Training Practices in Japan
Current Event Analysis: Japanese Firms Try New Hiring Strategies
Source: New York Times
By: Miki Tanikawa
Published: November 12, 2012
Access URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/world/asia/13iht-sreducjapan13.html?pagewanted=all
I. Article Review In this article written by Miki Tanikawa, the writer demonstrates some of the hiring talent challenges that Japanese hiring firms and corporation-hiring managers are currently facing. Japan, the home country of tech giants Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp, has faced several talent recruitment challenges that have overturned the country’s reputation of excellence to a reputation that “is no longer considered to be on the cutting edge of cool.” The appeal to work in Japan and for a Japanese firm isn’t appealing for any longer for several reasons. For a country with companies that “were next to Western firms in popularity”, Japan now has a smaller economy than China and has a less practical workforce compared to the skilled and specialized talent of the young in China, the West, and India. Beyond Japan’s poor performing economy, Japan has also faced some political mishaps that also made the country less appealing for the younger talent. With Japan on the brink of a territorial war with China, recruitment by Japanese firms of young Chinese talent has “fallen by more than half this year”. Another struggle that job seekers face is Japan’s strict and strong traditional sense and its stubbornness in letting go of traditional work ethic practices and Japan’s “way of professional life.” Japan’s limited use of the English language has also scared many international talents from seeking employment in Japanese firms. American, Chinese and European new graduates don’t want to invest in the time or energy it would take to adjust their way of life to the Japanese way of life. The most important challenge to the shortage of young talent in Japan is, the belief that traditional Japanese companies don’t give
Source: New York Times
By: Miki Tanikawa
Published: November 12, 2012
Access URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/world/asia/13iht-sreducjapan13.html?pagewanted=all
I. Article Review In this article written by Miki Tanikawa, the writer demonstrates some of the hiring talent challenges that Japanese hiring firms and corporation-hiring managers are currently facing. Japan, the home country of tech giants Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp, has faced several talent recruitment challenges that have overturned the country’s reputation of excellence to a reputation that “is no longer considered to be on the cutting edge of cool.” The appeal to work in Japan and for a Japanese firm isn’t appealing for any longer for several reasons. For a country with companies that “were next to Western firms in popularity”, Japan now has a smaller economy than China and has a less practical workforce compared to the skilled and specialized talent of the young in China, the West, and India. Beyond Japan’s poor performing economy, Japan has also faced some political mishaps that also made the country less appealing for the younger talent. With Japan on the brink of a territorial war with China, recruitment by Japanese firms of young Chinese talent has “fallen by more than half this year”. Another struggle that job seekers face is Japan’s strict and strong traditional sense and its stubbornness in letting go of traditional work ethic practices and Japan’s “way of professional life.” Japan’s limited use of the English language has also scared many international talents from seeking employment in Japanese firms. American, Chinese and European new graduates don’t want to invest in the time or energy it would take to adjust their way of life to the Japanese way of life. The most important challenge to the shortage of young talent in Japan is, the belief that traditional Japanese companies don’t give