On average I will have a phone call or meeting with an overseas headquartered Executive once a week. Over the last 10 years I have been based in Tokyo, very similar situations have arisen before, during and after the hiring process. Consequently, I am hoping you can learn from my mistakes with the below information in order to fast track your hiring and ensure you find the best person for your business to be successful here in Japan.
General Tips & Advice
Loyalty – is extremely important to people in Japan, stemming in no small part from the legacy job for life culture which is still prevalent at most Japanese companies today
Service – People expect very high levels of service. Switching from a “why should we hire you” mentality to a “what can I do to ensure we hire you” mentality will give you more candidates to choose from at the end of the interview process
Low Risk culture – People have a very long term view of their job change, therefore they are much less likely to take a “risk”. Candidates do not want to appear to be a job hopper, so there is sometimes a hesitation in applying to a smaller or start-up company for fear of not getting another job if this one doesn’t work out
Demographics – Japan has an ageing population with very limited amounts of immigration. The amount of people in the earlier and mid-points of their career are simply smaller than those in the latter stages. Considering candidates with more experience can provide some fantastic options!
Bilinguals – between 2-3% of the population in Japan are bilingual, those with a level high enough to liaise directly with Head office are around 1%
Competitive – candidates often receive 2-4 offers at the same time, moving quickly through the interview stages. Issuing your best offer first, will give you the best possible chance of securing quality talent. This is also an acutely competitive market with a 98% employment across Japan.
International – Searching for candidates with an international mindset or those who have lived overseas is a common request. However this does not always equate to the best candidate in the market, there are many highly skilled people who have not spent time overseas
Commerciality or Entrepreneurialism – Will not be expressed by candidates in the same way as other countries around the world. Networks and an understanding of the complicated business practices are more important and more likely to be successful than the younger go-getters knocking on the doors of major clients asking for new business
Communication – Purely assessing the words a candidate says in the interview can be a costly mistake. Someone with a great English/US accent may not be as good as they say they are and vice versa.
Bonus – Mention of “upside” of earnings often falls on deaf ears, instead it is better to offer a higher base salary around 75/25 or even 90/10 to ensure you get the best candidates in the market including top tier sales people
“More CVs” – this strategy is unlikely to yield results unless your company is comfortable in waiting for 9-18 months, which some companies are. However, even in this instance it is not uncommon to end up hiring someone who was not as strong as the initially presented shortlist. Typically the best candidates are presented in the first one or two rounds of shortlisting, meaning typically 6-12 CVs.
Research & Localizing – job changers appreciate employers that have done their homework on Japan and will prioritize employment with those companies that have a clear strategy demonstrating their understanding of the challenges here. Engaging the same strategy as the home market, is unlikely to work and will turn off candidates from applying or pull out of the process midway through.
Culture fit – searching for a candidate that is a good “culture fit” to your head office in Europe, the US or elsewhere can be misleading. It is possible to miss out on great candidates because they aren’t able to communicate their entrepreneurial or proactive attributes in the same way as people may do in the West
Brand – Company Brand is extremely important. If your company has little or no brand penetration in Japan, being accepting that in your home country you may be a tier 1 company, in Japan your company is an unknown element to candidates
Domestic Competitor – Moving a candidate from a Japanese company to a foreign company is an unlikely scenario. It is an incredibly difficult move for someone to make. There may be many perceived candidates in these companies that you see as competitors. However these potential candidates have never thought about leaving an organisation they consider to be similar to family for a whole host of reasons. In the highly unlikely event that someone did consider outside opportunities, they probably won’t be the type of candidate a “gaishikei” would want to hire due to the siloed nature of their role, very different working practices, hierarchically structure of domestic companies, family considerations and the perceived high-risk nature of “gaishikei” amongst others.
The real secret to recruiting in Japan is to do the research, stay humble, stay inquisitive, adapt to the Japan market, move quickly and hire someone based on their skills not their perceived fit to head office culture.
