Student Risa Secures Job with Rakuten Eagles Sponsor

Launching the Job Search with Baseball Aspirations

The recruitment kick-off event brought third-year students face-to-face with seniors sharing their employment journeys. Risa, a student in the Tachibana seminar, began her search with a standard twenty-company list drawn from familiar part-time employers, alumni networks, and target industries.

Rather than hiding her fandom, she centered her applications around her connection to local baseball. Her strategy focused on her home city of Sendai and companies maintaining sponsorship ties with professional baseball organizations. While peers questioned the practicality of turning a hobby into a career, she pressed forward with specific geographic and industry targets.

Building Experience Through Ballpark Employment and Internships

Her baseball connection started long before university classes began. Growing up near Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School, she regularly attended games and followed local athletic squads. Upon entering university, she secured a part-time job at the Rakuten stadium, famously noting that her birth year matched the franchise’s founding in 2004.

At the ballpark, she requested assignment to the premium annual seating service division. That specific placement exposed her directly to corporate hospitality, client entertaining, and high-level business etiquette. Initially struggling to keep pace, she mastered the required communication standards within two months under senior supervision. The role allowed her to build lasting relationships with corporate representatives who utilized the stadium for client entertainment.

That frontline hospitality work opened doors to an internship with the Tokyo Baseball Federation (JABA). Handling public relations tasks such as writing updates and managing social media content, she expanded her professional network across the country and gained confidence in corporate communication.

Securing Employment with a Major Ballpark Sponsor

When the recruitment cycle concluded, Risa accepted a position at a trading company that also serves as an official sponsor of the Rakuten Eagles. Her targeted approach successfully bridged her personal passion with commercial enterprise.

Reflecting on her hiring interviews, she credited her success to measurable execution. She highlighted her ability to set objectives, track daily results through her part-time and internship experiences, and close performance gaps through continuous daily improvements. Trading firms appealed to her because they combined sales operations, regional engagement, and diverse commercial opportunities.

Lessons Learned for Future Graduates

Fumihiko Tanabe, Dean of the Faculty of Business Law, noted that the journey from watching baseball to landing a corporate trading role demonstrates two viable career paths. Students can either pursue their favorite subjects directly or channel the discipline and skills acquired through those passions into entirely different professional sectors.

The October event highlighted that career trajectories rarely reveal themselves entirely at the outset. By taking an initial step into familiar environments, students can uncover unexpected opportunities that shape their long-term professional futures.