It’s a very happy and expectant Toru Hirata who talks about his new job at UD Trucks, one of the Volvo Group’s truck brands.
“UD Trucks is still a relatively unfamiliar brand both internationally and domestically. From the marketing viewpoint it’s going to be a challenge to build the brand. But I like challenges,” he says.
Toru Hirata studied International Business and Economics at Sophia University in Tokyo.
This is one of ten selected universities throughout the world to be part of the Volvo Group’s Preferred Talent Partner program.
Every year, students from the various universities are offered a two to six-months international internship. Toru Hirata applied and was given a place at Volvo Penta in Chesapeake in the USA.
He spent some exciting and educational months there.
“I wanted to develop myself and gain experience of working overseas in a large global company. My time at Volvo Penta generated many interesting meetings with people and cultures. I learned a lot about the company and the task of marketing and communication,” he says and emphasises that occasional failures are also part of the educational process.
“As a student you have plenty of ambition but little experience. Here you have the opportunity to tackle a lot of challenges and you don’t always succeed. On the other hand, this kind of failure also makes you one experience richer,” he explains.
Now Toru is back in Japan and working as Content Manager at UD Trucks. It’s a position he discovered during his internship.
“It became clear during my months in the USA that this was what I wanted to work with. I’m really happy that I got this opportunity, thanks to the Internship program.”
A new period of Internship program has just started and this year the program celebrates five year anniversary.
