changed as we hired more members and things didn’t work out as intended. I don’t think we suddenly decided, “let’s hire more foreign nationals!” but we naturally heard a variety of opinions as we hired different people from around the world.

Tanaka:
In that case, I think it is important to imagine the struggles that foreigners working in Japan deal with.

Hayashi:
Back then when there were only five members on the engineering side, we got a new member from France. He was not able to speak Japanese at all, and one day I got Slack message from him that said “I can’t flush” in the bathroom. There was only “大・小 (big / small)” indicated in the bathroom, so he couldn’t flush because the word “flush” wasn’t seen anywhere. And that’s when I thought, “oh, I see.”

Tanaka:
Also, when making documents, while it may take twice as much time making both Japanese and English versions, I don’t want to skip this part.

Q．By the way, what was WOVN looking at during the screening process?

Tanaka:
I was looking at if the candidates could describe what they pursued the most in university in their own words.
Many people prepare a script, but it’s easy to figure out if someone is reading off a script or not.

Hayashi:
Yes, it’s easy to figure out.

Q．Please share a few words for students who are hunting for a job!

Hayashi:
I think there are three main things to look for in a job: treatment, job type, and company mission. However, in the case of new graduates, I think there is a tendency to choose treatment in most cases. Good salary, good welfare. However, I think wherever there is good treatment, that company is also highly competitive and their future is not particularly exciting either.
Therefore, I would like to work with new graduates who say either “I want to create a future like this!” or “I want to be able to do this!” And it’s possible to get the good treatment later.
In the case of WOVN, everyone is working together to create a market for the mission. Just as Apple created a smartphone market with the iPhone, WOVN also wants to create a localization market. Of course, there are startups that create an unknown market, so I think we have the opportunity to have many good, if not challenging, experiences.
It may be a good idea to look for a company while keeping in mind the future that the company is trying to create and the people that the company is looking to hire.

Tanaka:
I think it is quite important to try a variety of things when you are a student.
It’s important to meet people who you can admire and work together with in the process. And it’s also important to find a company with a mission and atmosphere you can relate to.

Now we know that at WOVN, a good culture fit and a relatable mission are extremely valuable!
Thank you for your time today!