On the first business day of April each year, Japanese companies hold a “nyusha-shiki" to welcome new graduates. In the financial industry, these welcome ceremonies are known for being formal, solemn, and rigid. Until recently, Nomura also adopted this conventional format, which saw rows of executives lining up on stage, a representative from the new employees delivering a speech while facing the president, and everyone singing the company anthem together. But this year things were quite different.
Leading the charge behind this change is Naoki Tagashira, who has led the recruitment group in the Talent Management Department for the past three years. The welcome ceremony, which was completely revamped a year ago, featured only two executives on stage. The introduction of new employees was done using dancing avatars. And there was no singing.
Tagashira aimed for a ceremony that was solemn yet cheerful and warm, and that would make the new joiners excited for the future. He shared with us some of the reasons behind this year’s changes.
Q. How many welcome ceremonies have you been through since being in charge of recruiting?
This was my third. After seeing the conventional ceremony for myself in my first year, I
decided changes needed to be made.
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- Naoki Tagashira
Head of Talent Acquisition Group, Talent Management Department
Nomura Securities
Q. What about the ceremony made you want to change it?
Nomura's welcome ceremony has traditionally been quite formal. Around 20 executives participated and they would all stand in an orderly line and bow as they are introduced. While some people appreciate this format, I felt that there was a gap between the public’s perception of Nomura and the current reality of the company. I wanted to change this image, starting with making our welcome ceremony more light-hearted. So, I proposed creating a more relaxed atmosphere where the new graduates could talk with our Group CEO Kentaro Okuda during the ceremony.
Q. And you felt this gap in your conversations with students during the recruiting process?
That's right. Before coming to the Talent Management Department, I worked in sales in the Wealth Management Division. I think the image many people in Japan have of Nomura Securities is that of Wealth Management. But over the 20 years since I joined in 2005, the environment in Wealth Management has changed significantly.
Junior employees share their opinions more actively than in the past, and everyone is genuinely committed to serving clients. Our business embodies our commitment to growing together with our clients. We understand this as employees and our clients also feel the changes taking place. We wanted to convey this to the general public as well.
As a recruitment team, we thought we should start by changing the welcome ceremony to reflect the warm and approachable environment we have at Nomura. We proposed our ideas to the senior management and they agreed and gave us the go ahead to make changes.
Q. What exactly changed？
Since the new graduates are the focus of the welcome ceremony, I thought it might not be necessary for all the executives to attend. I felt that having our Group CEO Kentaro Okuda present would be enough to make an impression on the new employees. I also thought it would be fun to have some form of dialogue between our Group CEO and the new employees. So, we decided to have a Q&A session with both our CEO and our CHRO (Chief Human Resources Officer) Yukiko Ozaki.
Next, when it comes to the company anthem, I felt there were other things we could do instead to make the ceremony memorable for our new colleagues. We decided to do a video with messages from employees around the world to welcome them and show them the global side of the company. We also introduced each new employee and their personal motto using avatars. This was created by our Digital Company, which is responsible for our digital technology. Our aim was to eliminate the traditional "finance" image and create a welcome ceremony that would make the new graduates excited about working here.
Q. What is it that motivated you to make these changes?
I thought the public perception of the company was outdated, and I felt it was important to help people understand what our company is like now. I wanted to provide information to change this old perception, and enhance Nomura’s popularity and competitiveness in recruitment.
Nomura has the privilege of celebrating our centenary this year. Many students see Nomura as a company where they can grow quickly and we receive a lot of applications every year. I want people to also understand that we offer a work environment where employees can freely share their views and ideas.
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- HR staff helping at the welcome ceremony
Q. Any closing words for our new joiners?
Welcome to Nomura!
Q. How were the preparations for the new welcome ceremony?
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- Nodoka Okamoto (left), Hana Okano (right)
Talent Management Department, Nomura Securities
We wanted to create a welcome ceremony that was serious yet interactive, so we collaborated with members of the Digital Company. One of the more impactful elements on the day was the self-introduction video featuring new employees as avatars. This showcased a new side of Nomura and highlighted our digital technology and sense of humor.
Gathering avatars from all 367 new employees was not easy. We had to make sure that the avatars were all submitted on time to ensure that everyone was included in the video. We divided the tasks between the two of us and reached out to the new graduates individually. We tried to take their schedules into account but we also had to be strict about the submission deadline. There is a growing atmosphere at our company encouraging new initiatives. Even though the preparations were tough, we had a great time. We were delighted to see the participants' reactions during the ceremony, and above all, we felt a deep sense of relief that everything went well.