Use these 5 career agents when looking for a new job
If you are already working in Japan, and thinking of switching jobs, you may want to consider using a career agent to help you find the best job in Japan. If you are a Japanese citizen or if you have a permanent residency, who is currently living in Japan, the thought of finding a new job or switching to a different company in Japan may pop up in your head from time to time.
In this article, we will list the 5 best career agents that we think would be useful for you when trying to find a new workplace.
Why do you need to use a career agent in the first place?
Do you think that you are already well informed about the industry and the market you are jumping into? Or do you think that you know the company well enough, that you wouldn’t have to rely on a career agent?
Well, to be quite honest with you, it is always best to use a career agent when thinking of working at a new company, even when you think you have all the necessary information you need.
Career Agents usually have unofficial information about job listings and the application process. It always helps to get this information, when you are thinking of getting into any company.
*Note that most of the career agents listed below should have someone who can speak English. However, you should always notify them that you want someone who can speak English before you schedule an interview with one of the career agents. Also, you should expect that, not all career agents are fluent in English and that you may have some issues communicating with the career agent.
1. Concord
2. BIZREACH
3. Randstad
4. Rober Walters
5. Liiga
1. Concord
Website: https://www.concord-group.co.jp/
Concord Executive Group is recommended for someone who is thinking of going into consulting or finance. Concord has a lot of job listings from consulting firms and investment bankings. They also have a lot of job listings from small to mid-sized startups or venture companies.
Concord is unique in that, a lot of the career agents started off as working at consulting or finance. Therefore, if you are thinking of going into these fields, you could expect them to have useful advice going forward with your application process.
2. BIZREACH
Website: https://www.bizreach.jp/
BIZREACH is a career agency company which is run by VISIONAL, a Japanese HR company that just went public on the 22nd of April, 2021. BIZREACH may be the most commonly known career agency in Japan because of its rememberable commercials.
BIZREACH has a lot of job listings for mid to high-level management positions, for a wide range of industries. However, it also has a lot of listings for a wide range of positions and since this company itself is considered a venture company, BIZREACH also has a list of positions for unique startups.
3. Randstad
Website: https://www.randstad.co.jp/
Randstad started off as a temporary staffing agency, but it is best known for its career agency service in Japan. Randstad is a global company which headquarters are located in Netherlands, and is currently operating in more than 39 countries.
Randstad has a wide range of job listings from different industries but has its strength in foreign companies. Randstad also has its strength in human resources positions and general affairs positions, and finance positions.
4. Rober Walters
Website: https://www.robertwalters.co.jp/en/
Robert Walters is a British company, which has been operating in Japan for over 18 years now. Out of all 5 companies we have listed in this article, Robert Walters has the most career agents who can speak English. ( and Japanese) The Japanese office of Robert Walters focuses on hiring career agents who are bilingual (English and Japanese) because they specialize in recruiting bilingual professionals.
Because Robert Walters has a deep understanding and experience about the bilingual market, they have a high rate of approval and will let you move swiftly through the application process.
5. Liiga
Website: https://liiga.me/
Liiga is a business owned by How Television, which also runs Gaishi Shuukatsu.com (外資就活.com). We wrote an article about the best 5 websites new grads should check out, and Gaishi Shuukatsu.com is was of the 5 websites that we recommended. Liiga is unique in that, they have a lot of listings where the company name is hidden.
You won’t be able to know which company you are applying for until you go through the application process. When there is an opening in a particular job position, it is possible to estimate how that company’s operation is going. Therefore, some companies don’t want to have their business condition known to the public, when hiring for new candidates.
Liiga also has a lot of columns about switching jobs, and it can be useful if you can read Japanese. (Most of the articles are written in Japanese.)
How do you talk with career agents in Japan.
In Japan, it is typical that you first sign up to their website. Once you submitted the necessary information (work experience, and what kind of field you would want to work at) there is usually a screening period. Some companies don’t have a screening period, but most companies will first evaluate whether you are eligible to use the service.
After they have accepted you as a member, you will be contacted by a career agent, usually through email. If they don’t contact you you should reach out to one of the career agents using the service. After that, you will have to schedule a time for the meeting. This meeting with the career agent should be somewhat casual where you talk about what you want to do with your career in the future. Most career agents are more than welcome for candidates to just chit chat, whether they are actually thinking of switching jobs right now, or not.
Once you finished talking with the career agent, they will send you a list of companies that may be a good fit for you. If you like it, you will go and apply for that company. The career agent will help you out in your preparation for the application, test, and interview process.
So which career agent should I use?
After reading through the list of the 5 best career agents, you may still be wondering which career agent you should be using when considering to jump over to another company. In any situation, we recommend you to at least subscribe to all of these career agents and at least have a talk with one of their career agents, since it is completely free to talk with the career agent.
Depending on your situation, it might be best for you to use 1 career agent predominantly. For example, if you are completely certain that you want to go into consulting, it may be a good idea to only use Concord and Liiga. If you are only thinking of working at a foreign company it might be wise to use Randstad and Robert Walters.
So which career agent should you be using? Well, again that depends on your situation. If you are unclear or have not decided about what you want to do with your career, we recommend you to go ahead and check out all of these 5 career agencies.
