Q.1 Please describe what work you are in charge of General Affairs, which is a role where you can gain a wide range of experience in a short period of time.
I am responsible for a wide range of tasks within General Affairs. These include managing
equipment used by employees (such as telephones and WiFi), communicating with vendors (placing orders and making inquiries), managing office appliances, handling invoices, managing publicity tools, managing the official LINE account, and overseeing fire prevention and disaster-prevention management at new locations. Alongside these duties, I am also responsible for in-house systems engineer (SE) work, including IT help desk support, asset management of PCs and software (including replacement and setup/kitting), and lease management. What I find engaging about General Affairs is that, unlike roles where you repeat the same tasks every day, this position exposes you to a wide range of responsibilities in a short period of time. I often handle tasks for the first time, but each time I complete one successfully and receive appreciation from colleagues, I can feel my skills and experience growing.
Q.2 What circumstances led you to join the company?
A career change from a technical role to General Affairs, without any prior experience
In my previous position, I worked as an embedded software engineer developing software for road information display boards. When I first joined that company, I was excited by the idea of seeing products I had worked on out in the city, but in reality, you rarely came across them. Gradually, I realized that what gave me the greatest sense of fulfillment was not my primary responsibility of product design itself, but the "people support" tasks I handled alongside it, such as managing coworkers’ schedules and coordinating with the production department responsible for the later stages of development. That led me to think a back-office role focused on employee support would better suit my strengths. I therefore decided to shift my career into General Affairs.
The opening at Seedea was specifically for a General Affairs position, exactly what I had been seeking, and I felt there would be opportunities to take on HR-related responsibilities in the future, which convinced me to accept the post. Because I had no experience in general affairs and was changing jobs from a large company, it was difficult to imagine what working at Seedea would be like at first. However, I decided I "wouldn’t know unless I tried," and as I concentrated on the tasks in front of me, my concerns gradually disappeared. I had often heard that mid-career hires sometimes struggle to build relationships at a new workplace, but at Seedea everyone was welcoming, and I was able to settle into my new responsibilities smoothly.
Q.3 What are your impressions of Seedea, and what are your future goals?
Working proactively with individual autonomy on the path to becoming a specialist
At Seedea, the founding philosophy and the passion from the company’s early days are still very much alive. Because the administrative departments, including General Affairs, are relatively small, communication is open and smooth. We support one another in our work, and I feel this environment has helped me improve my communication skills. There is also a high degree of individual discretion, which allows me to take initiative. I believe that the responsibility that comes with being entrusted with work is the fastest way to grow into a specialist. My long-term goal is to become a true generalist, in terms of someone who can connect specialists by making sound decisions based on thorough communication and a multifaceted perspective. To achieve this, I am working toward obtaining several certifications, including the Business Career Certification, Mental Health Care Certification, Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant, and Small and Medium Enterprise Management Consultant. I want to take full advantage of this environment, where it is possible to gain a wide range of experience in a short time, which is something more difficult to achieve in a large corporation, and continue to develop professionally.
