Japan Firms Using Underhanded Tactics To Recruit College Grads

Intense competition among Japanese companies seeking to hire new graduates has prompted some to use drastic and unprofessional tactics in a desperate attempt to retain students who had previously made informal commitments but have begun to waver, Mainichi Japan reported.

Photo Insert: Interviews for next spring's graduate class and others officially began on June 1, but many companies engaged prospective employees earlier in the hopes of snagging them before their competitors.

Recruitment, which had slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic, has seen a resurgence as demand for goods and services has increased. Furthermore, Japan's long-standing demographic challenges are increasing labor-market competitiveness. Interviews for next spring's graduate class and others officially began on June 1, but many companies engaged prospective employees earlier in the hopes of snagging them before their competitors.

What happens next, however, is proving problematic, with companies aggressively attempting to bind these recruits to legally non-binding agreements and then harassing them to the point of harassment if they indicate an intention to back out. A 21-year-old student who is soon to graduate from a private university in Tokyo was recently pressed for answers by a recruitment officer at a major retailer after she declined to join the company.

She received an informal job offer in December and made a written pledge in March to the retailer that she would not seek employment elsewhere.

However, she has since received an informal job offer from a company she prefers, and she has informed the retailer that she will decline its offer. The recruitment officer questioned her for nearly 30 minutes about whether she "lied" when she committed to the company and whether she understood what the pledge meant.

According to a Cabinet Office survey, 11.6 percent of graduates in March this year said they had similar experiences with companies that offered them jobs, a 2.6 percentage point increase from the previous year.

The rise reflects the challenges that companies face when competing for new employees, but it also reflects a sense of desperation given their willingness to press recruits into joining, potentially tainting their employer-employee relationship before it has even begun.

According to Disco Inc., an employment information service, 42.2 percent of companies in its survey were experiencing "difficulties" or "extreme difficulties" in recruiting new employees as of May, a 14.1 percent increase from the previous year.

According to another private-sector survey, the total number of jobs offered to graduates in March 2023 represents the first increase in four years.

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