FY2017 Sumisho Internship

Following on from the one-day Internships held at the end of last year, Sumitomo Corporation this year organized a three-day program dubbed the FY2017 Sumisho Internship. This year, we also had an additional venue in Osaka, providing greater access for students in the Kansai area. The program was held from February 13 to 15 in Tokyo, and from February 20 to 22 in Osaka. From a total of 916 applicants (229 teams), 13 teams in Tokyo and 11 teams in Osaka passed the selection process to take part in the program.

The concept of the program was about providing opportunities for interns to learn about "the reality of working at Sumitomo Corporation." In particular, we highlighted the unfashionable work that goes on behind the scenes at an integrated trading and business investment company in contrast to the glamorous image. The students were given a presentation on actual business conducted by the company and, using this as a template, they performed normal daily tasks, such as preparing a report for a supervisor, checking a contract in English, correcting documents based on comments by the Sales Department, and preparing a schedule for hosting overseas guests.

We intentionally had the students experience these low-key tasks in order to avoid a mismatch between their expectations and the actual work. "By trying something similar to the actual work, I now have a better idea about what working for an integrated trading and business investment company is like," said one of the participating students. Raitaro Yokoyama from the Human Resources Department, who helped organize the program, explained it this way: "An integrated trading and business investment company may seem glamorous, but we wanted them to know that behind every headline aspect of business there are background low-key tasks that must be performed. We would like to have more students who still want to work here after learning about the less glamorous side of things."