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Soba restaurant in Japan struggles to find new employee, rewords job ad and offers flood in

Oona McGee Feb 21, 2020
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There’s one surprising aspect of working at a 120-year-old Japanese restaurant that has everyone wanting to work there.

When looking for an ideal job in Japan, or anywhere for that matter, there are a number of factors that potential recruits tend to consider. There’s the issue of remuneration, of course, along with other things like working hours, location, company reputation, and job satisfaction.

These are all things employers need to consider when placing job ads, and according to one specialist in the recruitment industry, the way you sell a job to potential new recruits can make all the difference between receiving no interested applicants and dozens of them.

The former editor of Japanese site Rikunabi Next, which specialises in company recruitment and career change assistance, recently pointed this out in a tweet that’s since gone viral on Twitter. The recruitment professional, who goes by the handle @damadama777 online, showed how a simple change in the wording of a job ad resulted in success for a soba restaurant who’d previously had no luck in finding a new employee.

本当にあった、
蕎麦屋の「そば打ち職人」の
求人広告のキャッチコピー。

掲載1回目
「創業120年、愛され続ける老舗です」応募０名
掲載2回目
「遠方からのお客様も多い人気のお店です」応募0名
掲載3回目
「一日中誰とも話さなくていい仕事」応募50名

→いい人が採用できました！本当にありがとう！

— 黒田真行◆採用100年史から読む人材業界の未来シナリオ (@damadama777) February 14, 2020

The above tweet reads:

“This is what happened in the case of a soba noodle shop who used “soba making craftsman” as the catch copy in their recruitment advertisement.
Their first ad read, “Work at a beloved, long-standing 120-year-old restaurant.” This resulted in zero applications.
The second ad read, “Work at a popular restaurant that atracts many customers from far away.” Again, zero applications.
The third ad read, “Work at a place where you don’t have to speak to anyone all day.” This resulted in 50 applications, and a suitable employee was hired. Thank you very much!”

In this case, the restaurant owner thought they needed to sell the reputation of their restaurant in order to attract interested applicants. However, as it turns out, job hunters are more interested in being able to envision what their day-to-day work life will look like rather than simply acquiring the prestige of working at an esteemed establishment.

It’s a point that a lot of people online could relate to, leaving comments like:

“The first and second ads are just unnecessary boasting so they’re totally useless.”
“It’s more important to know what you have to do at work rather than where it is.”
“By changing the wording they’re more likely to get someone with the quiet diligence required of a soba craftsman.”
“What a nice change from the usual employers who think about what they want rather than what they can offer the employee.”
“I want to work at a place where I don’t have to talk to anybody. Should I have been a soba craftsman?”

As some people now contemplate changing careers to enter the quiet days of soba-making, there are a lot of restaurants and business owners currently looking for staff who could learn a lesson from this success story.

It just goes to show how Japanese artisans and traditional industries often need to think outside of the box in order to keep their longstanding businesses alive in today’s modern world. Unless it’s a soba restaurant where the head chef develops a buckwheat allergy. Then it’s a sad day for everyone involved.

Source: Hachima Kikou
Featured image: Pakutaso
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