Gearing up or slowing down? The IT recruitment game demands top performers from all participants in today's competitive job market - Special Advertising Section: IT Recruiting - Statistical Data Included

Japan, Inc., Sept, 2002 by Mike Thuresson

A decade-long recession and structural economic reforms don't sound like your typical career catalysts. However, the influx of Western multinational companies into Japan and massive corporate layoffs at major Japanese companies have created opportunities, as well as a competitive environment requiring recruitment companies to step up their services and job candidates to get with the times. We sought counsel from the key players.

Can you describe the history of your company?

Mark Stoneman, president, Stoneman corporation: 'Historically, we focus on IT recruiting in Tokyo and the majority of our clients are multinational organizations."

Krishna Mahalingam, managing director, A.C.E. International: "Originally incorporated in 1984, the current name reflects our international reach in terms of client and candidate profiles. We are not a firm that particularly specializes in recruiting for foreign IT firms, but focus on recruiting for international financial institutions and foreign law firms."

Koichi Sakuma, president, R.P. Square: "We are a manpower outsourcing company which was established a year back with the main focus of meeting the demands of the Japanese market for bilingual highly skilled and experienced IT professionals. We have the capabilities to match over a thousand candidates from India with Japanese entities."

Simon Childs, managing director, CDS: "CDS focuses on key managerial and board level positions in a variety of start-up and blue chip IT companies."

Mark Saft, representative director, The Ingenium Group: "Although a relatively recent entrant to the Tokyo recruiting market, we currently have approximately 20 recruiters and researchers working in five specialist practice areas including: financial services, IT and engineering, professional services, consumer goods and life sciences."

Adriana Alexandrescu, IT director, Executive Search International: "ESI is a management consulting firm specializing in executive search and selection. We have been serving the business community in Japan since 1969."

Richard Bysouth, director, CareerCross Japan: "Having worked as a recruiter in Japan for many years and having used various advertising mediums, I came to realize that the market needed an efficient online presence. Since September 2000 we've filled this need of online advertising for bilingual staff in Japan."

Emile Goldberg, representative director, James Harvard International Asia: "Founded in London in May 2000, James Harvard International is a privately owned global technology recruitment partner. We opened our Tokyo office in September 2001 to enable ourselves to service a select number of clients on a global basis."

Markus Leach, president/CEO, JCI Consulting: "JCI Consulting K.K. is a company that Tim Ondo and I formed last year. Both of us have been recruiting in Japan for nearly 10 years."

Cynthia Green, senior vice president, PANACHE Corporation: "PANACHE was founded seven years ago with three staff and has grown to over 200 employees in various IT professions today. We provide multinational companies with a vast array of services, specializing in IT job placements, IT temporary staffing, outsourcing solutions, system support, the development of customized systems and interactive marketing solutions."

Michelle Ash, bilingual career coordinator, Human Resources International: "A semiconductor/machinery manufacturing company in Shinjuku was having trouble filling staffing demands, and this lead them to start up a recruiting agency, Human Resources International Co. (HRI). Today, we have branched out to Meguro, Osaka and Yokohama including departments dealing with specialized fields such as IT and bilingual."

Terrie Lloyd, CEO, Daijob.com: "DaiJob.com was founded in January 2000 as an online recruiting operation and embarked on a major TV advertising campaign to establish ourselves as a consumer brand. The strategy was very successful, and now the company is the third largest online recruiting destination, in terms of traffic and yen value, and the largest online recruiting destination for bilingual recruiting."

Mathew Gollop, managing director, Connected Group: "We were founded in Hong Kong in 1997, primarily focusing on IT and investment banking before developing into IT vendor, telco and other technology-related sectors. In 2001, the company also began to focus on the Japanese market."

Junji Fukada, president, lxsus Inc.: "While lxsus is a relatively young company, its core members together have over 60 years of experience in the Japanese human resources industry. Our extensive knowledge of Japanese employment laws and personnel practices, combined with our broad human resources network, enable us to respond quickly and appropriately to client's personnel needs."

James Yellowlees, president, Pacifica Consultants: "We were established in Tokyo in 1995. My father was head of HR for Asia Pacifica from 1981-86, so HR Consulting in Japan runs in the family. We work mainly with multinational firms in the Japanese market and with some Japanese firms that have global aspirations."