Applying Diverse Experience to Address Clients' HR Needs

The early morning sun reflects off the windows of Singapore's Millenia Tower. It is 8:30 a.m., and having just dropped off her two children at school, Sara Iwasaki is the first to arrive. She has a busy day ahead of her, checking emails and fielding inquiries from offices and companies all over Asia.

When Iwasaki was studying environmental policy at graduate school, she gained an interest in natural resource business, which encouraged her to apply for a position at Mitsubishi Corporation (MC). After joining the company, she did her training in the Energy Administration Department, and then spent the better part of her early career in the Corporate Communications Department. During that time, she had her first child and took a one-year break for maternity leave. In 2014, she left MC due to her husband being transferred overseas, but she was able to take advantage of the re-employment system to come back three years later, this time landing a position in the Global Human Resources Department. The following year, she was seconded to HLA and relocated to Singapore.

Initially, Iwasaki was apprehensive about her new appointment due to her lack of experience in HR, but her boss encouraged her. "HR work requires a more general skillset," he told her. "Diverse experience and people skills go a long way in this field, and your knowledge of accounting, public relations and raising children will definitely benefit you." Iwasaki took his words to heart and approached her new job positively, and today her HR work for MC's offices and group companies in the Asia-Pacific region covers a wide spectrum of duties, including HR consulting, planning and administration of training programs, HR-related clerical matters and the daily inquiries that come in from MC's rotating staffers in the region.

"Many of our group companies in Asia have only just been established, and they have no HR specialists of their own," she says. "Because they are often short staffed, I have to consider myself another member of their team and work very closely with them. That means consulting on a daily basis and going over the finest details to set up or upgrade their HR systems." To be treated by those comanies as one of their own, Iwasaki places great importance on building and maintaining trust-based relationships. Her earnest approach has quickly won the respect and admiration of her clients.

Helping To Build Attractive Organizations that Generate Greater Value

According to Iwasaki, there are many working mothers in Singapore, a society that is very accommodating to working women. A lot of her close colleagues are also rotating staffers who came to Singapore with their children. "I have been here for two years now. There is still much for me to learn and only so much I can do myself," says Iwasaki. "That is why I share information closely with my colleagues and always remind myself to be a team player. I want to be a smooth facilitator who is capable of getting the most out of my team." Iwasaki seems to have a renewed appreciation of the fact that her skills are being put to use in a positive environment, one where she has the understanding and support of her boss, colleagues, family and others.

"The companies in the region I oversee have diverse workforces and values, spanning different cultures, generations and genders. By optimizing their combined expertise, those companies can generate even greater value," says Iwasaki, the gleam in her eyes growing even brighter. "My goal is to help them to do that by building stronger, more attractive organizations."