Working at an airport as a ground staff member has always been the passion of Milla Dewi Hartono Soehardjo, an alumna of the Japanese Literature Department at Universitas Dian Nuswantoro (Udinus). With her career at Narita Airport, Japan, she is able to apply her knowledge she learned on campus.
Her workplace was located in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. She has been working at the airport since January 2024. Furthermore, she explained that ground staff was responsible to affairs relating to plane arrivals and departures.
“We are tasked to check-in on the departing passengers, arrange and prepare boarding gate, welcome the arriving passengers, and ensure that each of them can find their belongings,” Mila revealed.
Throughout her career as a ground staff member in Japan, she said that the biggest challenge was not only in terms of language, but also in carefulness in checking every required document, both during the arrival and departure.
“To face this predicament, I always gather my determination every day and stack my motivations to keep learning and garnering experiences. These challenges are my stepping stones to keep improving myself,” Mila emphasized.
Honing Language Skills
According to Mila, who graduated in 2023, language proficiency is among the most important aspects. For that reason, it is important to learn languages practically rather than limited to theoretically.
“The airport I work at is indeed in Japan, but every worker is also pushed to learn other languages, including English, Chinese, and Indonesian. This is because there will also be passengers from other countries,” Mila uttered.
Mila has prepared this practical knowledge ever since she studied in the Humanities Faculty at Udinus. “During my studies, I even participated in an internship program for a year as a caddie in Japan. Through this program, I had the opportunity to hone my speaking skills with Japanese people every day,” she explained.
With this experience, she admitted that that her Japanese Language Proficiency rapidly improved. This experience made her intrigued to be a customer service officer in Japan.
“During my studies at Udinus, I also received support from faculty members who actively shared contests or competitions with internship opportunities, as well as work opportunities in Japan,” Mila uttered.
Mila revealed that the faculty members in the Humanities Faculty were supportive and helpful in pushing their students toward improvement through various means in addition to regular lectures in classrooms.
“I am so grateful to study in a supportive environment like Udinus. It is because of the campus I was able to carve my career in Japan,” she concluded. (Humas Udinus/Ika. Foto: Dok. Pribadi)
