Pantene proves that you’re not your resume

When you’re brave enough to be yourself, changing an entire culture doesn’t seem so hard.  

Job hunting in Japan is a different cultural phenomenon than any other career search in the world. New grads, right out of university, go on multiple interview rounds with companies and often stay at that job for decades. If you miss that window of opportunity you have to compete with next year’s grads...at a huge disadvantage.  

Pride Hair features two young career professionals who have had to create their own ways of expressing themselves at interviews, despite the fear that they might not be hired because of their gender presentation. The stress they face goes beyond the normal struggles that most job applicants face, but opens up the bigger question of whether or not they can be themselves. 

Masanori Tagaya, Executive Creative Director, for Grey Tokyo says, “When I heard, ‘I spent a year agonizing over whether I should job-hunt as a man or a woman,’ spoken by our interviewee, I was deeply affected and shaken to the core. While most people worry about facts like which job or company, there are people who worry about how or whether they should reveal the most basic aspect of their identity.”