2011 Job Fair Success and Afterthoughts

Hello international students!
在日外国人留学生の皆さん、こんにちは。

First of all I'd like to wish all of you a happy new year!
改めまして、大変遅くなりましたが、あけましておめでとうございます。

It's been a while since I've posted. As you can probably imagine, we were extremely busy in the weeks leading up to and after the 2011 Job Fair for International Students.
合同企業説明会の当日までにかなりバタバタしていて、ポストをする時間がなかなか無かったんです。(汗）

Thanks to all of you who came and participated, the job fair was a huge success, reaching almost 1,200 students from various countries all over the world.
しかし、皆さんのお陰で当日は見事な合同企業説明になり、約1,200人も参加頂いたという
ことで間違えなく、日本に於ける外国人留学生向けの最大級就職イベントになりました！

Osaka Prefecture, as well as most of the companies who attended, expressed their gratitude as
well as their admiration for the effort and professionalism put forth by the students who participated.
大阪府や企業の採用担当者の方々も感謝しているそうです。

We also received surveys from almost 90% of the total attendees, which provides valuable
feedback for our project to continue to aid all of you in your job hunting activities.
そして、皆さんの努力を頂いて、アンケートの回収率が90％に近いということでした。
皆さんの活躍機会を増やす為、当プロジェクトにとってとても役に立ちますので、
ご協力有難うございました。

We here at the Osaka Prefecture Job Support Service for Foreigners Project would like to extend our
heartfelt thanks.

Now, regarding a few reoccurring comments from surveys we received.
　
さて、まとめた意見に関しまして。。。
■　Obviously the size of the venue was a bit small for the number of companies and participants.
We realize this and apologize if it disrupted your experience. Since the job fair was
so successful this time, we believe that we will be able to secure a larger venue in the future.
当然ながら、会場は少し狭かったですね。迷惑をかけただろうが、今回の成功の上、
次回にもっと広い会場を借りることが出来るじゃないかと思います。

■　Many participants also said they'd like to hear advice from former international students now
working in Japanese companies. We'd like to organize events in the future in which this is possible. However, ideally we'd like the environment to be one in which the former international student is able to speak freely and honestly about his/her company without fear of reprimand.
「外国人留学生OB・OGの体験談を聞きたい」という声がかなり多かったので、今後とも現在日本の企業で活躍している外国人留学生OB・OGが自由に体験談が話せるようなイベント・セミナーも真剣に考えております。
■ Some students expressed that they felt there weren't enough companies represented looking for their particular field of study.
「自分の分野を求められている企業が少なかった」という声もありました。

We intend to take your feedback seriously so as to provide the best forum in which to aid your job hunting activities. If you have any additional feedback, your comments will be appreciated.
皆さんから頂いた意見をまとめて、今後とも皆さんの就職活動の役に立つ情報を提供できるよう、全力を尽くして頑張っていきたいと思っています。

I will post some pictures from the event in the next couple of days.
後ほど当日の写真もアップしますので、お楽しみに。
In the meantime, here are links to a couple of articles about the event.
とりあえず、下記のリンクもチェックしていただければ

産経新聞は1面記事です
http://www.sankei-kansai.com/2011/01/16/20110116-048460.php

MBS放送
http://www.mbs.jp/news/kansaiflash_GE110115161900423495.shtml