Office Transfers and the Hiring Process in Japan

April 5, 2013

In Japan, businesses run quite differently from in the United States. The fiscal year begins in April and ends in March, and employees don't remain doing the same type of work for more than a couple of years at a time. For example, teachers who have just graduated college may work at the same school for about 2-3 years max before they are transferred to another school. Senior level teachers may stay at one school for up to 8 years, but after that they are transferred again. At government offices, employees are transferred around as well. Employees who were working in one department could be transferred to a completely different line of work in another department the following year. Not only that, but they could be transferred to a completely different branch as well.

I didn't have a photo for this time, so here's an entirely unrelated one back from when I was an ALT.

This transfer system is set up for several reasons. The reasoning I was given as a teacher was that teachers are transferred so one school doesn't have all of the good teachers and one school has all of the bad ones. If the teachers are moved around, the whole city can have the same level of education. As far as office workers go, the reasoning I have been given is that if an employee stays doing the same work forever, they will become burnt out and bored with their work.

I love the idea that employees here get to change it up every once in a while, and break out into another type of work. After all, if you get burnt out your work efficiency will drop, and you may end up hating your job.

At the same time though, aren't employees who have experience at their position going to have higher efficiency? I can't help but wonder this after seeing the mass confusion that results each year after the transfers take place. Half completed projects being picked up by new employees results in the previous person in charge making multiple visits from a branch office a half hour away and the confusion of participants in the project when calling to speak with the employee in charge, only to find that said person is no longer in charge of the project let alone working in that office anymore.

I feel like if someone already has 8 years of experience on a topic, maybe keeping them in that position would be for the best. Especially in a place such as a government office where projects come and go anyway so one is always working on something new.

As far as the fiscal year goes, things are completely set in stone in Japan. In the U.S. you can graduate from college at various times throughout the year, and job search pretty much whenever you feel like it. However, in Japan you can only graduate after passing an exam that is given once a year, so everyone graduates at the same time. Then everyone begins looking for a job to start in April, when the contract year begins. There is a second round of job searching that occurs in August, after companies have decided to keep or let their first-round employees go after the several month initial trial period. However, employees who are job searching in the August period are usually those who were passed up in the first round, or those who were let go from their original position. Thus they aren't as highly sought after as those in the first round.

As a JET program participant I find this quite frustrating as our contracts run from August. Not only are we limited to finding a job one time a year, but it is also the second round. In addition to this, we have to decide whether we will renew our contracts in February. Which means that program participants have to decide if they will continue or not without knowing if they can even find a job six months down the road. I understand that the Program needs time to find new participants for the following year, and new hires need time to get all of their paperwork together, but I wish there was a better way to go about this so that current participants don't have to make a decision so far in advance. For example, the Program could conduct interviews as usual, and then officially confirm new hires later on, once current participants have made their decisions in say, May. 

Does anyone else feel that the JET hiring process takes entirely way too long? There has to be a more efficient way to go about this...