As in any country, the main concern for graduating seniors in Japan is finding a job. The exception to this is in the sciences, especially engineering, where a greater percentage of graduates go on to graduate school. Science graduates usually get a job after two years of graduate work, when they have received a master's degree. In Japan almost 80 percent of college graduates get jobs in the private sector. Private companies, where most college graduates get jobs, become serious about recruiting seniors at the beginning of September, when summer vacation ends and the new semester starts.
Most Japanese colleges have a job placement office to which the companies bring their job offers.
Each company holds an orientation, on its own or with other companies, at the end of August. Seniors go to the orientations, gather other informational materials sent to the placement office by the companies, and select the companies they are the most interested in. In September they gather more information by visiting the personnel offices of those companies. At the beginning of October, companies hold examinations and select the students they would like to hire. The procedure described above applies mostly to social science and humanities students.