The Power of Employer Branding: How to overcome Recruitment Challenges for Startups & SMEs in Japan
Recruiting top talent is a crucial aspect of any startup's success. However, in Japan, where the talent market is highly competitive, it becomes even more challenging. It often can require careful planning, strategy, creativity, practice, and persistence before tangible results can be obtained. Unfortunately, it is quite unrealistic to expect immediate results from a few job postings in today's landscape.
Numerous factors can influence recruitment outcomes, underscoring the importance of adopting a well-rounded approach to overcome these challenges. In this article, we will examine the key challenges that startups facewhen recruiting in Japan and provide a comprehensive list of steps and best practices to help optimize recruitment results for startups and SMEs searching for talent in Japan.
Furthermore, we will highlight some of the main benefits of investing time and budget for employer branding initiatives to successfully overcome these hurdles and remain competitive as an employer of choice.
Recruiting in Japan: Jobs in Japan - Career Opportunities in Tokyo
RECRUITING FOR START-UPS IN JAPAN PRESENTS A RANGE OF UNIQUE CHALLENGES, INCLUDING:
Limited Talent Pool: Japan has the world’s highest population of elderly citizens, with 28.90% of the population over 65 years old and a fertility rate of 1.41 as compared to the world’s average of 2.4 leading to a shortage of skilled professionals. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan's population is projected to decrease by about 30% by 2060, making it increasingly difficult for companies to find suitable candidates. It is especially hard to identify bilingual professionals which represent less than 4% of the working population. Japan has seen its active population losing about half a million people every year due to its aging population and low number of new graduates entering the work place each year. According to a survey by Manpower Japan, 86% of employers in Japan reported difficulty in hiring qualified candidates in 2021.
Competitive Talent Market: It is especially challenging to identify and attract talent when competing against large established brands.
Lack of Visibility and Brand Awareness: Significant effort is required to educate candidates about the company's Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Creating compelling content becomes essential to inspire and sell various aspects of the company, such as its services, products, team environment, corporate culture, working style, values, and vision.
Cultural Barriers and Risk Aversion: Japanese individuals often perceive start-ups as less stable, making it difficult to attract talent locally.
High Recruiting Costs & Budget Limitations: Offering competitive salaries and/or engaging recruiting agencies charging placement fees often over 30% is not always possible for small businesses.
Limited Time, Resources and Expertise: Start-ups often neglect the importance of creating quality employer branding content as they often forget its ability to create a higher degree of trust and an genuine emotional connection with potential job seekers. Start-Up members are usually too busy with other aspects of their business and find it challenging to allocate time to build a well crafted recruiting and content strategy that focuses on the candidates' needs rather than the employer's needs.
Complex and Expensive Tools: Automation, digitalization, simplification, promotion, enhancing candidate's experience, and improving responsiveness often require costly technologies and HR Systems . Affordable and efficient tools are hard to find but it's important to select them carefully and opt for a system that can help your business scale further down the road.
Lack of Network and Guidance: Start-ups often lack access to recruiting and employer branding expertise and advising, making it slower to make improvements on their own.
Don't worry just yet! Although all these challenges can look overwhelming, with the right strategy in place and by following a consistent approach, Start-Ups and SMEs in Japan can gradually overcome such recruiting challenges, be competitive and still position themselves as a true employer of choice.
Employer Branding Consulting Services For Japan
UNDERSTANDING WHAT "EMPLOYER BRANDING" IS:
Employer branding refers to the strategic efforts and initiatives undertaken by a company to shape and manage its reputation as an employer. It encompasses the company's unique identity, values, culture, and overall candidate and employee experience, which are deliberately communicated and showcased to attract, engage, and retain top talent.
Employer branding involves creating a distinctive and compelling employer value proposition (EVP) that sets the organization apart from its competitors and resonates with prospective and current employees. It aims to establish the company as an employer of choice, influencing how it is perceived in the job market and fostering a positive and appealing employer brand image. Through various channels, including recruitment marketing, social media, employer branding content, and candidate experience, employer branding enables organizations to attract and retain talented individuals who align with their values and contribute to their success.
Research and data provide compelling evidence of the impact of employer branding on not only the recruitment performance but also on the retention rate of a company. According to a LinkedIn survey, companies with strong employer brands experience 50% more qualified applicants. Furthermore, organizations that invest in employer branding efforts have reported a 28% decrease in employee turnover, resulting in significant cost savings.
THE RISE OF EMPLOYER BRANDING
Employer branding has emerged as a vital strategy for startups to stand out and appeal to potential employees. By creating a strong employer brand, companies can showcase their unique values, culture, and vision, and align them with the aspirations of job seekers. This approach has proven to be highly effective in both attracting top talent and improving retention rates.
Employer Branding Recipe - Key Ingredients for success
EMPLOYER BRANDING IN JAPAN - WHERE & HOW TO GET STARTED?
Many companies aspire to enhance their employer brand, yet they often struggle with knowing where to begin. To assist you in the process, we thought we would compile for you a short list of the main action items to perform in order to help you strengthen your employer brand and recruiting results:
1) RIGHT TECHNOLOGY - RIGHT DATA: Simplify and automate your recruiting process and keep your data organized and secured Invest in a multilingual ATS (Application Tracking System such as www.hireplanner.com) to streamline your hiring process, organize your data, improve internal collaboration and communication responsiveness. This will lead to making better hiring decisions.
2) RIGHT CONTENT - RIGHT MESSAGE Create compelling employer branding and visually impactful content Dedicate budget and time to create high-quality content (e.g.: attractive job postings, office visuals, informative blog stories, inspiring videos, and authentic testimonials). Make sure to align your EVP (Employee Value Proposition) with your company's mission, culture, and unique selling points to leave a lasting impression on candidates. Each piece of content you create should indirectly promote various attractive aspects of your company such as your team mindset, culture fit, flexible working style, remote work, diversity and inclusion, benefits, working environment and other Perks.
3) RIGHT MEDIA - RIGHT EXPOSURE Boost your visibility and social media presence by identifying the right platforms, job boards, and social media networks Select suitable platforms, job boards, and social media networks to enhance your brand exposure, SEO rankings and followers count. Engage with your target audience, share valuable content, and participate in industry discussions to attract like-minded candidates.
4) RIGHT EVENTS - RIGHT ENGAGEMENT Participate in career events, join relevant communities and build your connections Expand your network, participate in career events, join communities, and organize gatherings to connect and engage with industry professionals, and identify talent with the right culture-fit. Doing so will not only help you to identify potential customers but also potential employees with the right culture fit.
5) RIGHT PEOPLE - RIGHT CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE Get the right team and level expertise onboard and do things the right way to save time and money Secure talent early on with expertise in both a) recruitment process automation and digitalization, and b) employer branding and content creation. If you have limited resources or if your current team is lacking such experience, please consider partnering with Recruiting Process Outsourcing (RPO) service providers with good reputation such as Alpha Consulting Group (ACG) or an external employer branding consultant. Even for just a few months, RPO specialist or Employer Branding Consultants can make a huge difference and help your organization save precious time and budget when identifying most urgent areas of improvement.
INSPIRING BUSINESS LEADERS TO INVEST IN EMPLOYER BRANDING
To successfully navigate the challenges of recruiting in Japan, business leaders must recognize the transformative potential of employer branding. Allocating budget and resources to invest in content that sells the company's brand, services, team, culture, and vision is a strategic move that yields long-term benefits. By creating an authentic and compelling employer brand, startups can attract top talent, build a high-performing team, and drive a competitive business offering value in Japan.
