The Alarming Effect of CoronaVirus (COVID-19) on Job Hunting Season in Japan

(Published on JPort)

The outbreak of coronavirus continues to interrupt the job-hunting season for students graduating in 2020.

Coronavirus – more than just an epidemic

In 2018, Bill Gates gave a warning that the world needed to prepare for pandemics the same way it had prepared for wars. He must not have predicted that within 2 years later, the Coronavirus outbreak from Wuhan, China would grip the whole planet.

In Japan, as stated by NHK, confirmed cases are rapidly increasing to more than 1000 on March 9th, including 696 passengers on Diamond Princess cruise ship and 14 people who returned on chartered flights from Hubei, China. The death toll has now risen to 14. By prefecture, according to the same source, Hokkaido has the most cases at 101, followed by Aichi with 70, and Tokyo with 64. Schools have been officially closed for a month. People arriving from China and Korea have been kept under quarantine for 2 weeks at designated facilities. Big events such as marathons and job fairs are either postponed or modified for fear that they might unintentionally contribute to the spread of Coronavirus. People are living in agitation and skepticism every minute. Normal life has been suspended, and leaving home appears no longer a routine task, but one for which every step is more calculated than before.

What has Covid-19 done to the 2020 job hunting season and companies?

As the disease is spreading all over Japan, fresh college graduates are confronted with greater pressure in job hunting activities than ever before. “Job Haku”, a general term for global job fairs that cater to foreign students in Japan and Japanese people looking for work overseas, has been canceled to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. Several recruitment companies that suspended their job fairs in March, such as Recruit Career Co., Mynavi Corp., and Disco Inc. "A total of 30,000 to 50,000 students and 5,000 companies will be heavily affected.", said one of the staff from Recruit Career.

List of upcoming recruitment event status:

①マイナビ2021主催イベント

Location: Tokyo

Scheduled Date: March 9th, 2020

Status: POSTPONED (Official announcement on April 1st, 2020)

To see detailed news about this event, click here.

②リクナビイベント：業界＆仕事研究★LIVE & 就活開幕★LIVE & 企業発見＆選考準備★LIVE

Location: Tokyo

Scheduled Date: from February 22th to March 31th, 2020

Status: CANCELLED

To see more upcoming events hosted by Rikunabi, click here.

③グローバル外国人留学生向け就職フェア

Location: Osaka

Scheduled Date: March 14th, 2020

Status: ACTIVE, but some companies postponed their exhibitions. Instead, recruitment brochures for fresh graduates will be set up in the material sections.

To see detailed information, click here.

④JOB博2020東京

Location: Tokyo

Scheduled Date: March 21th, 2020

Status: RESCHEDULED on May 16th, 2020

To see detailed information, click here.

⑤JOB博 SPRING 大阪2020

Location: Osaka

Scheduled Date: April 18th, 2020

Status: ACTIVE

To see detailed information, click here.

⑥Daijob Career Fair

Location: Tokyo

Scheduled Date: May 22th, 2020

Status: ACTIVE

To see detailed information, click here.

⑦Tokyo Summer Career Forum 2020

Location: Tokyo

Scheduled Date: June 27th-28th, 2020

Status: ACTIVE

To see detailed information, click here.

How are recruitment schedules of companies in Japan affected?

Firms are facing difficulties in re-scheduling their recruitment plans. On February 15th and 16th, Sony officially canceled “Sony Group Career Forum 2021” in Tokyo and planned to release its presentation via the company’s website as soon as possible instead. MUFG Bank has delayed its information sessions scheduled for this month in Osaka and Tokyo. In addition, Mizuho Financial Group also plans to discontinue the company briefing scheduled for next month or later.

→ Switching to Online Seminars and Online Interviews

“I was worried and disappointed at first when I heard that large-scaled job fairs would be suspended. However, a lot of companies quickly switched to online seminars and interviews, which was safer and more time-saving because I don’t have to travel back and forth anymore. To the best of my knowledge, from big corporations such as Kose to startup companies such as Mercari have been conducting all job interviews online in response to the viral outbreak. Also, companies offer easy-to-use online interview tools so it is very convenient. ” - An Nguyen, a 4th-year student at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

→ Postponed Interviews

“To my disappointment, my interview was postponed last week to some time in May. Some companies are moving to online interviews instead of rescheduling, which I think might be a far better option as the recruitment process goes on. However, since the company I’m applying for is quite big, it’s understandable that they are careful in making decisions towards things including recruitment. Considering the pandemic happening, they don’t want to take risks and choose to wait for the condition to be better before continuing the recruiting process.” - Neem Sutantio, a 4th-year student at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

→ Employees doing remote work

In the press conference about Covid-19 held on February 29th, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that Japan would advance the use of remote work in every aspect of society, making full use of teleworking and other forms of IT, and all at once push forward changes that go ahead of the time. Therefore, companies are turning to telework with the aim of protecting their employees from being infected by the virus on public transport or in offices. Big firms such as Dassault System, Dentsu, and Pasona Group Inc. allow remote working until the end of March, but they may extend it depending on circumstances.

How the government and recruitment firms are dealing with the coronavirus

Recruit Career Co., Mynavi Corp., and Disco Inc. and other companies nationwide are making use of digital platforms such as live streaming and videos posted on their websites to introduce their business to potential candidates. According to The Japan Times, this year was the first time the recruiting schedules had been set by the government instead of Keidanren (the Japan Business Federation), Japan’s leading business lobby. In accordance with the government’s instruction, firms will start their job briefings in March, then select new recruits through written tests and interviews in June and finally, make job offers in October.

“To be honest, there is nothing significant in my case but students graduating in 2021 would be more affected by the Covid-19. As the virus created unnecessary racism towards Chinese and Korean people, I think some companies might cut down on the number of employees coming from those countries next year. I suggest everyone stay focused and remain confident in themselves, as the job market may be affected by the epidemic for a while but will soon be back on track.”-Ravi Man Singh, a 4th-year student at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University