The seventh volume of “Yaraku-Jin (やらく人)”, a series that focuses the people involved in Yaraku and YarakuZen, will introduce Eimi Yumura, a partner sales executive.
Yaraku-Jin<VOL7>
Yaraku, Inc. Partner Sales Executive
Eimi Yumura
Could you tell us your background story before joining Yaraku?
I originally worked in corporate sales for about ten years after graduating. I then had a baby at the time of my husband’s transfer, so I left the company for a time. After returning to work, I worked for a start-up company doing back-office work for about two years. After that, I joined a venture firm and I was in sales there for about a year and a half to two years. Then, in June of 2022, I moved to Yaraku.
There was a website with job openings for mothers, and I was scouted through that site. From the day I was scouted, I went through a very speedy selection process, including an interview with human resources, with the sales team, and with the CEO. Initially, I joined the company as a short-time regular employee because my child was still in the second grade of elementary school and I was still worried about him.
What do you do at Yaraku right now?
I am in charge of partner sales, supporting our partner companies in business negotiations and working with them on projects that will further promote sales.
When do you feel rewarded or fulfilled?
When I do sales, I can learn many things while talking with customers. Even now, I am discussing legal and financial matters with my partner clients, and this is a good opportunity for me to learn and develop a desire to learn. Marketing is one of them, and it is interesting to be able to watch what kind of people do things and what kind of results come out in outside the company.
Is there anything you are working hard on right now?
I am currently going for management training externally, and I have a lot of assignments to complete on the weekends while still performing my daily work during the week. It’s hard work, but I think it’s rewarding.
Were there any deciding factors in your decision to join Yaraku?
Firstly, many of us had similar home situations. So a big reason was that many people were raising children, so it would be easy to work even if I need to step out for my chilld. As it is remote, I am able to work while maintaining a home-life balance with my family.
Did you want to work in sales?
Yes, I knew I wanted to be in sales. Well, the biggest thing is that I like talking with customers. It is interesting to hear about their stories about business and daily lives, which has become part of my knowledge. When you’re in sales, you talk to different people every day. In that sense, I think one of the major points is that I never get bored of meeting various people. I don’t like an unstimulating environment – I want to be in an environment where something new happens every day.
What do you want to do in the future at Yaraku?
So, I believe that we have to work on building a team and organisation first. Our goal is to build a strong sales team. I hope that we can all work together as a team to achieve our long-term goals. To achieve that, we also need to figure out how to deepen cohesion among the full remote employees.
Personally, I’ve had a few opportunities recently to get involved in legal and financial matters, and I’d like to learn more about those things, since I am not very familiar with them. I would like to acquire more knowledge when thinking about the company as a whole and when talking and dealing with customers.
We heard that you have been stationed in India? What was life like in India?
I stayed there for about two years, but it was difficult because I had just had a child. It was hard to get used to the environment, and it was also very difficult to suddenly lose my job and be alone with my child. The only people I could talk to were drivers and maids. Communication was in broken English. However, exploring and discovering new stores was quite fun, even in such a lifestyle. There’s no information on Google Maps or anything like that, so I had to drive there and find it alone.
For the rest of the time, I travelled every weekend. I had travelled outside India, but Sri Lanka and the Maldives became my favourites because of their proximity and beauty.
Speaking of the falimy, we were told that your family, including your elementary school-aged son, completely shares household chores!
Oh, yes (laughs). Each person is in charge of cleaning the room, running the washing machine, folding the laundry that has been taken out, and cleaning the toilets, and everyone does these things solemnly (laughs). We don’t interfere with each other’s work, but we never fail to say “thank you” to everyone. While dividing the work, we say “thank you” to each other when we do something.
—It’s a very nice way to have a family. It would be great if we could build such a team at Yaraku.
What do you think is the selling points of YarakuZen?
I think the advantage is that it is a translaton assistant tool that allows even people who are unfamiliar with foreign languages to improve the accuracy of their translations. It has many features that are useful for learning, including the function to edit while referring to multiple translation results. I believe that one of our unique strengths is that we are constantly incorporating cutting-edge technologies, such as generative AI, and combining them with machine learning to produce better translation results.
Finally, what kind of coworkers do you excited to work with here at Yaraku?
This company provides an environment where you can grow on your own. On the other hand, there aren’t many people who tell you to do this and that, so we would be happy to work with people who are able to discipline themselves and pursue their own and the company’s growth in an environment where they can act spontenuously.