Getting Japanese Women Back on Track

Japan's economy is threatened. Not just by an ongoing recession and March's disastrous earthquake and tsunami, but by an aging population that is decimating the workforce. If ever a country needed a breakthrough idea for productivity, it's now. In fact, a solution exists: Japan's underutilized women. According to a 2010 study by Goldman Sachs, "If Japan could close its gender employment gap, Japan's workforce could expand by 8.2 million and the level of Japan's GDP could increase by as much as 15 percent." 

Yet according to a new study from the Center for Work-Life Policy, 74% of college-educated women in Japan voluntarily quit their jobs for six months or more — more than twice the number of their counterparts in the U.S. (31%) and Germany (35%). The reason for this enormous brain drain: a toxic combination of social mores and how they're manifested in Japan's corporate culture. 

Japanese tradition defines a woman's primary role as ryosaikenbo — "good wife, wise mother." It is assumed that most women will quit their jobs when they marry, a phenomenon known as a "happy resignation". Because of this, female college graduates are automatically sidetracked onto the "office lady" path, a dead-end support staff role whose duties include making tea for male managers, dusting their desks, and serving drinks at after-hours functions. Between men and women, there's a huge earnings gap: On average, women only earn 72% of the compensation paid to men for equivalent jobs.

Japan boasts a large pool of well-educated women, with women constituting nearly half of university graduates. Companies should make a special effort to recruit, retain, and accelerate female talent to give Japan's ailing economy the boost it so desperately needs. 

Vocabulary

decimating - destroying a great number of (workforce)

breakthrough - significant development or achievement

underutilized - not fully used

counterparts - people resembling another (American and German women are counterparts of Japanese women.)

brain drain - loss of trained professional personnel in the country's workforce

mores - customs or practices in the society 

sidetracked - being led out of the way

pool - source

ailing - troubled; sick

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-14/getting-japanese-women-back-on-track.html

Miss USA 2008 Question and Answer

1. Some cosmetic companies have marketed beauty products for girls to learn elementary school. Do you think this is a good thing? (Miss Pennsylvania, 4th runner-up)

2. In some countries, when you turn 18 you are required to spend a year in the military. Do you think this should be enforced in our country? Why or why not? (Miss Texas, Miss USA 2008)

3. If you could help one famous person to better themselves, who would you pick and how would you help them? (Miss Oklahoma, 3rd runner-up)

4. There are parents today who raise their children without letting them watch any television or look at the internet. What is your opinion on this? (Miss New Jersey, 2nd runner-up)

5. Has being a beautiful woman given you any special opportunities in life? And if so, how have you used it in a positive and constructive way? (Miss Mississippi, 1st runner-up)

Miss USA 2011 Q&A

1, Many have argued that marijuana should be legalized and taxed to boost the economy and alleviate drug wars. Do you believe in the legalization of marijuana? Why or why not?

2. Recently, a controversial pastor in the United States burned the Koran. Should burning of any religious article be protected by the first amendment in the same way burning the flag is protected?

3. Recently the personal discretions of men in positions of power have exposed their families' private lives. What advice would you give a woman whose spouse put her in a position of public humiliation?

4. There have been recent deaths of students who have been bullied on the internet. If the victim commits suicide, should the bully be prosecuted? Why or why not?


Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGU0M7xTyvE

Miss Universe 2002 Q&A

1. If you had to represent another country in this competition, what country would that be and why?

2. What is the biggest misconception of people about your country?

3. What's the one thing you need to overcome?

4. What is the most important thing that you learned about yourself through participating in Miss Universe?

5. If your life were videotaped, what would you erase and what would you replay?

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRksaJriCHA

Managerial Job Interview Guide

OPENING:

1. Provide job description – What is the specific position? What is the job about?

“The position available in our company is operations manager. The operations manager is in charge of overseeing, designing and redesigning business operations to provide Internet service to clients/customers. He is expected to handle ten subordinates (operations officers) in his department.”

2. Ask for application or resume (if not yet submitted)

3. Overview of unit and campus – Give short introduction about the office
“Should you be hired for this job, you will report to this office in Manila. As you can see, there are several departments – accounting, sales, etc. You will work together with these departments...”

Transition from Opening to Interview Proper:

“Shall we start the interview?”

“Let's move on with the interview.”

INTERVIEW PROPER: Specific Questions
1. General  

• Tell me about your previous work experience. 
• How is your experience relevant or helpful to this job?
• Why are you interested in this position as operations manager?
• How would the people around you describe you?
• What’s a common misconception some people have about you?
• Tell me about a difficult decision you had to make recently. Walk me through the problem and what your thought process was, and how you ultimately handled it.
• What is one thing that you have had difficulty overcoming in your career, and how did you do that?
• What is some of the most useful criticism you’ve ever received? Why?
• Have you ever been given criticism that you disagreed with? What was it? How did you handle that?

2. Getting things done

• What has been your biggest achievement at your previous company?
• What were your department’s major goals last year? How did you settle on those goals? Was your department able to meet them? How did you measure whether or not you met those goals?
• What’s an example of a goal you didn’t meet? How come? How did you respond to that?
• What will success look like for you this year? Why is that important? How hard will it be to get there?
• Tell me about one of the (previous) organization’s (or department's) largest or most important projects and how you managed it, from start to finish. I’m interested in something where others were doing the work, but you were overseeing it.
  - What was the goal or vision for it?
  - What happened?
  - How did you ensure that happened?
  - How do you know it happened?
  - What lessons did you get from that project?
• What are some of the biggest obstacles your organization/department experienced in the last few years? What did you do to address them?
• Tell me about something you got done at  your previous company that someone else in your role probably wouldn’t have.

3. Managing People

• How would you describe yourself as a manager? How do you think others would describe you?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses as a manager?
• What is your philosophy about management?
• What do you think the fundamental purpose of a manger is? 
• How has your management philosophy evolved as you’ve gained more management experience?
• What do you do to work on being a better manager?
• What do you think are some of the most common ways people fail at management?
• Tell me about an employee who became more successful as a result of your management.
• Who are your best people? What are you doing to retain them?
• What do you look for when you hire people?
• When was the last time you fired someone or coached someone out? How many people have you fired in the last two years? Why? (You’re looking for a manager who fires people who don’t perform at a high standard.)
• Tell me about the most difficult employee situation you ever had to handle. What did you do and what was the result?
• Tell me about a time you were managing a poor performer. How did you handle it and what was the outcome?
• What was the most difficult management decision you’ve ever had to make?
• Tell me about a management mistake that you made in the past. What would you do differently?
• Even the best bosses generate complaints from their employees now and then. What complaints do you think the people you’ve managed would have about you?

CLOSING:
1. Questions or additional comments from the candidate

"Do you have any questions about the job?"
2. Timeline to conclude interviews and make a hiring decision

"The company will contact you within a week to inform the results of your application."
3. Explain who they may be meeting with next 

"Should you get the job, please come back to the office and report to the HR (Human Resource) Department for further instruction and orientation."
4. Thank the applicant
"Thank you for your interest in this job and for taking time for this interview. We will keep in touch. Have a good day!"  (shake hands)

Desperate, Sick Indonesians Use Railroad Therapy

Villagers lie on a railway track for an electricity therapy in Rawa Buaya, Jakarta, Indonesia. 

Ignoring the red-and-white danger sign, Sri Mulyati walks slowly to the train tracks, lies down and stretches her body across the rails. Like the nearly dozen others lined up along the track, the 50-year-old diabetes patient has given up on doctors and can't afford the expensive medicines they prescribe. In her mind, she has only one option left: electric therapy. "I'll keep doing this until I'm completely cured," said Mulyati, while an oncoming passenger train sends a current racing through her body. She leaps from the tracks as the train approaches and then, after it has passed, climbs back into position. 

Pseudo-medical treatments are wildly popular in many parts of Asia. There are stories about people who are cured after touching a magic stone or eating dung from sacred cows. These miracles attract thousands, especially in Indonesia, where the health care system is not available to the poor.

Medical experts say there is no evidence that lying on the rails does any good. But Mulyati insists it provides more relief for her symptoms - high-blood pressure, sleeplessness and high cholesterol - than any doctor has since she was first diagnosed with diabetes 13 years ago. She turned to train track therapy last year after hearing a rumor about an ethnic Chinese man, who was partially paralyzed by a stroke, going to the tracks to kill himself, but instead finding himself cured. It's a story that's been told and retold in Indonesia.

Japan's bored audiences turn off TVs

The Japanese, once one of the most TV-addicted people on the planet, are watching less television these days. Daily TV viewing time, which averaged more than five hours in the 1970s, decreased to 3 hours and 28 minutes by 2010, according to the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute. Males aged 10 to 20 are watching less than two hours a day. Meanwhile, program ratings have been going down for most networks, including NHK, TV Asahi, NTV, TBS, Fuji TV and TV Tokyo, despite spikes for major sport events and other special programming.

There are various causes for this decrease in TV viewing. Like other countries, Japanese families no longer sit around the TV watching the same show, as viewers did in the 1960 to 1990s. The Japanese now use other devices for entertainment, including PCs, smartphones and game consoles. But the biggest cause, says Hiro Otaka, a media analyst for the Bunka Tsushin entertainment news services, is that the programs have become boring. "They don't put as much money or creativity into the shows as they used to, so program content has declined," he says. "You have so many of these cheaply made variety shows with comedians, it's hard to tell them apart. Viewers have just become tired of the same thing again and again."