The Untold Story Behind the Birth of "The Classroom Connecting You and Society"

The "Connecting Self and Society Classroom" column begins today. In this first installment, Masahiro Makiguchi explains the project's origins.
We members have been running this "Connecting Yourself and Society Classroom" for two years now. It's a classroom with a somewhat meaningful, slightly long name.

Moreover, at first glance, it's unclear what the purpose of this classroom is. Why is "Jibun" written in katakana? And what does "connecting with society" even mean? It's full of questions. The origin of this project actually began several years earlier, in completely unrelated, separate places.

 

First, there was a book with another rather long title: "Trying Job Hunting Using Advertising Methods." Written by Yuichiro Kojima & Takayuki Sasaki, this book, true to its name, was based on the idea that the know-how used in advertising work could be applied to the job hunting scene.
Isn't the current job-hunting process kind of weird? Job seekers seem so formulaic, and even alumni visits don't offer any real discoveries, right? Born from Kojima & Sasaki's straightforward concerns, this book is essential reading for anyone navigating the job hunt (lol).

Now, the other side. This is Dentsu Inc.'s social contribution program, "Advertising Elementary School." It's a class where children cultivate communication skills through making commercials. Among these, the "Self-Discovery CM" part, where elementary school students create their own ads and present them in front of everyone, is related to this project.

 

A professor from Tokyo Gakugei University, who served as an advisor for "Advertising Elementary School," said something one day: "It's a waste to limit this to elementary schoolers. We should apply it to university career education and even working professionals. No, there's definitely demand from both universities and students, so we absolutely need to develop a separate program for that!"
From that day on, those words became my personal homework, staying with me ever since. However, even so, making it happen was quite difficult. First off, targeting university students meant it couldn't be framed as social contribution. It absolutely had to be viable as a business. Just as I was about to give up, thinking "Maybe it's impossible after all...", I happened to spot "Trying Job Hunting Using Advertising Methods" in a bookstore (I know, this part sounds so unbelievable it could be staged, but it's a genuine true story).

So I immediately called up Kojima & Sasaki, saying, "You guys seem like you'd be up for something like this, let's do it together!" And thus, the project was happily launched.
This is precisely what makes Dentsu Inc. such an interesting company: if you think "This is work worth doing, it seems socially meaningful, and I have the will to see it through. If not me, then who?" – it actually tends to happen. Especially if you're blessed with good partners.
And so, the "Connecting Yourself and Society Classroom" was born – a place to apply advertising (communication) thinking to job hunting. Now, we have more people working with us, and we're steadily building a track record as a classroom.

And now, believe it or not, we're planning to publish a book about this classroom soon. The title is "Why Do You All Start Talking About the Same Things When It Comes to Job Hunting?" It's another long one. But the content is rich. After all, the contributors have strong personalities. Starting next time, those folks will make their appearances. Stay tuned.