Vol.61 – Recruiting, Job Hunting and Media in Japan Until Today

Social Media has rapidly started to proliferate to change recruiting and job hunting in Japan since Twitter got hot in 2010 and Facebook in 2011 and thus 2011 is said to be the first year of social media in Japan. Thus a leading job hunting and recruiting agency in Japan predicted that 2011 will be the first year of “social recruiting and job hunting” and recently there was a special article on this topic in a leading Japanese human management magazine.




The author would like to introduce and explain the essence of the article in series of articles, starting with history of new graduate recruiting and media.



1. What was the first media for job hunting and recruiting in Japan



It was a guidebook, later called “Recruit Book” with information about job hunting that was issued in 1962. New graduates applied by sending in hard copy documents (resume etc.) based on the guidebook.



2. When did the Internet emerge in job hunting in Japan?



It was in February 1996 when the web site called “Recruit Book on the Net” opened. The web site name later was changed to “Recruit Navi(gation)”. This marked the turning point in media in job hunting and recruiting, from printed media such as guidebooks, direct mails and hard copy job postings to the Internet.



Such change in media in job hunting and recruiting made anyone interested in the opportunity access the information online and made the job hunting and recruiting web sites extremely popular to become huge portal web sites. There are currently some such portal web sites that to which more than 400,000 students have registered and over 8,000 companies provide recruiting information.



3. How has the Internet changed job hunting in Japan?



Portal web sites and the Internet established a new system of “web entry” that has become something normal today, in which students apply from online application form. With this system, students became free from complicated procedures of requesting company brochures and applying to attend seminars by post cards and telephones, meaning they approach to many companies with ease.



4. What is the primary problem of the job hunting and recruiting leveraging the Internet?



It is inefficiency and mismatch in the beginning phase of recruiting and job hunting.



So many students apply to well known companies, sometimes as many as 100,000. On the other hand, unknown small and mid-sized companies cannot attract candidates even if they post their information online, on such portal web sites.



Moreover, due to such an ease of online application of “web entry”, there are quite a few students who make online application even if they have no real intention of being screened and/or joining the company.



5. What is one possible reason for such problems?



It is the fact that information posted on such portal web sites limit quality and quantity of online information although it is far superior compared with traditional printed media.



It is for this reason that social media is expected to cover ups for such shortcomings of portal web sites.





In the next articles the author would like to explain how social media is recently being used in job hunting and recruiting by some innovative companies and individuals in Japan.





References:-

“Leveraging Twitter and Facebook in New Graduate Recruiting” by Yoshioka, Mina, from Monthly HRM Materials (July 2011 Edition) – Business Publishing P29-43 (In Japanese)

http://www.busi-pub.com/



Resources:-

The first portal web site in Japan that opened in 1996 changed job hunting and recruiting in Japan completely but this also triggered problems of inefficiency and mismatch in the first phase of recruiting attributing to ease of online application. Social media is expected to cover up for such shortcomings.