Campus Now

Midsummer Issue (Jul.)

NEWS REPORT

Researching quality corporations that fit the individual without excessive focus on name recognition or scale

2008 academic year employment environment & employment support offered by the Career Center

In a "seller's market"

The employment market of last academic year was called an "unparalleled seller's market". The "jobs-to-applicants ratio for university graduates" continued trends from previous academic year and was calculated at 2.14 times (according to a survey of the Recruit Works Institute). This ratio calculates the number of job openings in relation to persons seeking employment at private corporations. Put simply, this means that for every one students there were job openings at 2.14 corporations. In reality, corporations had a high desire to hire applicants and employment activities proceeded at a fast pace. Many students were able to obtain letters of intent at multiple corporations.

Now, let's examine statistics for the paths taken by undergraduate students who graduate in September of 2008 and March of 2009. From a total of 9,582 reporting students, 6,635 students (69.2%) entered employment and 1,785 (18.6%) students chose to continue their educations. To continue, when examining the paths taken by 2,626 reporting graduate school students (Master's Program), 1,900 (72.4%) entered employment. When examining employers by individual corporations, the figure which stands out the most is the large amount of employment at megabanks and other financial institutions, as well as at large manufacturing companies. However, when viewed as a whole, the employers of students numbered 2,630 corporations and students advanced into a broad range of various industries. (For details on paths taken by students, refer to the graph shown below.)

Global recession and drop in employment opportunities

The healthy employment environment changed drastically due to the global recession which occurred after the Lehman shock in September. Despite this change, the job-hunting activities of students graduating in the spring of 2009 had already passed their peak and retained a high rate of employment similar to that discussed above. However, due to a sudden drop in business performance and bankruptcy by some corporations, the withdrawal of job offers by corporations became a social problem. At Waseda University, 10 undergraduate students and 4 graduate students had their job offers withdrawn by corporations (these numbers are based on student reports).

Furthermore, the current employment environment is reported in the mass media as "the second coming of the employment ice age". However, the jobs-to-applicants ratio for university graduates for students graduating in March of 2010 and is projected at 1.62 times. Although this is a major drop from the previous year, it is on par with the ratio of 2006, before the start of the employment boom of recent years. Furthermore, when compared to the 0.99 ratio of 2000, a year which marked the bottom of the employment ice age, the spring 2010 ratio is not worthy of the severe labeling as an employment ice age. There are corporations based on domestic demand that are increasing their number of job openings. Due to the continuation of a seller's market for students, there is a trend in which the opportunity exists to secure high-level professionals by medium-sized and small-sized firms which were not able to perform sufficient hiring activities. By avoiding excessive focus on the name recognition and scale of corporations and by expanding their options, it is possible for students to obtain job offers at quality corporations which fit the qualities of the individual students.

Employment Support

In addition to holding many events throughout the year to support career formation, the Career Center plans to provide even further support for the job-hunting activities of students. This year, 400 quality corporations of varying types have already been invited to directly visit the Waseda campus, and contact between students and corporations has been strengthened. Also, staff at the Career Center holds individual counseling for students. Approximately 7,787 students received counseling during the last academic year.

Please invite any students who are worried by poor progress in job-hunting activities to consult the Career Center.

University-Wide Number of Students Obtaining Employment-2008 Academic Year: Ranking by Corporation

Ranking	Corporation Name	Total	Male	Female
1	Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.	146	89	57
2	The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.	106	46	60
3	NTT Data Corporation	70	51	19
4	Hitachi, Ltd.	69	56	13
5	Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.	68	33	35
6	Canon Inc.	64	57	7
7	Sony Corporation	63	56	7
7	Toyota Motor Corporation	63	50	13
9	FUJITSU	60	47	13
10	NEC Corporation	59	43	16
11	Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation	58	33	25
11	Nippon Life Insurance Company	58	32	26
13	Nomura Securities Co., Ltd.	54	43	11
14	Sompo Japan Insurance Company	51	36	15
15	Tokyo Metropolitan Government Official, Class I	50	27	23
16	Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK)	48	33	15
17	Honda Motor Co., Ltd.	44	40	4
18	IBM Japan, Ltd.	41	27	14
19	National Public Employee, Class I	40	30	10
20	Daiwa Securities Co., Ltd.	39	28	11
20	Accenture Japan Ltd	39	29	10
22	Toshiba Corporation	38	26	12
23	Mitsubishi Electric Corporation	37	34	3
23	East Japan Railway Company	37	30	7
25	Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.	36	18	18
25	Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.	36	33	3
27	Special Wards (Tokyo 23 Wards) Employee	35	19	16
28	The Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company	34	23	11
28	Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd.	34	22	12
28	ABeam Consulting Ltd.	34	23	11
31	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.	33	26	7
31	Dentsu Inc.	33	23	10
31	National Public Employee, Class II	33	18	15
34	Recruit Co., Ltd.	32	15	17
35	Sharp Corporation	31	25	6
36	Resona Bank, Ltd.	29	20	9
36	Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation	29	13	16
38	TEPCO	28	21	7
39	Suntory Holdings, Ltd.	27	17	10
39	Mitsubishi Corporation	27	21	6

Path Taken by Graduating Student-2008 Academic Year (Undergraduate School)

No. of Reporting Students	Employment	Advanced Education	Foreign Study, etc.	Licensing and Certification Examinations	Other, Path Undecided, etc.
9,582	6,635	1,785	185	295	682
Ratio/Reporting Students	69.2%	18.6%	1.9%	3.1%	7.1%

(Percentage of students reporting path: 94.9%)

Path Taken by Graduating Student-2008 Academic Year (Graduate School)

No. of Reporting Students	Employment	Advanced Education	Foreign Study, etc.	Licensing and Certification Examinations	Other, Path Undecided, etc.
2,626	1,900	229	15	205	277
Ratio/Reporting Students	72.4%	8.7%	0.6%	7.8%	10.5%

(Only students who have completed Master's Program. Percentage of students reporting path: 89.5%)