TILEFILE: a creative avenue for the maverick Japanese.

An avenue for women

Wakana Farrell-Whelan moved to Australia permanently in February last year. Having been out of the workforce for five years in Japan whilst she raised her first child, she was faced with the arduous task of finding a job within a country she had no work experience in at all.

"I did everything that I could do. I registered on the Internet and with two Japanese temp agencies here in Sydney that introduce you to jobs with Japanese companies. I went for interviews with them two or three times, but because I had a big blank space in my resume, they rejected my application. I checked all the job advertisements on the Internet and anything that required Japanese-speaking people. I sent my resume to all of them, but TILEFILE was the first local company that I applied to. I knew I was going to be rejected, but I just tried.

To Wakana's surprise, she received a call from David to come in for an interview. "We hired Wakana, because to me, it was very clear that she was looking for a job that she could give a lot of commitment to in order that she could progress to the next phase in her career. Those are great employees. That's why we gave her a chance," said David.

It was also clear from Wakana's resume that her ability to teach herself was one of her greatest assets. For years she had been doing online courses and teaching herself graphics and web design software packages whilst raising her son. "I never had the proper training. I had designed web sites for friend's businesses, but I never got to a professional level. David was interested in that point, that I could teach myself and learn," she said.

For women raising young children in Japan, the IT industry might just be the ideal working solution-if, flexibility of working hours and location is available, or due consideration given to time spent away from the workforce before children reach school age. Difficult as it is for many women in Japan to re-enter the workforce within the field they last worked in, it would seem almost impossible for many to re-enter in a completely different field and receive the kind of training that was bestowed upon Ken in the early part of his career.

Encouraging women into the IT industry in Japan, particularly bilingual and capable women such as Wakana, might just be part of Japan's IT recruitment solution. "I still remember the first time I met David. As I was leaving the office, I asked him if I could send him a bit of my graphic work, adding, 'It is not professional at all though.' He then said to me, 'Please send it to me. Everything starts small'. I was very impressed by that and felt the last 5 years of toiling away by myself had been vindicated at last!" She adds that she feels lucky to have stumbled across TILEFILE. "I think I was lucky being in Australia and finding such an opportunity and meeting a person like David. I think it's a very 'Australian' kind of opportunity. In Japan everyone is very careful. They wouldn't say you know, just try it, come on in and just try it."

Wakana has now moved to a more challenging position within the TILEFILE marketing team. While she is aware her skills in that area are not to the level of her colleagues, she says, "I know I am better than I was last week.

There are a lot of opportunities to get involved in his company if you show your enthusiasm. I could keep drawing illustrations everyday, but I want to be useful, I want to be a part of the company and I want to use this chance to improve myself more. David said to me 'use this opportunity to become a professional IT marketing expert'. With that encouragement, that's what I'm going to do."

While Ken and Wakana's road to TILEFILE may have been remarkably different, they have both found a place to unfurl their creative wings. At the same time, David's love affair with Japan continues to grow, as both the Australian and Japanese offices of his fledgling venture, reap the benefits of his dedicated, experienced and creative Japanese partners and employees. TILEFILE innovation is, according to David, really happening with Japanese people in Sydney. Why is that, we ask? "Because if we fail we can all go to the beach!" It looks like they will have to balance work and beach, because failing isn't likely.

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