C. Muthukumar, M. Sivagopal, C. Abirami and their friends graduated in 2019 and are awaiting job offers like many other engineering graduates in the country. But, they are not waiting for any offers from within the country but from firms in Japan.
The expected shortfall in labour force in Japan and the country opening its doors for migrant work force has turned out be a boon for engineering graduates elsewhere across the globe. By passing the requisite Japan language proficiency test, landing a job in Japan seems to getting a lot more easier than in in India.
Takahiro Nishida, Deputy Manager of a renowned technology company in Japan, recently visited the Japanese language centre at Sona College of Technology where over 1,000 students at different levels of engineering studies are learning Japanese. He told The Hindu that his firm would require about two lakh engineers in the long-run and anyone who had technical knowledge and Japanese language skills would match their profile. “Recent studies conducted in Japan showed that the service sector alone would face a shortfall of six million workers by 2030, the healthcare sector would require about four million and so is the state in almost every other sector”, he said.
There has been a decline in birth rates in Japan and it has opened opportunities to rest of the globe. The Sona Group, which stumbled upon this opportunity through one of its professors S. Saravanan, Head of the Centre for Photonics and Nano Technology and convener of Japanese language centre, who has worked for over 12 years in Japan.“Learning Japanese language is easy and anyone could learn it within six to eight months”, Mr. Saravanan said.
The possibilities of landing a job in Japan are higher as there are 1.67 opportunities to each candidate. “An Indian firm, after several rounds of interview hires three persons, while a Japanese firm, after interviewing 50 persons, has short-listed about 21 candidates, he said.
A graduate would earn between ₹18 lakhs to ₹22 lakh per annum”, he said. A candidate must complete N3 level of Japanese language proficiency test. The students here are also taught Japanese culture and lifestyle. The centre at the college is open to all, he said.
Native Japanese speakers have also been working at the centre to teach students all aspects of Japanese life. Shibayama Hiromi, one of the tutors, said Indians were capable of picking up the language easily. When asked what are some of the basic qualities Indians should learn from Japanese culture, Mr. Hiromi said, “being punctual and saying sorry and thank you.”
For students, beyond handsome salaries, landing a job in Japan is also about getting to learn modern technologies. “We get to access and get trained in most modern technologies like artificial intelligence. The firms have offered to train us and they are ready to hire even freshers with technical knwoledge”, says K. Aishwarya, an IT graduate.
Chocko Valliappa, Vice-Chairman of Sona Group of Institutions said “Based on our interactions with Japanese firms, we are ringing in changes in our curiculum and training them in most recent technology. From the upcoming year, we are planning to have a member from Japan in our curriculum board.”
Published - February 13, 2020 11:13 pm IST
