Japanese companies hire students in a single, coordinated cycle before graduation. The government publishes the schedule it asks employers to follow: company information sessions from March of the third year, selection interviews from June of the final year, and formal offers from 1 October. Everyone starts together on 1 April, attends the same induction, and is placed in a department afterwards.
The cohort is hired for potential, not for a specific job. A history graduate may end up in finance; an engineer may be rotated into sales. Training happens inside the company.
In practice the schedule leaks. Internships have become a selection channel, and many students hold informal offers well before October.
What it means for a foreign employer
- Competing for graduates means competing on this calendar. Students lock in offers months before graduation. A foreign company that recruits the way it does at home, for a specific job, close to the start date, finds the best candidates already gone.
- Most mid-career candidates came through it. A 40-year-old at a Japanese company most likely joined on 1 April straight from university and has never changed employer. That shapes how they see a move.
- Graduate salaries are flat and low. Starting pay is set by cohort, not by individual, which is one reason foreign firms that pay above the norm can win strong candidates.
Sources
- Government request to employers on the recruitment schedule for new graduates (Cabinet Secretariat and MHLW), in force since Keidanren withdrew its own guideline in 2018.