(Provisional Translation by Cabinet Secretariat)
Councillor, Cabinet Secretariat
Director-General, Higher Education Bureau, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology
Director-General for Human Resources Development, Ministry of Health, Labour andWelfare
Director-General, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Tradeand Industry
March 26, 2019
Chief of each economic organization, industry group, and other group,

Request for Employment and Recruitment Activity
for University Students who are Graduating in Spring 2021
(Request)
We have compiled the government’s requests about employment and recruiting activities
for university students who intend to graduate or complete their coursework in spring
2021, as attached. It would be appreciated if you could notify each member of yourorganization of this set of requests.
(Background of the Request)
Developing youth human resources is essential for sustainable development in anycountry. It is also crucial to create an environment in which students can concentrate on
their studies and have diverse experiences.
Until last year, the Japan Business Federation (“Keidanren”) formulated “Guidelineson Recruiting New Graduates” and its explanatory notes. The university association also
issued its Memorandum of Understanding. Given these, the Japanese government also
issued its requests to economic groups. In Japan, where so-called “new graduate massrecruitment” has prevailed, these rules made it easier for students to concentrate on theirstudies and engage in job hunting systematically. At the same time, it has been pointed
out that these rules have ceased functioning amid globalization and the rise of informationtechnology. Under these circumstances, Keidanren announced on October 9, 2018, that it1

would no longer formulate Guidelines.
However, it is still necessary to ensure that students can concentrate on their studies
and engage in job hunting systematically. Additionally, Keidanren and the Japan Chamberof Commerce and Industry expressed that certain rules are needed for the time being.
Therefore, the Japanese government formed the “Inter-Ministerial Liaison Committee on
Employment and Recruiting Activities Schedule,” with participation from Keidanren anduniversity representative as observers. On October 29, 2018, the Committee expressed its
viewpoints on employment and recruiting activities schedule, where members agreed tomake requests about students who will graduate in spring 2021 based on the sameschedule as that of students graduating in spring 2020. University union, on the otherhand, issued its MOU and requests to the business sector on March 25, 2019.
The following attachment outlines requests regarding employment and recruitment
activities for university students graduating in Spring 2021, compiled by the Japanese
government.
It is vital that both business communities and universities work together to ensurethat students can smoothly look for jobs and concentrate on their studies. We would highly
appreciate your cooperation in this matter.
(Questionnaire survey)
We plan to implement a questionnaire about dissemination regarding this request.
Your cooperation would be highly appreciated.

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(Attachment)
Requests for Employment and Recruitment Activity
for University Students who are Graduating in Spring 2021
It is vital that university students and the business sector be able to smoothly
engage in recruitment activities while ensuring students can remain focused on theirstudies. From these viewpoints, the government has compiled the following requests
and points to be remembered about recruitment activities for university students who
are graduating in Spring 20211. These requests have been widely sent to economic
organizations, industry groups, and other groups.
1. Schedule of recruitment and selection activities
To make sure that university students can smoothly engage in job-hunting activities
and focus on their studies, please follow the following schedules:
Public relations activities: No earlier than March 1, 2020
Recruitment and selection activities: No earlier than June 1, 2020
Formal job offers: No earlier than October 1, 2020
“Public Relations” refer to activities where each company widely disseminates
industry information, corporate information, information about hiring plans for new
graduates, and other kinds of information to students for the purpose of recruitment. The
starting point of this activity is the starting date of pre-entry for accepting student
registration on the company's hiring website or websites operated by employment
information companies. Any activity prior to this start point should be those directed toan unspecified number of students2. It is also requested that companies do not acquire
personal information or conduct publicity activities utilizing personal information3.
In addition, when conducting public relations activities, it is important that those
The following requests apply to students who are supposed to graduate fromuniversities, master’s courses of graduate schools, junior colleges, and technicalcolleges in Japan. They are not relevant to students who are enrolled in postgraduate
doctoral programs.
2
Examples of those activities include information transmission using text messages,
photos, videos, and others on the website, and public relationships using character
information such as documents and booklets.
3
There is no problem with publishing schedules of public relations in advance.
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public relations activities do not practically function as recruitment and selection
activities and that students do not confuse those two activities. Please also make it clearthat it is up to students to voluntarily determine whether they will participate in public
relations activities, and that public relations activities do not affect recruitment andselection activities.
“Recruitment and selection activities” refer to activities aimed at selecting students
in light of certain criteria. Specifically, these are activities where companies prioritize orselect students with the intention of recruitment or activities that are a mandatory part of
the recruitment process, and students are gathered at specific time and place, such as
interviews and exams4.
2. Consideration of academic schedule
Students cannot discretionarily decide dates, places, and other factors of recruitment
and selection activities, as they can with public relations activities. Therefore, it isrequired that companies carefully take academic dates and other dates into considerationand make sure locations of universities do not affect selection processes.
Examples of such considerations include:
Contact students well in advance when conducting interviews and/or entrance tests
Set dates in a manner so that they do not interfere with classes, seminars,experiments, exams, teaching practice, or other activities at universities Consider setting dates on weekends, holidays or sometime after the evening onweekdays.
In addition, if there are individual requests from students, it would be appropriate totake them into consideration as much as possible.
It should particularly be noted that the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics arescheduled to be held in 2020. Students in local areas are likely to find it difficult to arrange
accommodation facilities for interviews and examinations. It is also expected that dates
for interviews and examinations overlap those for volunteer training. Therefore, please
be aware of the circumstances of each student, as shown above in the selection process.

Pre-screening such as submitting of entry sheets, taking web tests or test center tests is
not included in recruitment and selection activities, as students can freely choose
whether/when they do so.
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3. Providing diverse recruitment and selection opportunities for Japanese students5studying abroad, international students, and other students.
Some Japanese students feel studying abroad is a disadvantage in job hunting
activities. To alleviate these concerns, each company is asked to take appropriate
measures for students returning from overseas, based on their individual needs.
Establishing separate recruitment and selection opportunities for those students is an
example of such measures. In addition, companies that take such measures areencouraged to actively provide information on their websites or other resources.
Also, international students who study in Japan and wish to find a job in Japan should
not feel they are being treated unfairly. Therefore, each company is asked to takeappropriate measures for international students. An example is to carry out various andflexible recruitment and selection considering the required skill of Japanese language isdiverse across industries and job types. Again, companies that take such measures areencouraged to actively provide information on their websites or other resources.
Furthermore, some students, including Japanese students, students studying abroad,and international students in Japan, may not be able to get a job at the aforementionedtiming. To provide job opportunities to those students, companies should consider setting
up various recruitment opportunities, including the introduction of year-roundrecruitment and fall recruitment.
4. Ensuring fair, equal and transparent recruitment
Based on laws including the Labour Measures Comprehensive Act, the Equal
Employment Opportunity Act, the Youth Employment Promotion Act, and theEmployment Promotion Act for Persons with Disabilities, fair, equal and transparent
recruitment and selection activities are required. In addition, please make sure that noharassment of students takes place during the recruitment and selection processes, andthat students’ freedom to choose their job is not hindered. For example, it is not
appropriate to force students to reject other companies’ job offer or to make a written
statement about joining a company before a formal job offer.
5. Internships
Internships are an opportunity for students to have work experience related to theirmajor and future career while attending university, and can be regarded as a part ofuniversity education. Given these purposes, in carrying out internships, it is not
In this section, “Japanese students” mainly refer to Japanese students who study
abroad during the aforementioned schedule of recruitment and selection activities.
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appropriate to allow only students in the 3rd year of undergraduate degree and the 1styear of master's degree. It should also be made clear that internships are not related to
public relations activities and recruitment and selection activities6.
In addition, please do not conduct public relations and recruitment screening
activities under the name of internships prior to the aforementioned start point of eachactivity. These actions will lead to a decline in credibility for the entire internship. In
particular, some of short period internships, including so-called "one-day internships,"
entail no work experience and essentially serve as opportunities for business descriptionsof companies. It is not applicable to undertake such programs under the name ofinternship.
6. Further utilization of grade certificates and other information
In recruitment and selection activities, each student's grades and efforts to study
should be appropriately evaluated by obtaining and utilizing universities’ grade
certificates and other information. Asking students questions about those pieces ofinformation at the time of an interview is an example of such evaluation.
7. Consideration to Cool Biz and other measures
Since the time of the recruitment and selection activities will be carried out in therainy season and summer season, please consider Cool Biz (the Japanese government’s
initiative to encourage workers to wear comfortable clothing rather than suits duringsummer) and other measures. Please make students aware of your policies on this issue.
8. Hiring graduates within 3 years after graduation
To provide young people who have willingness and ability with a wide range ofapplication opportunities, please take appropriate measures according to each company'ssituation and employment policy. An example is to allow people who have alreadygraduated yet have no work experience to apply for jobs at the same time as new graduates.

This request does not apply to any internship for students graduating in spring 2021
which companies use for public relationship activities and/or recruitment and selection
activities, expressing their intentions to do so.
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