This study identifies issues with and countermeasures for the hiring of new graduates in small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) while considering the differences in such hiring behavior among large firms. Differences between large firms and SMEs were confirmed to understand the characteristics of hiring behaviors in SMEs, the subject of the research, and the research focus was subsequently narrowed. Issues with SMEs were (1) population formation due to the low brand power for hiring; (2) shortages of human resources for hiring and know-how; and (3) trade-offs between early informal job offers through RJP initiatives and early turnover rates. The study then examined how SMEs that focus on these selected issues, and those that are successful in hiring, respond to these issues. The results of the analysis were as follows.
First, regarding population formation, SMEs used different methods from large firms by strategically coordinating the timing of hiring new graduates and using unique promotion methods and channels such as Facebook, other social media, and dedicated websites.
Second, in response to a lack of human resources, SMEs used outside professionals if there was no hiring know-how in the company. In addition, executives and employees outside of human resources aggressively participated in hiring. However, there were risks in hiring behavior where there were no partnerships with executives or those responsible for human resources.
Third, for RJP, many employees, including executives, participated in hiring rather than having the human resources group lead the process. This increased opportunities for different types of communication with students. With SMEs in particular, there is a risk of informal offers being turned down when they are simply given information on the work environment, whereas sympathetically sharing information, such as workplace experience via other hirees (in actual internships) or even the traditional company briefing, produced results.
Based on these cases, successful measures for SMEs are those that are unique to each company rather than the imitation of hiring methods used by large firms. However, these measures are not shared among SMEs. If effective ways for hiring new graduates can be shared outside individual companies and with society as a whole, then they can be useful in reducing mismatches in the new graduate labor market.
