Faced with worker shortages and difficulty with identifying and attracting talent, companies are increasingly turning to the underused method of employee referrals to fill their junior ranks.
Companies are looking to explore the well-trodden overseas method of tapping into the social networks of younger employees, built mainly in their college years, in hopes of luring potential staff who are unwilling or unable to follow the country's regimented, deep-rooted path from academia to employment — an almost completely foreign system in by-the-book Japan.
Amid widespread labor shortages, proponents of the concept dubbed "referral hiring" argue that finding staff this way has many benefits, such as improved candidate quality and better retention levels, as well as allowing firms to slash recruitment costs.