For the first time, they’ve come to the United States seeking college students to work for them in Tokyo, Japan.

BSP, Inc. (Best Solution Provider) recruiter Junko Kojima will be interviewing applicants tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Room 244 in the Engineering Annex to fill two positions for computer engineers and possibly some for sales representatives.

BSP, Inc. develops and sells computer operation software.

Kojima said she already interviewed about 40 people last week at the Pan Asian Career Fair in New York and will consider applications on Wednesday at University of Michigan, but ISU is the first university BSP has visited.

“This is the first company from offshore that has sent recruiters directly to us,” said Larry Hannemen, director of Engineering Career Services.

Kojima explained that the company decided to search for employees at U.S. colleges because “Japanese college graduates want to be employed by big corporations and are reluctant to go to a small corporation.”

On the other hand, students in America have more of an entrepreneurial outlook on business and “they want to help a small organization,” she said.

Although BSP, Inc., is small by Kojima’s definition, its clients are big enough, including such well known names as Honda, Hitachi, Merill Lynch, Bank of Japan, McDonald’s, Fuji Photo Film, Panasonic, Xerox and Sony Music Entertainment.

“The name of BSP is not very famous,” Kojima said, “but the name of our products is very famous.”

BSP currently employs 130 people, the majority of whom work in Tokyo. BSP also has distribution offices in New York, Singapore, Taiwan, Italy and Spain.

The company’s next step, Kojima said, is to set up a development center in the United States. She said she hopes the students they hire will help reach the goal because they will be familiar with working and communicating here and will be able to come work here after working in Tokyo.

BSP, Inc. selected ISU and Michigan as places from which to recruit with the aid of International Careers Incorporated.

“Now we’re waiting to see how things develop,” Kojima said, and if things go well they will continue to recruit students in the United States.

Seven students have submitted resumes so far, Denise Kinneberg, engineering scheduling coordinator, said. In order to apply, students are required to speak English and Japanese conversationally.

When she interviews people, Kojima said she looks for two primary things: a strong academic background and “the aggressiveness to do something new.”