The food service industry has been struggling with a chronic lack of workers and increases in hourly wages as a result. The number of foreign workers is expected to grow due to the amended Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, which took effect on April 1, 2019.

However, study support services for the skill tests have been lacking despite the difficulty of the tests for many foreign persons.

The aim of providing study support services is to help benefit both workers and employers, resolving the issues confronting each group.

[Reference] Free online learning service for Food Service Skills Measurement Test started –study support service to accept more foreign workers in the food service industry

The “FJS school” to be opened on April, 1 at Minato ward conducts courses for practical Japanese at work, customer service, literacy, manners, and cultural knowledge besides the regular Japanese language training for foreign staff working on specified skills visa.

The foreign students who have enrolled in the school and who are in search of a job have an “Employment guarantee” and besides creating a curriculum to have industry-ready recruits, features of each industry, job hunting schedule, interview manners would be taught thereby having a total backup of employment.

In addition, a service whereby the instructors can make business trips as per the industry-type to companies and stores across the country as per the company requirements is also made available so that the working foreign staff can undergo the “FJS school” training.

Foreigners who want a know-how on working in Japan, and those willing to gain skills as immediate work force can opt for the “FJS school” training program.

[Web site] Foreigners Job-hunting Support Center “FJS”

soeasy Company Limited that operates a video SNS sharing service in alliance with Promotion of International Relationship Association(PIRA) has made an announcement of delivering contents in an easy-to-understand manner by sharing videos on day-to-day living in Japan and rules and manners to be followed at workplace for foreigners living in Japan. Initially they plan to start with 4 languages namely Vietnamese, Chinese, Indonesian, and English. [Example: Indonesian version]

soeasy company operates a 15 second video community “soeasy” and training video SNS “soeasy buddy”. As of March 2019, “soeasy” already has 5000 plus videos on wits, manners, and rules on Japanese life.

Posts sharing Japan’s day-to-day lifestyle hacks like know-how on using automatic vending machines or bidets etc., are gaining popularity among foreigners and are watched by users of total 120 countries/regions.

To work in Japan, besides learning the language, it is equally important to understand the rules and manners unique to Japan. Besides watching videos posted by other people, how about posting and sharing your own experience?

[Website] 15 seconds video when in trouble soeasy
[Web page] Tool to strengthen organizational skills using AI and videos | soeasy buddy

According to the survey, companies considering the employment of foreigners with primary objective of securing global human resources, and foreigners considering employment in Japan expecting good human relations, are looking out for a comfortable work environment.

In a “Survey on companies considering employment of foreigners”, about 90% of companies that have hired foreigners in the past are considering recruitment of foreigners again. Therefore, 54.4% of companies intend to “Secure human resources who can speak languages other than Japanese”, and 50.6% said that they want to secure resources to “Reduce the problem of labor shortage”.

In the next question, when asked about “What companies seek from foreign employees?”, “Diligence” was highest with 73.4% and “Have humor” was lowest with 22.8%. Also, when asked “What attributes do you seek in foreigners?”, 80% and above said that they seek “Sincere and honest people” and 19.0% said that they seek “Optimism”. When asked about “Payment of monthly salary”, most of them replied “200000 yen and above” accounting for 19.7%.

On the contrary, in a “Survey on foreigners considering employment in Japan”, a trend different from the companies was observed. When asked about “The type of job one seeks in Japan”, “Restaurant” was at number one place with 47.2%, followed by “Language teacher” with 46.1%, “Hotel line” with 45.0%. It is estimated that industries where one can use English or native language are popular.

When enquired about “What are you looking for primarily in work environment?”, “Good interpersonal relationships” was on top with 72.1% and “No overtime” was 29.8%. Among them, the ratio of Europeans asking for “No overtime” was high with 46.9% which was highest as compared to other nationals.

When enquired about the “Expected monthly income”, almost 22.1% said that they expect “200000 yen or more” which was the highest followed by “180000~200000 yen” which was 11.7%. Regarding the monthly income, it was observed that there was not much difference in the expected payment as compared to the payment mentioned by companies considering foreign recruitment.

Also, regarding the “Desired working hours”, more than 40% said that they are willing to work for “8 hours” which was on top. Thus, it is speculated that foreigners in Japan are willing to work for fulltime and earn a stable income.
This survey was conducted on 79 executives of companies using “JobBoard” which is a job posting site for foreigners operated on home page of the same association (JAWHM) and on 436 foreigners.

The “Job offer rate” for college students graduating in 2020 was 5.8% as of February 1, showing an increase of 1.3% than the 2019 graduates the same month. The “Job hunting rate” of college students graduating in 2020 is 87.5% as of February 1, showing an increase of 1.9% as compared to 2019 graduates the same month.

Moreover, there is an increase in respondents saying that “They have not yet decided” the “Industry type”, “Job type” and “Employee size” etc. for “Job seeking preferences”. The “Industry type” stands at 12.4% with 1.2% increase, “Job type” at 17.7% with 1.4% increase, and “Employee size” at 46.6% with 5.1% increase as compared to previous year.

Among them, the “Most preferred industry” is “Information and service industry” on top with 64.6% showing a decrease of 1.7% as compared to last year, followed by “Manufacturing industry” on 45.9% showing a decrease of 4.7% as compared to previous year, and “Distribution operations” on 20.4% showing a decrease of 4.6% as compared to previous year.

Among the “Most preferred jobs”, “Clerical staff related jobs” was on top with 37.6% showing an increase of 0.9% as compared to previous year, followed by “Product planning/ Marketing related jobs” on 33.9% showing a decrease of 5.3% as compared to previous year, and “Sales related jobs” on 32.7% with a decrease of 1.4% as compared to previous year.

Moreover, regarding the preferred “Employee size”, there is a tremendous decrease in the percentage of applicants aspiring for large companies with “1000~4999 people” or “5000 plus people” with decrease of 6.8% and 3.6% respectively as compared to previous year.
In an aggregate data for “Preferences for participation in internship till end of January”, almost 80% of the students said that they do participate in internship. The participation period was mostly “one day” and after participating in internship they were motivated to join the company.

If we see the “Job offer rate” and “Job hunting rate” for 2020 graduate collage students as per the field of specialization, the “Job offer rate” for Arts students was 6.5% with increase of 2.0% as compared to previous year and “Job hunting rate” was 90.0% with increase of 0.5% as compared to previous year. However, the “Job offer rate” for Science students was 4.2% with a decrease of 0.5% as compared to previous year and “Job hunting rate” was 82.1% with a decrease of 4.8% as compared to previous year.
If categorized according to gender, the “Job offer rate” for men was 5.9% with an increase of 0.6% than the previous year and “Job hunting rate” was 88.3% with an increase of 2.8%. On the other hand, the “Job offer rate” for women was 5.5% with an increase of 2.0% than the previous year and “Job hunting rate” was 86.6% with an increase of 0.9%.

Region-wise, “Job offer rate” for Kanto was 7.4% with 0.7% increase than the previous year and “Job hunting rate” was 92.5% with 1.5% increase. Chubu accounted for 6.6% in “Job offer rate” with increase of 5.8% than the previous year and “Job hunting rate” was 79.2% with a decrease of 0.3%. Kinki’s “Job offer rate” was 3.9% with decrease of 0.5% than the previous year and “Job hunting rate” was 87.8% with increase of 4.4% than the previous year. In other areas, the “Job offer rate” was 4.3% with increase of 0.6% than the previous year and “Job hunting rate” was at 84.5% with an increase of 1.2%.

［Reference］ “Unofficial list as of February 1, 2019” Survey on job hunting process (2020 graduates) /Press release /Recruit Career

CIS deals with recruitment matters that focus on industries that foreign students have a realistic chance of working at. It also has a good grasp on the situation for non-Japanese languages at all companies it works with, so the service can help students with only N2 or N3 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. CIS can also introduce workplaces that are suitable for graduates of all diploma types. This means the service is not only for graduates from four year colleges and graduate schools, but also for students who’ve graduated from vocational schools, junior colleges, and even students who have received education in their own countries.

CIS also employs full time advisers who provide counseling for foreign students in Japan. Foreign students can get a wide range of job hunting support at CIS. Not only can they learn more about the contents and finer points of Japan’s unique system of job hunting, they can also be introduced to jobs, get corrections on their resumes, and learn strategies to deal with interviews.

As for the reasons why Career Ticket started the CIS service, they mentioned that job hunting is currently difficult for foreign students. According to a public survey conducted by the company, the language barrier is one reason that job hunting can be difficult. Not only that, Japan’s job hunting systems, aptitude tests, interview manners, as well as dealing with the employment problems of individual companies can all be issues. Furthermore, graduates of vocational schools or junior colleges especially tend to find job hunting difficult, despite their specialized knowledge.

Career Ticket is helping foreign students find work, with their job hunting support service focused on foreign students, as well as their hiring consulting for companies. In September of this year, they will be holding a joint information session and a job hunting seminar for foreign students.

Two other companies are cooperating on this project – Human Academy, which works on Japanese language education for foreigners, as well as Edvec, a company that runs Nihongo dojo, an e-learning course for The Japanese Language Examination (Nihongo Kentei). The system uses blockchain to save and manage study data, such as study logs and grade information, as data that cannot be falsified.

The employment of foreign workers is expected to increase due to revisions in the Immigration Control Act, which will take effect from April 2019. Foreign workers and people who hope to study in Japan submit lecture and test results to educational institutions. However it can be difficult for educational institutions to verify the authenticity of class participation results. Therefore, it can be challenging for institutions to follow up on these submissions, which causes issues in terms of the language ability of their students after they arrive in Japan. This has also led to problems in supporting students in their search for jobs.

With this proof-of-concept, educational institutions can verify study certificates submitted by foreign workers and exchange students, as well as study data stored on blockchain. This allows them to better understand a worker or student’s language abilities. Educational institutions also aim to provide more effective language support with this system.

Furthermore, because the gathered study logs and grade information can be analyzed from various angles, they’re looking into trying ways to evaluate study attitudes and processes.

[Reference Site] Sony and Fujitsu Starting of Proof-of-Concept that Utilizes Blockchain to Manage the Japanese Class History and Grade Proof of Foreign Exchange Students

The survey, which was about companies’ hiring goals, also had 60% of companies answer that their plans to hire more foreigners were about promoting diversity for their organization and talent. They were interested not only in technical and language skills, but also in promoting innovation and improving their ability to deal with different markets, among other things. Companies expect that increasing the diversity of their workforce will help them achieve these aims.

The survey also targeted companies who were not implementing plans to hire more foreign students. The most common reason cited was “We don’t have a good enough hiring structure to hire them” at 55.9%. While having hiring structures for foreign employees is important, and while the Immigration Control Act will soon be revised, the reality is that these companies currently don’t have the structures in place to hire foreign employees.

[Reference Site] Job Hunting White Papers 2019 Survey Released

CO-WELL also owns the Vietnamese corporation CO-WELL ASIA Co.,LTD., which is a group subsidiary. It has been working in offshore development for around 8 years. Put together, both CO-WELL in Japan and CO-WELL ASIA have grown to over 480 employees.

CO-WELL is offering a recruiting support service that takes advantage of the company’s know-how regarding the hiring of IT technicians as well as technical education. They also have knowledge about systems of objective evaluation of resources and technical ability. CO-WELL has gained a lot of knowledge of these subjects through its business expansion.

As CO-WELL’s first big step into recruitment support services, the company is offering paid recruitment services which introduce talented Japanese and Vietnamese engineers to Japanese companies.

Since CO-WELL is a global IT solutions company which undertakes offshore development for major and growing companies, they have access to job postings that aren’t publicly available. So, one of their strong points is their ability to introduce many kinds of positions. Job hunters can utilize their strengths and find jobs at companies that have a lot of room for growth.

[Website] Will and Way
[Website] Will and Way Engineer Page

It is expected that the acceptance of foreign nationals with certain expertise and skills would increase with the new residence status established in the revised Immigration Control Act that would be implemented from April 2019. However, as the recruiting companies, the necessities like improvement of work environment to facilitate ease in work irrespective of nationality or reforms for awareness within the company or Human resource development policy etc. would increase more than ever and handling such necessities or preparedness might be challenging.

The Personnel Securing Support Service for foreign nationals utilizes the expertise of Pasona Group having 35 plus years of experience dealing overseas and provides various menus like procedure for obtaining residence status, life support, cross-cultural training to increase mutual understanding between foreign nationals and Japanese employees.

Moreover, introductory counselling can be provided for understanding and analyzing the current situation and problems of the company and customizing it to provide the best suited service for resolving the issues according to the company.

Although it is difficult to follow only companies employing foreign nationals, the menu includes various factors for securing foreign personnel like life support, cross culture training, community formation etc. Thus, it proves to be an assuring service for both the companies expecting foreign employees to work for long term and foreign nationals who are concerned about employment in Japan.

［Reference］ Total support right from acceptance to securing job of foreign nationals who are expected to increase with “Amended Immigration Control Act”　Pasona’s “Personnel Securing Support Service for foreign nationals” available from April