In recent months, we have noticed a considerable increase in companies coming to us to build and strengthen their recruiting teams in Japan. With this trend, there has been a steady shift in the way companies look at internal recruiters and the experience they need them to have. This shift has been towards requiring internal recruiters to have not only in-house recruitment experience, but also a strong history in external/agency recruitment.
The main reasons companies have been moving towards these types of experienced recruiters is a desire to bring down the overall costs of their recruitment processes. Agency recruiters have always had a base skill set of proactively going out into the market and reaching out to potential people that could be a good match for their client companies. By bringing this type of skill internally, companies can leverage on this and in turn reduce their dependence on traditional recruitment methods such as advertising and the use of agencies.
The term “Direct Sourcing Experience” has become a key phrase in recent job descriptions for recruiters.
Other benefits companies see in recruiters with agency experience is their ability to continuously build networks for future possible roles. They are very adept at using the latest technologies to help them in these processes, such as LinkedIn, and they are very comfortable speaking with, and working closely with, multiple stakeholders and senior management in the organisation.
Companies have been coming to us, wanting ideally a recruiter that has both many years in agency recruitment and in-house recruitment. As with all trends when they are new to a given market, the current market in Japan does have a big shortfall in people with these skills and experiences. Most in-house recruiters will have no agency recruitment experience and most agency recruiters will have no in-house recruitment experience. With this gap in the market, it has become a good time for agency recruiters to look at a move into in-house recruitment as companies start to target individuals straight from that environment so that they can still leverage the direct sourcing experience skill set and adapt them to the internal recruiter atmosphere.
For agency recruiters, going in-house after a good many years externally can be very attractive. It is a good opportunity to experience what it’s like to have just one company/client to focus on, and to ally themselves to a company they can share a long term vision with. And furthermore, it can be very gratifying to see how their hires and contributions add to the success of the business and in turn the cost savings they can bring are attractive. Furthermore, the opportunity for career development, and in some cases more job security, with an interesting well-known company can be very enticing.
The need for companies to use agencies for their recruitment will still be there. Agency recruiters will always have the benefit of being able to recruit more confidentially, proactively and to leave no stone unturned, especially for key hires. But there are definite cost savings for bringing that type of experience in-house for certain hires and therefore it is an interesting time for all types of recruiters in Japan as they contemplate their careers ahead.
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