Campus Now
Midsummer Issue (Jul.)
- NEWS REPORT
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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% |
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% |