Simultaneous recruiting of new graduates

Simultaneous recruiting of new graduates or periodic recruiting of new graduates (新卒一括採用, Shinsotsu-Ikkatsu-Saiyō^?) is the custom that companies hire new graduates all at once and employ them; this custom is unique to Japan and South Korea. The Japanese post-war economic miracle spread this custom among many companies in order to produce steady employment every year.

In these countries, most students do job hunting during their period of attendance at universities or high schools to get informal offers of employment. Since companies like to hire only new graduates, some students who have not found a job as graduation approaches opt to stay in school another year. Most companies pay little attention to academic records or a student's university experiences, preferring to train new employees within the company. The prestige of the university students get into determines their success in life. The system is inherited from the Chinese Imperial Examination. In other countries, people tend to do job-hunting soon before or after graduation, and companies do not discriminate against those who did not graduate recently.

The practice is for big companies to hire school-leavers "in bulk" to replace retiring workers and groom in-house talent, and the numbers can vary widely from year to year. Employers hire a group of people in a mechanic fashion every year. Toyota, for example, hired more than 1,500 graduates in 2010, nearly halving the intake from the year before. Toyota plans to cut it further to 1,200 for 2011 hires. The company may offer more jobs later on, but those who missed out on the current round of hiring will have a slim chance to land one because they will get trumped by fresh graduates.

It leaves thousands of young Japanese sidelined in extended studies, part-time jobs, or on the dole instead of supporting the domestic economy as the confident consumers and productive workers aging Japan badly needs.

Criticism

In Japanese society, the value of degrees in higher education is extremely low. If one has a doctorate in science, he can't expect employment at a respectable job. Japan's idiosyncratic simultaneous recruiting of new graduates is a large factor.

Nowadays this traditional custom causes many social problems in Japan. If a Japanese person does not make a decision on employment before his/her university graduation, he/she will be faced with enormous hardships eventually finding a job because most Japanese companies hire students scheduled to graduate in spring. In recent years, an increasing number of university seniors looking for jobs have chosen to repeat a year to avoid being placed in the "previous graduate" category by companies. In the system Japanese companies penalize students who study overseas or have already graduated. Some people think the convention is behind the times and no longer necessary.

There is a lot of criticism of this custom. One professor criticizes the process: "If business is in a slump at the point of one's graduation and he cannot get a job, this custom produces inequality of opportunity, and people in this age bracket tend to remain unemployed for a long time."^[1] Another professor criticizes: "If this custom is joined to permanent employment, it produces closed markets of employment, where outplacement is hard, and the employees tend to obey any and all unreasonable demands made by their companies so as not to be fired."^[2] Whether they get a job when they graduate decides their whole life," says Yuki Honda, a professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Education.

Japan ranks 19th among the 19 OECD countries regarding freedom of choice in life.

See also

• Equal opportunity
• Gap year
• Graduate recruitment
• Freeter
• NEET

References

1. ^ Youth Employment in Japan’s Economic Recovery:'Freeters' and 'NEETs' The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 11th May 2006
2. ^ Career Development under the Lifetime Employment System of Japanese Organizations (PDF) Bulletin of the Faculty of Education, Nagoya University, 1988, Vol. 35, 1–20

External links

• Bleak Economy, Japanese Students Grow Frustrated With Endless Job Hunt
• More universities allowing students to delay graduation due to job shortage
• Japanese Graduates Finding Few Jobs
• Ph. D.’s in Japan can’t find work: Little recognition for high expertise, says Mainichi Communications Survey
• Economic and Social Data Rankings (Freedom of choice in life)
• Hiring practices in Japan
• Once drawn to U.S. universities, more Japanese students staying home
• Japan offers a lifetime job, if hired right out of school
• Japanese jobseekers hold Tokyo pep rally