Hiring Trend │Human Resources

Companies expanded headcount during 2015 in the face of Japan’s improving economic position and projections of accelerating growth in 2016. As a result, talent acquisition specialists became increasingly sought after by hiring managers. This trend was particularly strong in the financial services sector, where a serious shortage of internal recruiters will continue during 2016.

Competition among hiring managers to recruit HR business partners, junior generalists and mid to senior-level compensation and benefit professionals, meanwhile, drove 10-20% salary increases for those who moved jobs in 2015.

Above all, the continuing demand for bilingual HR professionals caused a severe shortage of talent in all specialisms, which will continue throughout 2016.

In Osaka, this has been particularly serious at middle-management levels, where the ability to communicate effectively along regional lines of reporting is critical. In the contract market, companies will continue to seek candidates with a minimum of business-level fluency in English.

Despite a serious scarcity of temporary internal recruiters and compensation & benefits specialists, there will continue to be an available pool of candidates for interim generalist HR roles in 2016.