Years ago, I had a candidate with an offer at Morgan Stanley. Wonderful company, top tier investment bank, well known, great offer. But he went home and told his family about the offer, and actually his in-laws had never heard of Morgan Stanley. For that reason, he needed to say no thank you to the offer and went and took a Japanese company instead.
Japan has a rich history, and people really respect Japanese companies. And for that reason, if you are a foreign SME, you need to move away from the paradigm that “why should we hie you?” to “what can we do to hire you into our company?”
What you need to do when you’re competing against a Japanese company or a bigger companies, is you need to leverage your company’s strengths and create a story around that.
Create a compelling story around the company: how was it established? What its history was? When did it come into Japan? And be particular about why you joined the company, and what you love about working with the company.
Then, pay particular attention to the position you’re offering the candidate. Why it’s important in a macro vision for the company itself, and then also how this position will progress within the company. Because you’re wanting to bring people in for a longer term rather than a short term fix.
Lastly, as you’re moving through the interview process and the questions, you’ll want to emphasize the stability of the company. You want to talk about how people have progressed in the company, how long has your long standing employees have been there, and that the company isn’t going to suddenly pick up and leave Japan. You want to emphasize stability.
So there you have it. Sell your brand. You need to make compelling story, talk about headquarters, talk about the potential locally, and then talk about stability. Those components can really help a smaller company recruit the best candidates.