A survey was published on October 18th by Pasona Group’s “Pasona Research Institute”; which is a leading personnel placement company. As per the survey, approximately 50% of university and graduate students, who will graduate by March 2020 are in favor of “Abolishment of job-hunting rules”, that was announced by Japan Federation of Economic Organizations on October 9. However, 40% of the students oppose it.
This survey was conducted from 13th to 19th September 2018 on 622 university and graduate students who would be graduating in the spring of 2020. The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations announced on October 9th a policy to abolish the so-called “job hunting rules” that set the timing of job hunting activities. Though this announcement has generated a swirling debate across the world, however it turns out that about half of the university students are welcoming this policy.
Among the students who participated in this survey, 49.4% of students agreed on abolition of “job-hunting rules” with the most common reasons as “Able to choose the company at one’s own pace” followed by “Able to get an early offer”.
On the other hand, 39.7% of the students opposed the abolition of “job-hunting rules” with the most common reason being “Difficulty in setting up the overall schedule while living a student’s lifestyle” followed by “Prolonged job-hunting time”.
The survey also asked students about when the question was raised as to “What would be an ideal time to start the job hunt, if a student can control the job-hunting schedule?”, 22.3% students replied, they would start the job hunt by the Summer vacation of University Third year (August)”, 17.0% would like to start by Winter vacations of University Third Year (December)”, and 75.1% of students said that they would like to start the job hunt before University Fourth Year.
Concerns about adverse effect on academics are being raised over the decision of abolishing job-hunting rules. However, students have shown a strong desire towards starting job-hunting at an early stage and carefully selecting the desired employment.
As the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations has announced the abolishment of job-hunting rules, the government will take an initiative to further discuss and create new rules.
Information gathering is the key to job hunting and hence foreign students must keep a close watch on the developments and trends of job-hunting rules in Japan.
jopus Editorial Dep.
