The job-hunting system and referral system in Japan
What is the referral system like in Japan
If you have done job hunting before, you might have heard of the term “referral system”. Referral hiring is a method of getting your employees to introduce their friends and acquaintances to your company. The word “referral” basically means “recommendation” or “introduction”. In Japaense it is also usually called リファラル採用, and it is a hiring method that is increasingly gaining attention in Japan.
The referral usually includes some sort of financial incentive program to motivate employees to refer more candidates to the company. This makes it a win – win – win situation, for the company, employee, and the candidate. How is this a triple win you ask? The company will be able to cut down recruitment costs, and the employee can receive financial benefits, and the candidate will have a higher chance of being hired by the company.
Current situation of referrals in Japan
Now that you know what the referral system works, let’s see how this recruitment system is implemented in Japan. Generally in Japan, when you say that you hired someone through a recommendation or introduction, people may think that sounds shady or unfair. This is because this referral system is reminiscent of nepotism, and brings an image that the company is hiring someone that is not qualified for the job, over someone who put a lot of effort trying to get in that position.
This image is one factor that a lot of companies aren’t so willing to implement referral programs as part of their recruitment system. Another reason, why Japanese companies don’t willingly implement referral hiring is because they already have a hiring schedule set, and don’t want to break that tradition. A lot of Japanese companies hire new graduates on a massive scale and rarely hire people mid-career. Even if they do hire people mid-career, they also do this at a set time of the year. (For example, only in the spring and fall) Therefore, a lot of companies don’t want to use their resources to correspond to hiring individuals at an irregular timing throughout the year. Because of these reasons, the referral system is not common in Japan.
The Secret to getting referrals in Japan
Do people actually use the referral program in Japan?
According to this article, the percentage of companies implementing referral program as part of their recruitment system was 56.1%. If you think that about half of the company in Japan is implementing some sort of referral program, this percentage may seem high. However, when you look at the different positions within a company that are actually using this system, you can tell that some positions uses the referral program more than other positions.
The chart below, was taken from MyRefer, which operates human resources services and it indicates that the executive level used the referral program the most. According to this graph, 75% of the executive class and 55.9% of department manager level used the referral program. However, when you look at the average entry level employees, only 22.9% of the emploeeys had experience of using the referral program. Considering that there are way more entry level positions than there are for higher level positions, it is natural to estimate that only a few percentage of the people working at a company in Japan ever used the referral system.
What companies uses the referral program?
Now that we’ve learned that about half of the companies in Japan implements some sort of referral program for their recruitment system, there is a category of company that uses this program intensively. That category is “startup companies”. A startup typically does not have money to spend to do mass recruitment or even pay for any HR services. Therefore, in order for a startup to hire highly talented personnel, the most logical option would be to get them through some one you can trust. In other words, it is hard to get into a hot startup unless you know someone who works at that startup.
If don’t want to work at a startup, there is another category that uses the referral program intensively, and that is “foreign companies (外資)”. A foreign company brings in a lot of traditions and company rules to their branches in Japan, and depending on the origin of the country, they will bring in the referral program to Japan aswell. For example, if the company came from Silicon Valley (California, United States), then it is safe to say that the company does have a referral program and it uses the program extensively.
How to get referrals from someone working in Japan
Now, this section may be the section, you really wanted to know. How do you actually get a recommendation from somebody working at a company in Japan? There are several ways, but the quick answer would be to contact your friends. your friend might know someone who works at the company you want to apply to and that person may be able to refer you to the company. If you are attending a university in Japan, an alumni may be able to recommend you to the company.
However, if you don’t know anyone at all in Japan, you can try and contact them through LinkedIn. LinkedIn is not a popular tool in Japan, compared to other places in the world, and the majority of the users are employees working at a foreign company. Therefore, a lot of them just started using LinkedIn and there aren’t bombarded by a bunch of “recommend me!” messages. If you are able to find someone working at the company you are interested in and send them a message, most likely they will atlwast read it, and some of them might be willing to give you a recommendation.
The non-official way to get hired by Japanese companies
Get referrals from companies in Japan!
In this article, we covered what the referral system is like in Japan, and how people actually uses it. We also covered what companies uses the referral program a lot, and tips on how to get referred by someone working at a company in japan. If you are a new grad or mid-career job seeker who’s trying to find a company to work for in Japan, the referral program is a great way to do so. Try and contact someone who work at the company you are interested in, using the tips that we wrote in this article, and improve your chances of getting your dream job in Japan!
