The term has no legal definition. It usually means someone in their mid-twenties with one to three years of work experience who has left, or wants to leave, their first employer. It is distinct from kisotsu, a graduate who did not join a company straight from university.
The group is large because early departure is common. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare tracks how many new graduates leave their first job within three years. For university graduates who started in 2022 the figure was 33.8%. It varies sharply by employer size: about 27% at workplaces with 1,000 or more people and over 57% at those with fewer than five. Rates have been highest in hospitality and retail.
Policy has made room for them. Since 2010 the ministry's Youth Employment Opportunity Guideline has asked employers to accept applicants for new-graduate openings for at least three years after graduation. Many large companies now run separate daini shinsotsu tracks, and specialist agencies and job sites cover the segment.
To employers, the attraction is the combination. These hires have had the basic business training a Japanese employer gives its intake, including manners, reporting habits and the rhythm of corporate life. But they are not yet set in one company's way of working.
What it means for a foreign employer
- It is a good channel for junior bilingual roles. A second-new-graduate with a year or two of training and good English often costs less than a mid-career hire and adapts faster than a fresh graduate.
- Ask why they left, without prejudice. The three-year proverb still colours how Japanese managers read an early exit. Often the reason is a poor first match, not a poor worker.
- Pay sits near graduate levels. Expect starting pay a little above your graduate rate, not a mid-career band.
- Plan development. They often move because they want faster growth than a seniority system offers. Show them how progression works.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, separation rates of new graduates (those who graduated in March 2022), published 2025.
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Youth Employment Opportunity Guideline, as amended in 2010.