Corporate Japan is reaching beyond its shores to attract new talent, offering lucrative training programs to recruit employees as far away as the U.S. and Europe.
Bolstered by favorable immigration policies as part of a new growth strategy by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, companies including banking majors like Mitsubishi UFJ and consumer electronics giant Toshiba have become heavy participants in a flurry of job fairs that have sprung up globally in recent months.
Carrots dangled included an opportunity to work overseas in Japan and detailed on-the-job training. But what has proven most attractive is the lack of requirement for specific skills. Unlike other countries, most Japanese firms put their new hires into general job roles before relegating them to specific departments after a training period.