Thinking About Your Talent Acquisition Career

This is a forum run by Envision to share thoughts and ideas about recruitment.

For those who have careers in the field of human resources and recruiting, we will provide information that will hopefully expand your perspective on various recruitment career options and topics.

Analyzing Career Characteristics

・Internal Recruitment

When considering careers in internal talent acquisition, there are typically four specialties: labor relations, new graduate recruitment, mid-career recruitment, and training. As each area requires different skills, it’s advantageous to decide which area interests you and focus on building specialized skills in a specific area.

For those in internal talent acquisition, the biggest challenge is the constant threat of being transferred
to different divisions within your company. It would be ideal if your company allowed you to choose your career path, but in traditional Japanese companies, one cannot avoid being transferred regardless of personal preference. This makes it quite difficult to specialize in recruitment. However, as an internal recruiter, it is rewarding to see the people you have hired playing an active role in your company.

・Temporary (Haken) Positions

Temporary recruitment positions have employment contracts with a fixed term. In many cases, the contract period is short, preventing meaningful opportunities to get to know the clients and candidates well. Regardless of the short-term relationship, the results of a good candidate match with the company can be very rewarding.

Temporary employment is a service to fill positions on a short-term basis. Even if you are sent to a major company and your agency claims that you can become a full-time employee, it is often difficult and not realistic. There is no denying that the environment is rather difficult for career advancement as client relationships are rather shallow.

・Agency Recruitment

Agency recruitment is an occupation that is classified as "sales" in the human resources field. As the business model is based on performance-based compensation, revenue will not be generated until a candidate joins the company. Therefore, sales targets must be met. I have heard of cases where the pursuit of sales has led to unhealthy pressure on agency recruiters.

Recruitment is a business where people connect. Ideally, we should find job satisfaction in creating a trusting relationship with both the client and the candidate and making a successful match.

・RPO（Recruitment Process Outsourcing）

Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) has been gaining attention in recent years and many companies have started to implement the practice. RPO in Japan has a strong image of being a recruiting agency, but in essence, RPO supports end-to-end recruiting as a recruiting consultant (specialist).

RPO consultants are recruitment specialists who offer their skills as a service to clients as true partners and advisors rather than simply filling vacant positions. We work with our clients to find solutions and produce results.

As experts in recruitment, RPO consultants advise clients and identify the ideal candidates, while also guiding and setting appropriate expectations. We support making the best decision for the client by comprehensively assessing corporate strength, strategy, and brand power.

Recently, many people with experience in internal recruitment and staffing have changed their careers to RPO. Those who change jobs from internal recruitment have a strong motivation to advance their careers from generalist to specialist, while those who change jobs from recruiting or temporary positions often want to execute the hiring process as an internal partner rather than from outside the company. For this reason, RPO is an attractive recruitment-focused career and an option for those who want to develop their career in the recruitment field.

Major Barriers to Your Career

Due to the impact of the pandemic, many of us may have felt anxious about our future jobs. Recently, there has been an increasing amount of discussions about working methods in many fields. In such a climate, I think some people can be impatient for results and don't always know what to do. The only thing standing in the way of your future career is yourself. Whether you want to move ahead in your career or maintain your current position, it is important to take initiative. Ask yourself what is possible through your career and what you value. You always have the ability to advance your career.

Envision supports those who want to improve their skills to become true recruitment specialists.

In my next post, we will go over important skills needed for successful recruitment.