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AIC Hosts Second “AIC Career Lab” Event

2025.07.09  written by 

On February 28, 2025, AIC hosted its second “AIC Career Lab.”

This event served as a platform for students to think about their future careers, and included talks on the latest trends in the AI business and job hunting. In addition, Keio alumni who are active in various industries were also invited to share their experiences and knowledge via a roundtable discussion.

Talk by Yuki Takenaka from BizReach Campus

The first speaker, Yuki Takenaka, who was instrumental in launching BizReach Campus, took to the stage to speak on his own career transition and how his values evolved in tandem with changes in his career trajectory.

After joining Panasonic, he was involved in the development of service robots for medical and nursing care. He came to believe in the importance of “experience” while working on a total beauty solution for beauty salons leveraging robotics technology.

Subsequently, he was in charge of recruitment at Panasonic as a hiring manager, actively endeavoring to secure exceptional and talented personnel. It was during this stint that he became keenly interested in how to make the job hunting process more engaging and exciting. After his departure from Panasonic in 2016, he went on to found a company, GLROWS, to “update” the value of experiences. Right around that time, he met Soichiro Swimmy Minami, the founder of BizReach, and helped to launch BizReach Campus while managing his own company concurrently. Today, through overseeing the overall production at BizReach Campus and experiential design at his own company, Takenaka continues to provide new forms of “experience” and “entertainment” to job hunting students.

During Takenaka’s Q&A session, one of the participating students asked, “I heard that it’s difficult to change jobs later on if you don’t first secure a position at a large company and build up your career from there. Is this true?”  Takenaka responded, “Ten years ago, I would have said that was right. But today it doesn’t matter at all whether you start your career in a large company or a start-up, because in either case you will be able to change jobs.”  He added, “Large companies and ventures have their own distinct characteristics. For example, large companies usually handle enormous amounts of money that go into the hundreds of millions in yen because of the scale of their work. However, the larger the company, the more departments participate in a single project, the more fragmented the work, and ultimately the more limited the scope of an individual’s own involvement. In contrast, venture companies are smaller in terms of the scale of the work they handle, so a project that exceeds ten million yen may seem like a lot of money for them. However, rather than working in a department whose work has been fragmented as in the case with larger companies, an individual here would be able to take on a variety of tasks while maintaining a broader perspective. So to answer which type of company is better, it comes down to which one fits you personally.” 

Talks by Keio Alumni

Following Takenaka’s talk, Keio alumni who are working in the IT industry took to the stage to share their thoughts on job hunting and their career paths after entering their respective companies.

An alumnus working for a foreign IT company talked about being in an environment that fosters growth while also drawing inspiration from the high caliber of his peers. He also mentioned that one of the most rewarding aspects of working with cloud technology is the ability to contribute to solving issues in a wide range of industries, and touched on the fun of adding value from both a technology and business standpoint. Another alumna working for a foreign IT company shared her perspective of the industry while coming from a liberal arts background. She discussed the wide range of options available, not only in technical positions, but also in IT consulting and management. She emphasized that even with a liberal arts background, one can still find meaningful roles in the IT industry. Another alumnus found employment at a Japanese IT company and is now pursuing his academic studies as a working graduate student. He talked about how the industry has evolved over the last 20 years. He pointed out that this industry is one in which technology continues to advance rapidly, yet the skills required and the direction of businesses are constantly shifting. Because of that, he stressed the importance of continuous learning and the ability to adapt.

Panel Discussion

The panel discussion that followed introduced the alumni’s various jobs, and there was a lively exchange of views on the differences between foreign and Japanese companies. Participants learned the concept of agile development and were presented specific examples of how to put it into practice. In particular, participants were told the importance of being flexible while advancing developments within a short period of time, especially in the context of the rapidly changing IT industry.

Finally, practical applications of generative AI were also discussed, as well as how companies are adopting AI technology to improve operational efficiency and create new value. There was particular interest drawn to the different approaches to AI among Japanese and foreign companies. The participants learned that Japanese companies tend to focus on domestically developing AI suitable for the Japanese market, while foreign companies use global AI platforms such as WatsonX while capitalizing on their existing strengths. Through these differences, the event provided an opportunity to think deeply about the strategies of each type of company and the direction they take in implementing AI.

Roundtable Discussion

For the roundtable discussion, participants were free to pose questions to the Keio alumni.

Many students who have not yet begun job hunting voiced their concerns. In response, the alumni offered specific advice on how to do job hunting based on their own experiences and what path to take when choosing an industry. Participants were also introduced to a job hunting support service that allows them to exchange information with one another, providing a valuable opportunity for all to hear real voices straight from the workplace.

In addition, the alumni gave warm messages of encouragement to the students. Other comments included: “In this day and age, it is not unusual for people to change jobs, so don’t worry about it too much in your job search,” “Once you enter a company, that company will train you well, so spend your time as a student doing what you really want to do,” and “When deciding on what path to take in choosing an industry, do not just analyze yourself based on data, but also value your intuition and sensibility.” These words of advice were very encouraging to the students and helped them face their job hunting activities in a more positive manner.

After the event, participants gave glowing reviews, with many commenting that they were able to form a definite image of job scopes through interacting with the Keio alumni, and that it was an invaluable opportunity to deepen their understanding of the IT industry’s characteristics and their career options.

The third session will be held on Wednesday, March 12, focusing on the manufacturing industry.

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