A placement within three months of launch, becoming number one in the Tokai region for second-new-graduate recruitment

Ad Planner Inc. (head office: Nagoya, Aichi) provides comprehensive staffing services, mainly in the Tokai and Kanto regions. Since April 2020 the company has been working on a recruitment project for second-time job seekers (young people in their first few years of work). Why did it choose NowVillage as its consulting partner? We asked Mr Ono, the project leader.

Starting by giving shape to each other’s assets, and growing into a major pillar of the business

―First, could you tell us how the work began?

Ad Planner had signed an alliance agreement at the end of 2019 with UZUZ, where Mr Imamura previously worked. At the time I was in charge of overseas business, and the agreement itself was gathering dust. When we launched a project in April 2020 to focus on the niche market of second-time job seekers, I thought it would be a waste to leave it dormant! So we started collaborating with the idea of first giving shape to the good assets each of us already had in front of us.

―Were you handling it on your own at first, Mr Ono?

Yes. In the first half (April to September) I worked alone within the budget I was given, but from the second half it became a four-person project so that we could scale up the business. From April this year we have added even more people, and as a company we are determined to “make it our second business pillar”. Partly because there are no competitors seriously focusing on staffing services limited to second-time job seekers aged 20 to 25, we are now the number one recruitment agency in the second-time job seeker category in the Tokai region.

―What specifically did you do?

For the first six months we did recruitment through a flow in which we proposed job seekers from the alliance partner to companies, and we handled counselling and the RA (recruiting adviser) side. From the second half of that year, NowVillage helped us with service planning and strategy so that we could establish our own way of attracting job seekers. Specifically, that meant creating a landing page, designing the acquisition funnel, and estimating the expected results. We chose from several measures they proposed. We are an organisation of sales staff only, with no engineers, so we are very grateful that they advised us so attentively when we didn’t know anything.

Building the right relationships of trust, and job seekers getting hired

―Your own service started in January 2021. What results have you seen?

As shown by the fact that we have done business with more than 10,000 companies since our founding in 1982, our great strength is our ability to develop new clients. We are confident in interviewing and counselling client companies, and we feel it is working. But what struck us while running the service was how little awareness there is of “building the right relationships of trust and obtaining the right information”. In reality, job advertisements often contain “grey areas” in information such as working conditions, suitability and probation periods. If we, standing between companies and job seekers, handle job information carelessly, trouble may arise between the parties. With that sense of urgency, we tightened our listing standards and became even stricter in how we deal with our customers.

Thanks in part to that, in mid-March 2021 several job seekers were hired! Among them were science graduates from well-known graduate schools, whom we could propose with confidence, and they went on to join manufacturers and software companies. I also see the fact that students from well-known universities registered with us as proof of trust.

Over the year since the project launched, we have gradually firmed up the foundations, and now there is a feeling across the whole team that “recruitment is exciting!” We want to turn this into momentum and are aiming to develop 500 client companies in the first half of 2021. While deepening trust, we want to step on the accelerator so that no job seekers are left waiting.

A smooth collaboration even at a distance

―What do you expect from NowVillage going forward?

If there are additional measures that will bring us closer to our goals, we’d like them to propose them whenever they arise. Mr Imamura and Mr Takayama understand our character and strengths well and always make spot-on proposals, so all I ever say is “Sounds good, let’s do it!” (laughs). Ad Planner has a corporate culture of saying “let’s give it a try” even to things that are an investment in possibility, so we definitely want to take on new measures too. The purpose must not waver, but I want to keep hold of the excitement of opening up new channels.

―From your point of view, Mr Ono, what kind of company is NowVillage? And based on that, what kind of companies would you recommend them to?

Their proposals are very logical, and the scheme of their support is clear. They never give up on our questions and answer them carefully, which makes them feel very reliable as a partner. At the same time, Mr Imamura is not purely about logic; he has a human touch and, if you’ll forgive the expression, a certain “unpolished” quality that is also appealing. I think it is a distinctive company, with tenacity and a strong core within its start-up smartness.

Also, their way of driving the project, such as sharing materials using internal chat tools and shared drives, was something we had not done in our own company before, so we learned a rational and smooth way of working. Nagoya and Tokyo are far apart, but we communicate comfortably and without stress. In fact, we now apply the same approach directly in our dealings with other companies (laughs). If you are comfortable with IT tools, collaborating at a distance is entirely possible. In that sense, they may be a good fit for regional companies. I think there are many companies that are performing well but see hiring as a challenge. We also want to expand our business further, centred on the Tokai region, so we look forward to continuing to work with them!