Will it trigger changes in "the en masse recruitment of new graduates," a Japanese employment practice that has been entrenched for a long time?
A business-academic council composed of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) and universities has compiled an interim report calling for expanding recruitment to year-round hiring of new college graduates. The council will submit the report to the government's Council on Investment for the Future.
Specifically, the report urged the "orderly transfer to a multi-tracked diversified recruitment system." Some wish to hire human resources with high expertise in such fields as information technology at any time. The report apparently incorporated these hopes held by companies.
Another background factor appears to be Keidanren's sense of crisis over the current situation, in which nonmember foreign firms and IT companies carry out recruitment activities that are not bound by its rules.
The proposal will expand opportunities for people who want to hunt for jobs after graduation or after studying abroad, as well as those who are seeking to change jobs. The report is not a bad proposal for people who are looking for a job.
The interim report appears to be urging changes to corporate personnel affairs and training systems that were created on the premise of en masse recruitment.
However, for the time being, many companies will likely not change their policy that "recruitment of new graduates en masse is the foundation."
Don't overburden students
Keidanren Chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi said at a press conference: "The situation will not change to year-round recruitment at once. This is linked to values and views on living, so it will take time." It will have a huge impact, so careful discussions are necessary.
Companies must make an effort so that students will not have unnecessary fears. Various measures must be implemented, such as companies announcing their recruitment policies and at the same time presenting the qualification requirements for people to be hired in year-round recruitment in an easy-to-understand manner.
Year-round recruitment is common in the United States and Europe, where priority is placed on workforces that can immediately contribute. In contrast, leading companies in Japan have a system of recruiting new graduates simultaneously and developing them in-house. This system supported the continued high-growth period on the premise of lifetime employment.
The recruitment of new graduates en masse probably continued after the high-growth period because it was a reasonable system. In one aspect, it has kept the unemployment rate among young generations lower than in the United States and Europe. Both systems have advantages and disadvantages. Given that, it is important to explore a recruitment system suitable to Japan.
A point of concern is that job-hunting activities may be further prolonged with the diversification of recruitment.
Under the current rules for recruiting new graduates, companies can organize orientation sessions in March of candidates' junior year and job interviews can start in June of their senior year. However, those rules have become a mere facade and the actual schedules are moved up.
The interim report contained hopes for the expansion of internships for first- and second-year students. Business circles and universities must rack their brains to avoid further increasing the burden on students, thereby hindering their academic activities.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, April. 24, 2019)
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