Local Firms Court Students As Regional Workforce Concerns Grow

The occasion, Job Expo Hamamatsu, was held this month for highschool college students as a part of an effort to point out younger individuals the enchantment of native industries earlier than they depart the area for college or work.

Among the exhibitors was Sawayaka, the charcoal-grilled hamburger steak restaurant chain that has change into one in every of Shizuoka Prefecture’s best-known native meals manufacturers. The chain operates solely in Shizuoka Prefecture, and lots of of its staff are from the prefecture, making it a strongly community-based enterprise.

Even so, Sawayaka sees securing younger employees as a serious problem for the restaurant trade as an entire.

“The restaurant industry has tough aspects, but I want young people to know that there is a sense of happiness and fulfillment that more than makes up for that,” mentioned Kaori Shimizu of Sawayaka’s human sources division.

Shimizu mentioned the corporate has saved its shops solely in Shizuoka Prefecture as a result of its founder needed to contribute to the area people.

The occasion introduced collectively 160 taking part corporations and organizations. Alongside domestically rooted companies corresponding to Sawayaka, main world producers additionally took half, together with Hamamatsu-based automaker Suzuki and Yamaha Motor, which is headquartered in Iwata.

The venue provided college students a large have a look at regional industries and merchandise. At one sales space, guests have been launched to “mandarin orange honey harvested in May this year.” At one other, college students have been advised, “If you answer all three quiz questions correctly, you get a bottle of grilled eel sauce.”

With greater than 3,700 college students attending, organizers mentioned the occasion turned one of many largest job-hunting occasions in Japan geared toward highschool college students.

The undertaking was organized via cooperation amongst native trade, authorities and academic establishments. Behind the hassle is a powerful sense of disaster over the area’s inhabitants outflow.

“If we do not do something about the outflow of young people, it could leave serious problems for the sustainability of the region,” Hamamatsu Mayor Yusuke Nakano mentioned.

Hamamatsu is named a producing metropolis and is dwelling to many main corporations. However, whereas many highschool college students go on to universities exterior Shizuoka Prefecture, solely about 30% return to the world for employment or different profession causes.

“We want students to know, understand, come to like and ultimately choose Hamamatsu companies, then work and thrive here,” mentioned Junichi Okubo, senior managing director of the Hamamatsu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The central query for organizers is methods to persuade younger individuals to work domestically. The reply they settled on was to achieve college students whereas they’re nonetheless in highschool.

“We want to create opportunities for students to learn about the region’s industries and companies before they leave Hamamatsu after graduating from high school,” mentioned Masaki Fukatsu, head of the human sources assist division on the Hamamatsu Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “When they begin job hunting at university, we want them to consider local companies as options.”

To depart an impression earlier than college students resolve their profession paths, the occasion centered primarily on first- and second-year highschool college students.

A second-year pupil who attended the honest mentioned the reasons had broadened her view of the longer term. “It expanded my dreams for the future and increased the number of jobs I would like to try,” she mentioned. Asked which corporations caught her curiosity, she named Sawayaka and Unagi Pie.

What struck a chord with the scholars could change into a serious key to fixing the area’s labor scarcity.

Source: TBS