Ways to Employ Foreign Nationals in Japan

April 3, 2020

Question:

Since we have a lot of overseas communication, we would like to hire foreign nationals for our Japan corporation/branch office. How should we go about our job recruitment process?

Answer:

Some of the ways you can perform job recruitment include posting the job opening at official institutions such as the Hello Work office, as well as accepting references from Japanese language schools and universities.

Explanation:

Some foreign companies in Japan, whether large or small, may find recruiting methods for foreign nationals to be difficult. They also face trouble after finding suitable candidates when it comes to procedures necessary to complete the hiring process.

For those finding it difficult to connect with the potential jobseekers, below are some of the recruitment methods you may choose to implement. Costs for these methods vary from being completely free to costing quite a lot, so it is best to check all available options to decide which you feel would yield the best results for your company.

① Post the job opening(s) at official institutions accessible to the public such as the Hello Work office.
② Request for referrals from Japanese language institutions, such as schools and universities.
③ Use social networking services (SNS) for job recruitment.
④ Use paid advertising on the internet, newspapers, or magazines.
⑤ Use agencies that specialize in personnel placement or headhunting.
⑥ Use classified advertisement websites, such as Craigslist.

Posting through official public institutions such as the Hello Work office

Hello Work is the Japanese English name of the Japanese government’s Employment Service Center. A public institution, it provides job counseling and placement services according to one’s residence status. It primarily offers placement services for “foreign nationals studying in Japan who would like to work in Japan” as well as “foreign nationals possessing residence statuses such as Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, as well as Skilled Labor”.Shinjuku Foreigners’ Employment Assistance and Guidance Center
URL: https://jsite.mhlw.go.jp/tokyo-foreigner/
Address: 1F, Hello Work Shinjuku (Kabukicho Center)
2-42-10 Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8489
TEL: 03-3204-8609 FAX: 03-3204-8619

There are also other public institutions other than Hello Work that provide placement services for foreign nationals.

Tokyo Employment Service Center for Foreigners
URL: https://jsite.mhlw.go.jp/tokyo-foreigner/
21F Shinjuku Daiichi Seimei Building
2-7-1 Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-0721
TEL: 03-5339-8625 　FAX: 03-5339-8654

Osaka Employment Service Center for Foreigners
URL: https://jsite.mhlw.go.jp/osaka-foreigner/
16F Hankyu Grand Building
8-47 Kakuda-cho, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0017
TEL: 06-7709-9465　FAX: 06-7709-9468

Nagoya Employment Service Center for Foreigners
URL: https://jsite.mhlw.go.jp/aichi-foreigner/
12F Chunichi Building
4-1-1 Sakae, Naka-ku, Nagoya 460-0008
TEL: 052-264-1901　FAX: 052-249-0033

Ask for referrals from Japanese language institutions such as schools and universities

Institutions that offer specialized study in the Japanese language such as languages schools, universities, and graduate schools may also refer their students for positions in your company. While the cost may vary from virtually being free to having to pay for a referral fee of sorts, coordinating with with the employment support section of such institutions, it is possible to hire foreign nationals who wish to find a job in Japan.

Use social networking services (SNS) for job recruitments

Useful social networking services when it comes to job-searching foreign nationals include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instragram. We can expect more people to use SNS when it comes to people looking for employment opportunities online.Facebook
URL: https://www.facebook.com/
Facebook is an American online social media and social networking service aimed to further connect friends, coworkers, classmates, and people from the same neighborhood together. There is a way for a company to setup their own company Facebook page and advertise their job postings to a targeted audience. With Facebook, the company can send jobseekers information that may be of interest to them, and can increase followers’ understanding of the company itself.

LinkedIn
URL: https://www.linkedin.com/
LinkedIn is the world’s largest business network with over 4 billion members. A pioneer of social recruiting, it is also one of the most influential companies. LinkedIn’s recruitment portal allows employers/recruiters to advertise their job postings for 30 days for a fee. This job posting fee may vary depending on location. Contacting potential employees who may be interest in a career change is also possible through LinkedIn.

Twitter
URL: https://twitter.com/
Twitter is a social media website that allows one to follow in real-time a variety of things, such as news, entertainment, sports, even government entities. It is possible to recruit foreign nationals by posting employment information as a “hiring” tweet. While response from potential candidates cannot be guaranteed, posting on Twitter can be done for free. Interaction and communication with job-seekers on Twitter is also possible.

Instagram
URL: https://www.instagram.com/
Instagram is a photo and video-sharing social networking service. Recently, more businesses are using Instagram to post their job advertisements. There are a wide variety of tools for recruiting people, including links to content on YouTube.

Use paid advertising on the internet, newspapers, or magazines

There are websites, newspapers, magazines, and other similar publications that focus primarily on job postings for foreign nationals. We provide examples of such below.Metropolis
URL: http://metropolisjapan.com/
Metropolis was founded in 1994 and is currently Japan’s largest English-language magazine in terms of distribution in Japan. A variety of topics, including culture, fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle, make-up a comprehensive listings and classifieds database. Therefore, it is possible to approach foreigners of a wide variety of occupations and nationalities.

The Japan Times Jobs
URL: https://jobs.japantimes.com/
The Japan Times Jobs is a job finding website operated by Bunkahoso Career Partners. The Japan Times job search site focuses more on English-language office positions.

GaijinPot Jobs
URL: https://jobs.gaijinpot.com/job/index/lang/ja
Posting of job advertisements aimed at foreign nationals can be done at the GaijinPot Jobs website. GaijinPot is a website for foreigners who have an interest in Japan. Job posts here would be more on the kind for native job seekers.

Use agencies that specialize in personnel placement or headhunting

Another method is through agencies that specialize in personnel placement, or headhunting. There are several personnel placement agencies in Japan, and their specializations may vary according industry, job type, or nationality/country of origin. However, this method is often costly. Also, one should take special care as there aren’t many major agencies that target foreign nationals or provide headhunting services in Japan in the present.Foreign nationals have a tendency to go through several careers for career enhancement within a period of time that is shorter than what Japanese people would expect. For better or for worse, their duration of service tends to be brief, and this may be seen as “job hopping”. As such, it is important to consider the length of service a potential employee may offer, as that as the services of recruitment agencies or headhunting firms may be considerably pricey.

Use classified advertisement websites, such as Craigslist

Craigslist is an American classified advertisements website run by Craigslist Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States.A classified advertisements community, it operates somewhat similar to an auction site, letting individual users post items for sale, but with additional features such as allowing users to post job openings, and room-sharing advertisements. It also allows advertisements that target a specific, local community, giving it a wide range of possible uses. The Tokyo version for Craigslist can be accessed through the following URL: http://tokyo.craigslist.jp/.

Craigslist has a “Job” category for posts, with the following subcategories:
• Accounting, finance
• Administration/office
• Architecture/engineering
• Art/media/design
• Biotechnology/science
• Business/management
• Customer service
• Education
• Food/beverage/hospitality
• General labor
• Government
• Human resources
• Internet engineering
• Legal/paralegal
• Manufacturing
• Marketing/publicity/advertising
• Medical/health
• Non-profit sector
• Real estate
• Retails/wholesale
• Sales/business development
• Salon/spa/fitness
• Security
• Skilled trade/craft
• Software/QA/DBA
• Systems/network
• Technical support
• Television/film/video
• Transport
• Web/information design
• Writing/editing