OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. is planning to hire more midcareer engineers it believes have the potential to become high-ranking executives, Matsushita officials said Monday.
The move constitutes an effort to reinvigorate the company, the officials said.
Matsushita will also hire more department heads and headquarter chiefs via headhunting activities, they said.
During this business year, the company is seeking to hire about 200 midcareer workers, well above the 70 hired the previous year.
The company has primarily hired engineers in their early 20s via a year-round recruitment program.
In changing its policy, it will seek to hire more candidates capable of taking on new responsibilities at short notice, the officials said.
One reason for the policy shift is to change a common in-house perception that employees must build their careers from beginning to end at the company, they said.
In addition to engineers, the company is seeking law, accounting and foreign-languages specialists, they said.
On April 1, Matsushita set up a special team to oversee the active hiring of midcareer workers.