This survey research report analyzes recruitment channel selection trends in companies and their underlying factors.
This survey was conducted to clarify how companies select and differentiate their use of recruitment channels, against the background of declining Hello Work usage (16% in 1991 → 18.2% in 2022) while private employment agencies are on the rise (0.9% in 2000 → 5.9% in 2022). The survey was conducted through four study group meetings, a questionnaire survey targeting 10,000 companies, and interviews with private job site operators.
Regarding companies' recruitment channel usage, the survey analyzed six channels: "Hello Work," "company websites," "job advertising companies," "recruitment agencies," "referrals/employee referrals," and "other private services." Hello Work has the highest usage rate at approximately 70% of all companies, followed by company websites (approximately 60%) and job advertising companies (approximately 50%). By company size, larger companies tend to use multiple recruitment channels concurrently, with companies over 1,000 employees using an average of 4.2 channels, while companies with 299 or fewer employees use an average of 2.5 channels.
Clear differentiation by type of talent recruited was confirmed in recruitment channel selection strategies. For core positions such as management and professionals, recruitment agencies have a high usage rate of 45%, while for young talent acquisition, job advertising companies (55%) and company websites (62%) are mainstream. For part-time and temporary staff recruitment, Hello Work (78%) and job advertising companies (65%) are central, while for spot work, usage of "other private services" (matching apps, etc.) has surged to 35%.
In recruitment channel performance evaluation, recruitment agencies received the highest ratings for recruitment success (satisfaction in both quality and quantity), with a success rate of 72% particularly for professional positions. From a cost-efficiency perspective, Hello Work and referrals/employee referrals excel, with recruitment costs approximately one-third of other channels. For recruitment speed, job advertising companies and "other private services" have advantages, achieving hiring decisions in an average of 1.5 months from recruitment start, about half the time of other channels.
Industry-specific characteristics show that IT/information and communications companies have exceptionally high usage of company websites (85%) and "other private services" (52%), while manufacturing companies have higher usage of recruitment agencies (38%) than other industries. Medical/welfare industries show high dependence on Hello Work (82%), while retail/service industries primarily use job advertising companies (68%). Regionally, urban areas show higher usage rates of private services, while dependence on Hello Work increases in rural areas.
Interviews with private job site operators revealed recent trends including rapid growth of "direct recruiting" services, improved recruitment efficiency through AI matching technology implementation, and an increase in industry/occupation-specific services. Changes in job seeker behavior indicate that smartphone-based job searching has become mainstream, with growing demand for rich content such as video content and employee interviews.
The article empirically demonstrates that companies' recruitment channel selection is strategically conducted based on factors such as the type of talent recruited, company size, industry, and region, and that understanding each channel's characteristics and selecting optimal combinations according to recruitment objectives is key to recruitment success.