Keidanren mulls advancing start of job interviews for new grads to March

March 8, 2018

Tokyo- The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, is considering allowing member companies to start job interviews for prospective graduates in March, three months earlier than currently, informed sources have said.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Keidanren Chairman Sadayuki Sakakibara announced a plan to review the group's present recruitment rules, with a view to revising them, effective from graduates to be hired in spring 2021.

Keidanren will also study the options of returning the start of job interviews to April, converting the rules to "goals" and abolishing them, the sources said.

As competition for new graduates is intensifying in the country's job market amid severe labor shortages, non-Keidanren companies, including foreign firms, start job interviews earlier than Keidanren members, which are bound by the group's rules. Jiji Press