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From talking to industry professionals in Japan and throughout the world we have compiled a list of FIVE areas that both they and we believe will be important in 2009; and why wait until then, as 2008 begins to slowly wind its way down when better to start planning for next year and maybe even steal a march on your competitors.

Business Model.

Budgets are tightening, economic growth moves forward at a snails’ pace and corporations are forced under; what better time to start crying into bonenkai beers our and sentimentalizing about the good old times before recruiting budgets came under the sharp constraints they are currently experiencing.

But now is not the time for whining, take the opportunity to look again at the costs and benefits of your organization’s recruiting efforts; think in money terms of the expected return on investment for each type of employee you are looking to hire. In putting a tangible price on hiring to fill vacancies and leaving them open, you’ll be talking the language that CFOs and risk managers understand in demonstrating the importance of recruiting even during times of reduced hiring volume.

Employment Branding.

If your organization is really serious about wanting to attract and retain top talent, you simply cannot afford to ignore just how the organization is perceived by both current employees and key stakeholders in the external market.

You don’t need to be a multi-million dollar organization to effectively communicate just what a great company you are and what a wonderful place it is to work at, focus on growing your online presence, develop your ‘CSR’ brand identity and take steps to counter the negatives associated with your employment brand.

Social Networking.

With understanding of how best to analyze the strength of relationships existing between users of online social networks improving significantly, recruiting professionals are better able to picture the ‘degrees of separation’ lying between them and the candidates they’d like to hire.

At the same time, as internet-based social networking sites continuing to grow and develop they now more accurately reflect the needs of their users; better connecting people and jobs by more effectively adding the power of technology to the concept of “it’s not what you know but who you know” recruiting on social networks is becoming more and more of a mainstream concept.

Employee Blogs.

Build on the the power of your organization’s employment branding by using employee blogs to support recruiting programmes. A good business blog, however, should not simply highlight your company and products it should also answer questions and serve to make your company appear less mysterious and distant..

There are many parts of your business with stories to tell and an audience of employees and stakeholders who will are interested in finding out more, employee blogs as part your online corporate presence will help you recruit talented people but it is vitally important that guidelines are put in place.

Corporate Website.

Dull, dated and static websites serve the opposite effect they are intended for, and help convince potential candidates to stay away from your organization as opposed to driving great candidates towards you.

Revisit the job section of your corporate website and look at it again objectively, through fresh eyes and think carefully about the impression it leaves you with. Information should be fresh, relevant and up to date; and the experience of visiting the site should be positive and rewarding – just don’t overcompensate and create a page that is gimmicky, slow to load and leaves visitors frustrated, keep things simple and let the message speak for itself.

Here for both employees and employers, HR Club introduces a guide to health insurance options available to foreign workers resident in Japan.

Social Insurance (Shakai Hoken)

・Not everyone is eligible to join.

・Application is made via employer.

・Monthly premiums are salary linked and deducted directly from employee’s paycheck.

・Employers pay an equal contribution each month.

・Must also join the Employees’ Pension Insurance scheme.

・Members of this scheme pay 30% of their medical costs, covering sickness, injury and necessary dental work.

National Health Insurance (Kokumin Kenko Hoken)

・All foreign residents with a valid visa, allowing them to stay in Japan for a year or more, can join.

・The scheme is open to people who are not employed (expectant mothers, students, retirees, etc.)

・Premiums are calculated on a yearly basis (April – March) based on the insured person’s resident tax, property owned and number of dependents.

・Premiums can be paid by bank transfer or at the local ward or city office.

・Primary members and their dependents pay 30% for inpatient or outpatient costs.

Private Health Insurance

・Private health insurance in Japan is open to all nationalities and their dependents, regardless of their visa status and employment contract.

・Social and National Health Insurance premiums are based on salary; private health insurance premiums are age-related and operate in a series of age brackets.

・Premiums are usually paid by credit card, bank check or bank transfer.

・The amount of deductible (the cost of treatment the insured individual must pay) can be tailored to the insured person’s needs.

・Plans cover in-patient and outpatient treatment as well as dental treatment.

・Coverage is not limited only to Japan.

Points to Consider

・One of the advantages of using private insurance in Japan is that many English-speaking medical practitioners do not accept national health.

・The law currently states that foreigners living in Japan for more than one year must have health insurance; each city office is left to interpret this independently and while some accept private insurance as an adequate means of health insurance, others might not.

・Private health insurance typically covers not only medical treatment in Japan but provides worldwide coverage, which is really important for frequent travelers.

To find out more about the Japanese insurance system, please visit your local city office.

For private health insurance, GlobalHealth.jp helps provide you with great insurance coverage both within Japan and abroad. Please check www.globalhealth.jp for details.

What if you’re not looking for quantity but for a very specific kind of person to hire?

This is where using a good “Screening” function like the one available on GaijinPot.com will be invaluable in filtering out candidates who are not going make suitable hires. Internet screening systems are very efficient because they enable you to sift through potential candidates and only receive applications from those who will be able to perform the job based on the screening requirements you have stipulated. Instead of looking for a needle in a haystack, screening allows you to place barriers to get rid of the haystack and leave you only with the needles.

“…screening allows you to place barriers to get rid of the haystack and leave you only with the needles.”

The use of screening allows the hiring process to begin with an automated tool that immediately screens out persons who do not meet a given set of qualifications.

Firstly develop a Candidate Profile, defining clearly the type of person and the kind of attributes you are looking for in terms of experience, qualifications, professional and personal qualities etc. From this profile, select three requirements that are the “deal breakers” – not those that define your ideal candidate but those requirements without which you would not consider making the hire. These factors, when put to use in your advertisement, will enable you to raise the overall quality of applications received.

Before applying to the position being advertised, a potential candidate will gain a better indication through the requirements displayed prominently in the job posting exactly the kind of person you are looking to hire.

To add extra impact to the required criteria given, they will appear again before any candidate is able to submit their application, with the requirements presented in question form. Only those candidates who are able to fulfill the requirements can submit their application.

By including requirements in your job posting, a large number of candidates will remove themselves, having realized that the advertising company is serious about only wishing to receive applications from those candidates who fulfill the published criteria.

By using the “Screening” function on GaijinPot, you will be able to cut down the work of selection by ensuring that unsuitable candidates remove themselves, making it absolutely clear that you will only consider candidates who fit your criteria.

Too often the recruiting process has not been adequately thought through; resulting in bad hires, disruptions, upheavals and the wasting of time, money and other valuable resources.

By optimizing the recruitment process, you will be better able to find the standard of candidate you would be more than happy to offer a job to; the kind of person your organization needs, people who are going to make positive contributions to your company.

Dividing the recruiting process into 5 stages:

- Develop a Job Profile
- Post the Advertisement
- Shortlist the Candidates
- Hold Interviews
- Interpret the Results

allows important points at each stage, that contribute to optimization of the recruiting process, to be highlighted.

1.Develop a Job Profile

Define a clear profile of the type of person and kind of attributes you are looking for.

Incorporate these criteria in your job advertisement; simply and accurately portraying the type of person and set of skills required.

2.Post the Advertisement

Confusing or misleading job advertisements will not generate a pool of applicants of the highest quality or numbers available.

The advertisement must be precise; to help create an accurate profile, an effective advertisement will answer these questions:

・What qualifications and level of experience are required (mid-career, entry level, etc.)?
・Is the salary appropriate to the position?
・What does your organization do?
・Where is it?
・What are the work conditions and hours (FT, PT, contract, etc.)?
・What makes working for your company so appealing?
・When is the application deadline?
・When does the position commence?
・What is the position title?
・How important is language ability?

3.Shortlist the Candidates

Once the deadline has passed, work through the applications and discount all candidates that don’t have the required qualifications and experience.

Draw up a shortlist of candidates from the remainder.

Choose the applications that stand out.

Be cautious (but not needlessly suspicious) about candidates who seem to be too good to be true.

Look for relevant experience; for factors that indicate how the candidate will fit into the role to be filled, look for round pegs for round holes.

4.Hold Interviews

Structure the interview; allow the candidate to relax; see how they operate in normal circumstances.

Ask open-ended questions to give the candidate scope: how, what, why?

Field some questions that probe their professional competence.

Ask questions to reveal how they would handle difficult situations.

Don’t forget to ascertain whether they would accept the job if offered it, but don’t show your hand.

Draw up a checklist to allow you to remember how each candidate performed and enable you to better determine their suitability for the position.

5.Interpret the Results

Look at the person as a whole:

・How did they come across?
・Did they have the set of skills necessary to do the job?
・Did they have the body of knowledge needed for the job?
・Were the genuinely motivated to do the job?
・How would they fit into the existing corporate culture?

If you find have any nagging doubts about somebody, don’t take the risk.

Don’t set your sights too high. Perfect workers don’t exist; but personable, competent and eager candidates who will fit well into your organization and make significant and valuable contributions to your company’s success do.

Having ranked the candidates, you are now ready to offer the position to the best and most suitable candidate; get the contract signed, get them trained, and get them onboard as part of the team.

Follow the steps below to learn how to successfully use the Resume Bank

First click the [Search Resume] link in the employer toolbar.

NOTE: Must login to proceed

Use the drop down menus to select the type job-seeker you would like to hire. Then, click the [Search] button to begin compiling your ideal list of candidates.

After a list of matching candidates have been displayed, click the Resume ID to view resume(s).

NOTE: Search results are ranked by which resumes are most recently activated.

The Resume Bank allows you to view the most important parts of a job-seeker’s resume.

NOTE: Our privacy policy restricts the disclosure of name, picture, private contact information and name of employer through the Resume Bank.

Send an email invitation to job-seekers through our secure online system. Click the [Invite Candidate to Apply] button to invite job-seeker to apply.

After verifying Job ID, click the [Preview] button to preview your invitation email

Click the [Send Email to Candidate] button to invite job-seeker to apply.

NOTE: Job-seeker’s full resume becomes viewable after invitation is accepted

TIPS:

• The keyword box searches for words directly typed into job-seeker’s resume(s). Trying similar terms describing the same position separately can increase results (Teacher = Instructor, Chef = Cook)
• Speedup the invitation process by flagging multiple resumes and emailing everyone all at once
• Contact customer support to learn which search terms work best with your position

Employer Comment:
I prefer recruiting through the resume bank because of the time saved. The RB lets me tag and contact all the job-seekers I’d like to hire, making the interview phase so much smoother. (H. Kondo, Advertising Industry)

Job-Seeker Comment:
I love getting direct emails from companies before applying. Most jobs on GaijinPot are so popular that I sometimes get discouraged after I submit a resume and right after notified that 100 other people have applied for the same job － depressing. The companies that find my resume keep my spirits up! (Z. Lott, America)