A survey on the recruitment environment for new graduates revealed that deteriorated business conditions have led many major companies to reduce the number of graduates they aim to hire in spring next year. The "seller's market" for students that existed before the novel coronavirus pandemic is now a thing of the past. However, some companies aim to maintain the same level of hiring as in the previous year, creating contrasts even within industries.
The survey was conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun and Nippon Television Network Corp. from late March to early April, targeting 101 major companies.
In the tourism and transport industries, JTB Group will stop hiring, and two airlines will also suspend hiring except for certain job categories. They are all posting huge losses and are expected to continue to perform poorly until the pandemic is over.
East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) will reduce its number of recruits by about 40%. It explained that it will do so in order to respond to structural reforms in its overall business operations required by the drastic changes in the business environment. However, Tokyu Corp. and Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc. plan to keep their recruiting at the same level as previous year.
In industries that had already been restrained in their recruitment, there is a noticeable trend toward further reductions. In the banking sector, which used to hire large numbers of new graduates, Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. and Resona Group will each reduce their number of recruits by about 20%. A prolonged period of low interest rates has made it difficult to generate profits, and the banks face challenges in developing new business models. However, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank maintained the same level of recruiting as in the previous year.
In the department store sector, where pandemic-related cuts in business hours and other factors have worsened an existing long-term decline in sales, Takashimaya Co. has halved its number of recruits to 15, while Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores Co. has increased its recruits by nearly 40.
There is also a tendency for early recruitment in order to retain talent. The government's "job-hunting rule," which includes requests to the business community to refrain from holding job fairs before March 1, has become noticeably less effective. In the survey, 21 companies replied that the rule should be changed each year according to the situation, and a total of 19 companies responded that the rule "should eventually be eliminated" or that things would be "better without it."
-- Recruiting specialists
A notable number of companies are trying to secure a diverse workforce by such measures as hiring new graduates with specialized skills and introducing a competency-based personnel system.
When asked about their efforts to secure "digital talent," with multiple answer choices allowed, 63 companies chose "mid-career hiring of people with specialized skills," 49 chose "utilizing existing in-house human resources," and 29 chose "finely subdivide recruiting categories for new graduates, and develop highly specialized human resources."
Kirin Holdings Co. has established a "Digital ICT Strategy Course" for the new graduates it recruits, aiming to develop highly specialized ICT (information and communications technology) talent from the time they join the company.
When asked about securing talent to push forward decarbonization, again with multiple answers allowed, 34 companies chose "mid-career hiring of people with specialized skills," 58 chose "utilizing existing in-house human resources," and 11 chose "finely subdivide recruiting categories for new graduates."
Forty companies said they "increased or planned to increase" mid-career hiring, highlighting the trend toward recruiting not just new graduates but people with immediately applicable skills. Only nine companies said they were "decreasing" the hiring of mid-career personnel.
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