Career-Changing for a Safer Place
Advertisements for tenshoku (career change) are found everywhere in Japan. On the packed commuter train there are wall banners advertising career change fairs and recruitment companies. On websites there are sections entitled “job vacancies” and “changing jobs”. On Japanese search engines such as Yahoo! Japan there are online recruitment sites for full-time, part-time and temporary workers. It seems from these advertisements that Japanese have no trouble in finding career opportunities.
Changing Jobs Has Become More Socially Acceptable
Career change is not considered a bad thing anymore in Japanese society following the collapse of life-time employment. Japanese companies are now open to hiring mid-career employees as their immediate workforce. In fact, a 2006 survey on mid-career employment by MHLW showed that about 72% of corporations have employees in the middle of their careers working at their organization. Japanese employees also consider changing of the workplace as a career options. According to a 2006 White Paper on National Lifestyles, the career change rate has seen an upward trend since 1990; although the job change rate in 2006 was 5.2% for men and 7.8% for women, which is still quite a small ratio.
Job Security and a Better Workplace as the Motives for Career Change
Interestingly, the main motive for career change is not career progress, but rather more job security and a better workplace. The 2006 MHLW survey shows that 36% of males asked changed their job due to worries about the future of their company. Females answered that they change job mainly because they were not satisfied with their working conditions (28.7%). Respondents who answered “finding better career opportunities” numbered only 11.4% for males and 13% for females.
Finding a secure job and a better workplace may be quite a challenge for job seekers under the current economic environment, and this journey could be endless if the economic crisis continues and companies maintain their current employment turnaround.
June 28 2008 03:13 pm | Culture and Economy and Weekly Articles
