Voices of Our Staff

After leaving my previous job because of the pandemic, I joined through an acquaintance.

I had been working at another company as an agency worker, but the COVID-19 pandemic made business difficult, and in June 2020 all the agency workers had to leave. Fortunately, an acquaintance introduced me to Takane Electric, and I joined the company. My previous company worked with motors, making products such as pumps that draw water up from underground. I worked there as an inspector, measuring whether the finished products worked properly. I had expected to stay with the same company, so changing jobs made me anxious, but I have made a fresh start, and I am determined to stay with Takane Electric to the end of my working life.

The work isn’t mainly about physical strength, so I feel women can do it too.

First of all, the president was a woman, and I felt this was a company where it was easy to talk. My first impression was of a company that handles things quickly and properly: at the interview, in the follow-up afterwards, and in preparing documents and uniforms. I was hired as Takane Electric’s first woman site worker. At the interview, Yumiko Murakami, then president, told me that the company wanted more women site workers who could go round sites on their own, and wanted to widen its circle of women electricians. I feel the weight of that responsibility. My work now is mainly going out to sites with others and replacing worn outlets and light bulbs. Because the work isn’t mainly about physical strength, I feel that once you have learned it, women can do it too.

What I want to learn now is how wiring is laid out. Learning the combinations and the drawings comes first.

I am taking the national Class 2 Electrician exam this October. The exam has a written part and a practical part. There are test questions on things like the wiring that runs from the ‘parent’ to the ‘children’, based on the distribution board. Electrical wiring is hidden inside the structure, even in ordinary homes, so it was new to me, but I can learn it on site while my manager teaches me. What I want to learn next is how wiring is laid out. Learning the combinations and the drawings is the starting point. Some parts are hard to learn on your own, so I think people who actually work on site have an advantage in gaining the Class 2 Electrician qualification.

I try to keep sites clean.

Going round sites, the thing I came to care about is cleanliness. My own appearance, of course, but I also noticed the dust left after the work. We often work after renovations, and I take particular care when entering a site that has just been cleaned. The next person to enter the room is the resident, so it mustn’t be left dirty, and I think there is a service we can offer there. For example, not leaving shoe marks in the entrance after the work. I would like to make this kind of service part of our work, with a clean and attentive eye for detail, as a woman.

Let go of ‘I don’t understand’. Energy and drive are what matter.

I think demand for women electricians will keep growing. Many of the homes we visit belong to women living alone, and when I pop up behind my manager, the customer’s face relaxes. I want to learn the skills on site and work towards qualifications, while also offering the reassurance and attentive service a woman can bring. If you are interested in this work, bring your energy and drive and give it a try. And I hope you will let go of ‘I don’t understand’. Everyone starts from zero. Don’t leave things you don’t understand; check as many times as it takes, learn the work, and I hope we can work together as Takane Electric’s women electricians. I will keep working hard myself so that one day I can teach others.