This Year’s “Twist”!? Super-Selection Internship STEP2 Held! ~Young Eggs Competition~

Hello! I’m Sugawara from the Human Resources Department.

The internship program is becoming a signature event at SUNNY SIDE UP.
This year, with a unique twist,
・1-day program “After-School Internship”
・3-day program “Super-Selection Internship”
We have prepared two programs, and the eligibility requirements for participating in STEP2 [Young Eggs Competition] to the
参加資格も変わりました。

This time, we invited further selected participants from the 3-day “Super-Selection Internship” program to STEP2 [Young Eggs Competition].
We would like to report on how it went!
(※Last year’s event can be found here! [https://blog.ssu.co.jp/2017/03/28/8472/])

In STEP2, participants utilize what they learned thoroughly in the 3-day program to develop proposals in a [Business Contest Format]!
Participants are divided into six teams, A through F, with each team acting as a PR company proposing a plan to a client.

So, what is this year’s challenge??

[Challenge]
Develop a strategy to increase the number of university students traveling abroad.

[Client] (Proposal Recipient)
Japan Tourism Agency

We provided the challenge to participants in advance for preliminary research,
and had them exchange opinions with their team members beforehand,
but members from the 3-day “Super! Logical Planning Course” once again explained the details of this project.

Preliminary briefings are extremely important in actual business scenarios!
This is called an “orientation,” where we explain the fundamental concepts and information that should be shared before developing a proposal, the intent behind the request (challenge), precautions, budget, schedule, and so on, right at the very beginning.
Without properly understanding this, you might develop a completely off-target proposal, so we value this process in our work as well.

Now, it’s finally time to split into teams and begin work!!

Each 3-day program instructor serves as an advisor for one group.
The instructors are also fully motivated, saying “Let’s go for the win!”

Since teams had been communicating in advance, they quickly got down to business.
Some groups engaged in heated debates, their faces turning red.
(The room may have been a bit warm;)
While discussions sometimes went off track, the instructors provided skillful support to help finalize the proposals.

While everyone was discussing, I observed the whiteboards and listened to conversations in each group,
and every group was working while applying what they learned in the lectures!

Finally! Time for Presentations

At last! It’s time to present the plans developed over approximately 6 hours!
This year as well, President Tsugihara, two executives, the HR Director, and six instructors will conduct the evaluation.

Every year, we have participants present with handwritten materials rather than PowerPoint,
and every team showcased their individuality with presentation materials that fully leveraged the unique character of handwriting that PowerPoint cannot replicate.

After all teams finished their presentations, we took a short break for deliberation!!
Everyone, thank you for your hard work over the past 6 hours!!
Participants took a breather regardless of team affiliation.

And!! The moment of truth!

The Grand Prix goes to…

Team D, who proposed a plan skillfully incorporating the analog element of pen pals,
and thoroughly prepared their presentation!!

Congratulations to Team D ^^

An executive officer presented the “Award Shield” and “How to Create a ‘Buzz’ That Turns Heads” by PR planner Yoshiyuki Yamazaki.
Everyone had such joyful smiles.

And furthermore…
This year, there was another team that, while not quite matching Team D’s evaluation score, presented an excellent proposal, so we hastily prepared a “President’s Award”!
The President’s Award goes to Team A, who came up with a proposal that empathized with parents’ feelings, with the catchy title “Initiation of Parental Reliance”!

Congratulations to Team A ^^

This project, where participants fully utilized what they learned in the STEP1 3-day program to tackle the challenge, proved to be an extremely fruitful opportunity for both the instructors and organizers, as well as all the participants.

We sincerely hope that you will use this experience as a foundation to succeed in your future job-hunting activities!

With the conclusion of STEP2, all of our company’s internship courses have now ended.
We received feedback from participants such as:
・Receiving feedback from mentors and judges gave me an opportunity to reflect on myself.
・I realized that my biggest takeaway was recognizing that I had been thinking only on a small scale, confined within a framework.
・I learned so much from being guided by the SSU All-Stars.
・Since this project allowed me to apply everything I had learned,
I was able to feel my own growth.
・Every team made high-level proposals, and I learned a lot just by listening.
…among other comments!

We sincerely thank all participants.
We very much look forward to seeing you all again!!