Polarization of job hunting? While making early job offers, there are also expensive seminars that take advantage of anxiety

Recruitment interviews for companies such as fourth-year university students who will graduate next spring will begin on the 4st of next month.
Internships for third-year university students to experience work at companies will begin in earnest from next month, but there have been a series of troubles that have taken advantage of students' anxiety regarding job hunting, and related organizations are calling for attention.

"Job hunting this year is polarized" pointed out by universities

It has been pointed out that there is a polarization between students who are proceeding smoothly with this year's job hunting activities, such as obtaining multiple job offers at an early stage, and those who are struggling to produce results.

According to the Career Center of Daito Bunka University in Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, job hunting is becoming more early this year, and as of this month, many students have already received job offers or job offers, and there are many cases where they have received job offers from multiple companies.

On the other hand, we have received inquiries such as "I don't know how to find a job" or "I can't gather information due to the corona disaster".

Universities believe that students who have been unable to build good relationships or gather enough information may be stumbling on job hunting due to restrictions on lectures and club activities from the beginning of enrollment due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sakie Hosoda, director of the Daito Bunka University Career Center, said, "There is a gap in student movements, and students who have become inward-looking due to Corona have not been able to grasp the opportunity for their activities, so the university would like to support them."

7% of students get a job offer Private survey

According to a survey conducted this month by recruit, a human resources service company, among university and graduate students nationwide who are scheduled to graduate next spring, as of March 15, 72.1% of students had received a job offer from a company, an increase of 6.7 points from the same period last year.

In addition, the average number of companies that received job offers per student was 1.2, an increase of 22.0 from the same period last year, and the percentage of companies receiving job offers from two or more companies was 04.2%, up 58.6 points from last year.

Students who already have a job offer Students who do not

We asked students about their job hunting this year.
First of all, students who already have a job offer.

A male student
attending a university in Tokyo: "About 6% of the people around me have job offers, and I started job hunting around November of my third year of university, and I have received job offers from two companies. Job hunting is getting early, and I was worried that there were people who had job offers since last fall, but I'm glad I got a job offer" Female student
who wants to work in the real estate industry "

I started job hunting in June of my third year of university, and I already have job offers from about four companies.

On the other hand, we also talked to students who said they had not received a job offer.

Female student: "I haven't received a job offer yet, and I sometimes feel anxious because there are few opportunities to interact with people due to Corona and it is difficult for people around me to ask"

Another female student

"I haven't had a job offer yet, but I'm very worried when I hear from my classmates that they have made a job offer, so I want to be confident in what I have done and do my best in my job hunting activities in the future."

Troubles that take advantage of anxiety

When it comes to job hunting, there have been a series of troubles that have taken advantage of students' anxieties. According to the National Consumer Affairs Center, there were 198 inquiries from students and others nationwide last fiscal year, an increase of 46% from the previous fiscal year, who said that they had signed an expensive seminar contract because of job hunting.

The National Consumer Affairs Center is calling attention to the fact that it is characterized by categorically explaining that "if you take a seminar, you will get a 100% job offer at a major company" or by arousing anxiety such as "If you don't sign a contract now, you won't get a job offer" through SNS and the Internet.

At the Career Center of Daito Bunka University, staff are stationed to provide consultations, and we call attention to typical examples by disseminating information and providing guidance.

Sakie Hosoda, director of the Daito Bunka University Career Center, said, "I think that students' anxiety about the amount of activity and information has increased due to the coronavirus pandemic, and methods to fuel it have become apparent.

"Lying and soliciting to job hunting event" student testifies

A woman who once lied to a student who was looking for a job and invited her to a job hunting event spoke to NHK.

This woman is a college student in her 20s who worked as an intern at a human resources company for several months last year when she was looking for a job.

In order to attract participants for the job hunting event that the company was planning to hold, his boss instructed him to hide his student status and recruit by posing as a full-time employee of the company.

I was instructed to call for a special selection route by using invitations such as "The company that participated in the event suddenly took me to the final interview and I would get a job offer on the spot" or "The possibility of a job offer increases."

However, his supervisor explained that there was no such selection route and that it was a lie, and when I asked why, he said, "It is because students are better able to eat and attract a lot of students."

It was explained that if you attract a lot of students to the event, you will receive a higher amount of money from the participating companies, so the woman felt guilty but could not resist and recruited more than 10 students.

The woman commented on her feelings at the time, saying, "Employees wanted to ask me, 'Why are you hiring and paying for interns?' I feel sorry for the students who invited me."

Expert "A lot of information about elephants and elephants seeks the right answer"

Masayoshi Tanide, a recruitment consultant who is familiar with job hunting, says, "The students who are looking for a job are from the generation where the coronavirus spread when they entered university, and they have no choice but to look for a job while it is difficult to make vertical and horizontal connections. Against the backdrop of economic recovery and labor shortages, companies are accelerating their recruitment activities, but the gap between those who have the opportunity to know how to find a job and how to get information is very different, so because it has become a seller's market, not everyone can get a job offer, and polarization is progressing."

On top of that, he points out that students get into trouble because they are starting to feel anxious because they can't get advice on job hunting from anyone, and even if they do a lot of research on SNS and the Internet, there is a lot of information about elephants and elephants, and they don't know what is good or bad, so they seek the right answer."

"Some companies try to abuse seminars, and secondary use of students' personal information can also generate profits for them.