Facing fierce competition to attract top university graduates, many Japanese firms are using internship programs as a way to entice students before the official start of the recruiting season, which was recently shifted to March from December.
Students in their junior year aiming for the April 2016 hiring season are now forced to prepare for job-hunting activities in the middle of the academic year ending in March, as in the past.
Many firms plan to organize internship programs, which are not regarded as an official recruitment activity, sometime between November and February 2016, according to Mynavi Corp., a Tokyo-based job information company.