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

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

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

Furthermore, 93.7% of students that have been in Japan for longer than 6 years said that they were happy, implying that the longer time spent in Japan, the better the experience of life in the country.

In comparison, the results of a survey of Japanese nationals studying abroad provided different results; 41.2% said they were glad to have studied aboard, but 12.4% of students had a negative experience.

The most prevalent reasons for students to be glad that they studied aboard was that they could learn about international ways of thinking and different culture (67.1%) and that they could improve their Japanese (65.3%).

On the other hand, regarding the difficulties studying abroad, 74% of the respondents replied that the cost of living was expensive, whilst 34.6% attributed their bad experience to differences in culture and custom from their home countries, in particular, daily life customs relating to lifestyle, religious beliefs and so on. Difficulty learning Japanese also came up in the results at 30.7%.

Based on the results of this survey, it seems that most international students who came to study in Japan are satisfied with their life abroad. Meanwhile, it also sheds light on the fact that, in reality, some foreign students struggle with the cost of living and cultural differences in Japan.

In accepting more foreign students from now on, these results suggest that there is a need to boost support systems for students having a hard time adapting to the life and culture in Japan.

[Reference] Outline of survey results on life in Japan experience for private expenses foreign students

The company Access Humanext, which deals with hiring support for global talent, has started a new program at Chuo University to solve this problem. Chuo University has hired Access Humanext to start a program offering early career support for foreign students enrolled at Chuo in their 1st to 3rd years. The program is aimed at students in these lower grades hoping to find work in Japan after graduating.

Inside a classroom

The program is preparing courses to help students deal with job hunting etiquette for Japan’s unique system of job hunting, as well as creating their own plans for finding a job. It will also implement courses for improving Japanese ability, with the cooperation of The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation.

Foreign students have trouble finding employment in Japan for various reasons. They often don’t have the knowledge or know-how to navigate Japan’s unique system of job hunting, and as a result often time their job searches poorly, missing the standard hiring season during their search. This makes them less likely to be selected by Japanese companies. To improve this situation, Humanext is aiming to increase the employment rate for foreign students by offering career education support for those in lower grades who have yet to begin job hunting.

It’s predicted that the number of similar courses and programs at other universities will increase, and that nationwide, job hunting support systems for foreign students will be implemented.

[Reference site] Starting a Program for Early Career Education for Foreign Students

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A ryu-biz-daigakusei is a type of foreign student who joins a Japanese company with the intention of developing their career while still being at university.

The number of undergraduate and postgraduate foreign students in Japan has been increasing since 2016, and saw a significant increase of nearly 15% from 2015 to 2017. At the same time, the Ministry of Justice revealed this October that the number of foreign students in Japan who applied to change their residence status to work reached 27,926 in 2017, which was the highest ever, an increase of about 6,000 compared to the previous year.

However, during their presentation, Recruit Staffing highlighted a tough employment situation for foreign students, stating that 85% of undergraduate and postgraduate students are willing to work in Japan after graduation, while only 36% successfully found a job. They also indicated big challenges foreign students face during their job hunting in Japan, such as understanding Japanese corporate culture and complex business etiquette, as well as communicating in Japanese.

Therefore, it is important for foreign students to acquire language proficiency and familiarize themselves with the Japanese work ethic by getting some work experience at Japanese companies at the same time as studying. Some staffing agencies are taking note of these kinds of ambitious foreign students who wish to gain valuable work experience in preparation for successful job hunting, together with the needs of Japanese companies who look for work-ready individuals, regardless of their nationalities.

According to Recruit Staffing, the number of foreign students looking for haken work (temporary employment where workers are dispatched to companies by staffing agencies) through their service, as well as the number of companies accepting those students, have been increasing over the last two years. Recently, these students have also started getting haken work in administrative positions, in addition to sales and customer service work.

If you wish to remain in Japan for work after graduation and are looking to work in a company where you can communicate in Japanese and learn the Japanese work ethic while at university, it is advisable to consider joining a Japanese company as a temporary staff member. You would feel more confident and have a clearer image of working in Japan so you can give yourself an advantage in the job hunting process too.

[Reference] 2019 will be a year of ryu-biz-daigakusei in the staffing business.
 

According to the results, the most popular corporations for those students are all foreign-affiliated ones: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu tops the ranking, and PwC comes second place, followed by Amazon, Procter & Gamble, Goldman Sachs Group, Google and McKinsey & Company.

As for Japanese companies, Mitsubishi Corporation comes eighth position and All Nippon Airways (ANA) sits in ninth place.

Most attractive companies for students studying abroad

Interestingly, the timing of when individuals started considering a particular company as a possible future employer differed, depending on the industry and the business model of each company. Nearly half the students began regarding the top two companies, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and PwC, as potential employers once starting the job hunting process. On the other hand, over 60% began taking Amazon into consideration after studying abroad.

When asked about an ideal working style, more than 70% appeared to be interested in promoting their career and making their name in the industry, with only 34% answering that they are not interested in these kinds of things. The results indicate that many students that study abroad develop a tendency to be ambitious and eager to improve their skills and career.

［Reference］ Most attractive companies for university students studying abroad, according to DISCO. More than 70% are interested in promoting their career.

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