Machida-shi
24/01/2006, 15h23
Demand increasing for white-collar foreigners
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Demand for foreign businesspeople has grown, a situation made apparent by the increasing number of temporary staffing agencies helping non-Japanese living in Japan find jobs.
Some of the agencies are holding large employment seminars or working to support job-seeking efforts by foreign students at Japanese universities.
The overall aim of the firms is to act as a bridge between students wanting more job leads and companies looking to increase their human resource pools with people who are proficient in languages and overseas business dealings.
American Jonathan Adams, 42, began working as a temp at a leading chemical firm in June, where he is in charge of public relations and investor relations, compiling financial information and translating memos from management into English.
Though the temp agency with which he is contracted--Tempstaff Universal
Co.--renews its employment contracts every three months, Adams, a former freelance translator, says that the full-time eight-hour-a-day job feels like a more stable job. "In the future, I hope to try my hand at consulting, too," he said.
Founded in September 2004, the Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo-based Tempstaff Universal specializes in dispatching and helping to find work for foreign workers. Prior to its founding, the Tempstaff group dealt with foreign-language teachers, office workers and information technology specialists, among others, and claimed about 2,000 foreigners on its books.
But the company said it had decided that "to gain our clients' trust, we
needed to have a company that exclusively dealt with foreign workers," and launched Tempstaff Universal.
In addition to running an employment search Web site, the agency also is
engaged in a tie-up with a nonprofit organization supporting efforts of
international students at Waseda University looking for work, in hopes of
getting its hands on the best talent. With a system by which employment
coordinators from Britain, China and South Korea, among other countries, act as personal advisers for the temps whom they register. Adams, too, expressed satisfaction, saying, "There's a sense of safety in being able to consult with them about any concerns I may have."
"With the dramatic rise in business in competition with China, there is a
rise in companies wanting human resources versed in foreign business culture and languages," a company executive said.
===
Alleviating concerns
According to several human resource companies, the common concerns among businesses looking to hire foreign staff are:
-- A lack of job-seekers with previous employment experience.
-- A lack of confidence over being able to properly assess work history or
ability.
-- Lacking the legal knowledge over the necessary procedures.
In fact, at one electronics maker, the head of the human resources department said, "If there are no Japanese temp firms available when we make local hires overseas, we have to rely on word of mouth, but there's always a gap between their abilities and what the job requires."
For the foreigners, too, the lack of outlets for employment leads is
frustrating. Even in the case of an Asian person who studied in Japan but
has returned home hoping to work at the local branch of a Japanese company, it is rare to find the support a Japanese person might find at a Japanese university.
Pasona Global Inc., a Chiyoda Ward-based subsidiary of the human resources giant, also focuses on helping foreign workers. In November, about 1,200 international students from eight Asian nations attended free seminars held in Tokyo and Osaka, up from about 700 the previous year.
While in the past, many of the attendees had finished graduate school and
claimed a certain level of work experience, November's seminar saw a rise in university students and fresh graduates looking to enter the job market.
To better help international students looking to find work in their home
countries, Pasona provided the latest detailed information on jobs in a
number of countries in which it has overseas offices.
However, according to a poll of the attendees, there was a noticeable
rise--64 percent--over the previous year in the number of job-seekers hoping to find work in Japan. This could be said to be an expression of the
expectation for employment opportunities amid the recovery of Japan's
economy.
According to Pasona, in recent years, Japanese companies have been hiring foreign workers knowledgeable in manufacturing and technology, but are also looking for executives to help formulate competitive overseas business strategies.
Japanese companies, however, lack sufficient ability to compete for good
foreign workers during the hiring process, Pasona Global President Tomoko Hata said. "Japanese companies will lose the top workers to foreign firms if they continue to use the current personnel system in which it is difficult to pay people on different scales," she explained.
(Jan. 20, 2006)
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Demand for foreign businesspeople has grown, a situation made apparent by the increasing number of temporary staffing agencies helping non-Japanese living in Japan find jobs.
Some of the agencies are holding large employment seminars or working to support job-seeking efforts by foreign students at Japanese universities.
The overall aim of the firms is to act as a bridge between students wanting more job leads and companies looking to increase their human resource pools with people who are proficient in languages and overseas business dealings.
American Jonathan Adams, 42, began working as a temp at a leading chemical firm in June, where he is in charge of public relations and investor relations, compiling financial information and translating memos from management into English.
Though the temp agency with which he is contracted--Tempstaff Universal
Co.--renews its employment contracts every three months, Adams, a former freelance translator, says that the full-time eight-hour-a-day job feels like a more stable job. "In the future, I hope to try my hand at consulting, too," he said.
Founded in September 2004, the Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo-based Tempstaff Universal specializes in dispatching and helping to find work for foreign workers. Prior to its founding, the Tempstaff group dealt with foreign-language teachers, office workers and information technology specialists, among others, and claimed about 2,000 foreigners on its books.
But the company said it had decided that "to gain our clients' trust, we
needed to have a company that exclusively dealt with foreign workers," and launched Tempstaff Universal.
In addition to running an employment search Web site, the agency also is
engaged in a tie-up with a nonprofit organization supporting efforts of
international students at Waseda University looking for work, in hopes of
getting its hands on the best talent. With a system by which employment
coordinators from Britain, China and South Korea, among other countries, act as personal advisers for the temps whom they register. Adams, too, expressed satisfaction, saying, "There's a sense of safety in being able to consult with them about any concerns I may have."
"With the dramatic rise in business in competition with China, there is a
rise in companies wanting human resources versed in foreign business culture and languages," a company executive said.
===
Alleviating concerns
According to several human resource companies, the common concerns among businesses looking to hire foreign staff are:
-- A lack of job-seekers with previous employment experience.
-- A lack of confidence over being able to properly assess work history or
ability.
-- Lacking the legal knowledge over the necessary procedures.
In fact, at one electronics maker, the head of the human resources department said, "If there are no Japanese temp firms available when we make local hires overseas, we have to rely on word of mouth, but there's always a gap between their abilities and what the job requires."
For the foreigners, too, the lack of outlets for employment leads is
frustrating. Even in the case of an Asian person who studied in Japan but
has returned home hoping to work at the local branch of a Japanese company, it is rare to find the support a Japanese person might find at a Japanese university.
Pasona Global Inc., a Chiyoda Ward-based subsidiary of the human resources giant, also focuses on helping foreign workers. In November, about 1,200 international students from eight Asian nations attended free seminars held in Tokyo and Osaka, up from about 700 the previous year.
While in the past, many of the attendees had finished graduate school and
claimed a certain level of work experience, November's seminar saw a rise in university students and fresh graduates looking to enter the job market.
To better help international students looking to find work in their home
countries, Pasona provided the latest detailed information on jobs in a
number of countries in which it has overseas offices.
However, according to a poll of the attendees, there was a noticeable
rise--64 percent--over the previous year in the number of job-seekers hoping to find work in Japan. This could be said to be an expression of the
expectation for employment opportunities amid the recovery of Japan's
economy.
According to Pasona, in recent years, Japanese companies have been hiring foreign workers knowledgeable in manufacturing and technology, but are also looking for executives to help formulate competitive overseas business strategies.
Japanese companies, however, lack sufficient ability to compete for good
foreign workers during the hiring process, Pasona Global President Tomoko Hata said. "Japanese companies will lose the top workers to foreign firms if they continue to use the current personnel system in which it is difficult to pay people on different scales," she explained.
(Jan. 20, 2006)