TOKYO - More people in Japan are looking to change jobs as work styles and values shift in the post-pandemic era, pushing individuals to seek better roles that match their skills, experience, and lifestyle, while companies facing digital transformation and new business pressures are also reshaping hiring by expanding mid-career recruitment.
One of the services gaining traction in this environment is BizReach, a well-known recruiting platform promoted heavily through TV commercials, which launched in 2009 and has grown rapidly to around 1.8 million registered users in 14 years, with more than 22,000 companies having used it.
The program explored what it called the “reality of job switching,” focusing on BizReach’s direct recruiting model, where individuals register their career history and skills, and companies send direct scouting messages rather than relying only on traditional job ads or recruitment agencies.
One user, Tachibana, who works in data analysis at a company, said he checks BizReach daily while searching for a new job, explaining that he keeps his face hidden because he is actively job hunting. Tachibana described the scouting messages as “love letters” from companies, including one offer listing an annual salary range of 8 million yen to 10 million yen.
Tachibana said salary matters, but he also pays close attention to what kind of work he would be doing and who he would be working with. After receiving multiple offers, he responded to one company he found particularly interesting and requested an interview through the app.
Several days later, Tachibana visited an office building to meet an IT-related venture company, where he was given an explanation of its business, including analysis of large volumes of smartphone location data used to visualize human movement patterns and provide services such as real-time displays of crowd congestion at stores.
The discussion continued for about an hour as Tachibana asked detailed questions about the role and the company’s plans, with the interviewer praising the accuracy of his questions and saying it was rare to see such a well-prepared candidate.
BizReach’s approach has also been used by companies seeking experienced hires, including a major beverage maker expanding its health-related business and increasing recruitment of immediate contributors. One employee, Nakajima, 36, joined the company in July last year after being recruited through BizReach.
Nakajima works on bringing new functional food products to market, including ensuring compliance with Japan’s strict labeling and notification rules, where even a single incorrect character can lead to an application being rejected and sent back for revision. Her colleagues said her attention to detail has improved their acceptance rate by reducing rejections.
Nakajima said she had registered on BizReach while working at another food manufacturer in a similar role when she received a scouting email inviting her to help deliver a product featuring plasma lactic acid bacteria to consumers as quickly as possible. She said she was surprised but felt the move would help her develop the skills she wanted, calling it an unexpected but fortunate connection.
Her supervisor, Kawakubo, explained that BizReach allows employers to search by keywords, and by entering terms related to functional food labeling and notification requirements, he narrowed the pool from 1.8 million registrants to 216 candidates, then read each profile carefully before selecting Nakajima for recruitment.
The program also highlighted how BizReach is being used beyond Japan’s major metropolitan firms, including a company in Tosa City, Kochi Prefecture, where many employees previously worked at large corporations such as Toyota, Panasonic, Nidec, Mitsubishi Corporation, and others.
The company has increased the share of mid-career hires to about 30% of its workforce over the past decade and has doubled sales during that period, with its recruitment staff saying BizReach helps them find highly skilled candidates they would otherwise never meet, especially at the managerial level.
The episode also followed a job seeker in his 50s, Sasaki, who visited the company’s headquarters for the first time for a final interview after completing earlier interviews online, reflecting how digital hiring processes and direct recruiting platforms are accelerating changes in Japan’s labor market.
Source: テレ東BIZ
