Interview with Jim Groth

Jim Groth is originally from Sweden. He studied International Relations and Japanese at the University of Leeds and graduated in 2016. He went to Kobe in Japan for his year abroad. He is now in Tokyo selling gas turbines across the world.

How did you go from a languages degree to selling turbines?

I don’t quite know myself. There was a recruitment agency that visited the university and they introduced various companies one of which happened to be a major industry company dealing with infrastructure, ships, missiles etc. I am interested in infrastructure as I studied politics and the infrastructure and economics is important so I had some interest in the field and decided to send off an application. ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ I’m on the global marketing team so I deal mostly with contacts abroad and so forth. But a lot of it is coordinating with our foreign subsidiaries and foreign offices and most of their communication is done in Japanese. The only time I speak English is when I call or meet a customer. Right now I primarily sell spare parts for gas turbines and power plants to Australia.

What did you do during your year abroad?

I went to Kobe Gakuin University in Kobe, next to Osaka. I was there for about 10 or 11 months and I was mainly studying and focusing on the Japanese language. I also worked as a waiter for 2 months. That helped quite a lot, actually, in terms of picking up the language, and learning how to communicate with Japanese people effectively. There are a lot of cultural differences.

How do you think the skills you gained in your year abroad have helped you now?

Well in terms of language it’s indispensable. If I hadn’t had that year abroad I wouldn’t be here, that’s for certain. The year abroad is when I made the most progress in terms of language, as it’s really important to immerse yourself and have plenty of opportunities to actually speak in the language you’re studying. I think my restaurant job helped me because I learned how to treat customers and how to interact with people outside of a classroom. You have to adjust your speech and grammar according to a very strict hierarchy between customers and attendants. I learned that the hard way during my work as a waiter, I messed up a lot of times but that did help me, I didn’t make the same mistake twice!

What advice do you have for current students who want to study or work abroad?

Do it! What’s the worst that could happen? I’m Swedish so I had never been to the UK before I went to study at Leeds for 4 years. Absolutely do it! It’ll widen your horizons if nothing else, and you might actually find something that you really enjoy and that you really want to do. Don’t worry too much about finding a job after graduating. A lot of people think that they don’t really fit the profile or they don’t have the skills that the employers will want but just send off a resume or a CV and see what happens. When it comes to Japan, they want to know if you have the potential to grow further after having been hired so it’s all about presenting yourself as a decent person with a lot of enthusiasm, willing to learn and willing to grow.

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Have the interviews in the Alumni Voices Abroad series been helpful to you? What insights would you like to gain from future interviews with our alumni? All feedback on the series is welcome, please send this via email to lcsalumni@leeds.ac.uk