Japan’s Companies Seek Mid-Career Employees to Secure Job-Ready Talent

Immediately Effective

The Japanese human-resource service provider Mynavi conducted an online survey of personnel managers in charge of mid-career recruitment. A total of 1,600 valid responses were received for the survey, which was conducted in July 2025.

When companies were asked to list their reasons for engaging in mid-career recruitment, the most common answer cited was to “supplement the workforce with immediately effective personnel,” (48.4%), followed by “respond to an increase in employee resignations” (32.4%) and “expand existing business operations” (30.3%).

As for future intentions regarding mid-career recruitment, 54% of the companies surveyed said that they would “become more proactive,” far exceeding the 7.4% who said they would “become less proactive.” By industry, the highest percentage of companies planning to be more proactive, at 59.1%, could be found in the finance, insurance, and consulting sectors.

For the most recent six-month period, from January to June 2025, 27% of the companies surveyed felt they had too many full-time employees, while 45.8% said that it seemed they did not have enough. Compared with 2024, the percentage for the former remained almost unchanged, while the latter increased by about three points.

Data Sources

• Mid-career recruitment survey (2025) (Japanese) from Mynavi.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)