The rapid spread of contactless communication driven by the COVID-19 pandemic has propelled society onto an unprecedented wave of digital transformation. However, are you aware that Japan simultaneously faces a shortage of engineers to support this transformation? Training engineers is an urgent necessity to keep pace globally and create a more convenient and comfortable society.
Supporterz, Inc., which boasts the top share in Japan for supporting new graduate engineer recruitment, is tackling this challenge head-on. We spoke with CEO Hiromitsu Kaede about the current state of the engineer market, training challenges, and future prospects.
Leaping Forward with Services Born from Respect for Engineers
Q. First, could you tell us what kind of business Supporterz, Inc. operates?
Kaede: Our main business is providing employment support for students studying information technology and those aiming to become IT engineers, alongside recruitment support for companies seeking IT engineering talent. We've built a database specialized for engineers. When members register with their profiles, employment conditions, and preferences, companies can scout them, leading to matches. We also support engineers' job hunting and recruitment in various ways: listening to individual needs for talent introductions, or inviting members to exclusive or private matching events based on their skills and attributes.
Thanks to our users, since our founding in 2012, we've provided recruitment support primarily in the IT sector, focusing on so-called mega-ventures. Our service has grown to be used by one in three students aspiring to become engineers. To date, we've supported over 70,000 engineering students in their job searches and assisted approximately 1,000 companies in hiring new graduate engineers.
Q. Could you tell us about the background behind your founding of Supporterz, Inc.? Since you're involved in engineering talent support, are you an engineer yourself?
Kaede: No, actually, I'm someone who gave up on becoming an engineer myself.
After graduating from university, I joined an advertising agency as a new graduate. Later, I transitioned to a company within the Dentsu Group handling media businesses, working in HR. Around that time, the iPhone was just starting to gain traction, and social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook were expanding rapidly. I could really sense the world shifting. I wanted to be on the side changing the world, so I tried learning programming, but I ended up failing. During that time, I was also deeply impacted by Mark Zuckerberg, who was my age, starting Facebook and influencing the world. That's when I started to truly respect engineers and programmers.
Furthermore, while working in HR, I saw firsthand how many information technology students possessed specialized skills and overflowing talent. Yet, I also realized that these incredibly capable people often ended up choosing jobs or careers within narrow fields simply because they lacked access to diverse information. I felt this was a tremendous waste. That's why, wanting to tackle this challenge not just as one HR person but by collaborating with HR professionals across many companies, I utilized our internal entrepreneurship program to propose the Supporterz, Inc. initiative.
Our company vision is "Increasing the Number of Cool Adults." We believe that "cool adults" – those with dreams and goals who strive to achieve them – will change Japan and the world. We founded this company driven by the desire to support the first step toward fulfilling the dreams of young people aiming to become such cool adults.
Supporterz, Inc. Hirokazu Kaede
A recruitment market competing for about 10% of top talent
Q. It's said that Japan faces a shortage of engineering talent. How is the situation surrounding engineers supporting Japan's digitalization changing?
Kaede: Speaking broadly about IT engineering roles, the job-to-applicant ratio exceeds 10:1. It's a situation where 10 companies compete for a single candidate. Furthermore, if we narrow it down to people who can handle specific programming languages, the job-to-applicant ratio is said to be as high as 50 to 1. These figures alone should give you an idea of how severe the talent shortage is. This situation is expected to worsen further; if nothing is done, the shortage of engineers is projected to double. It's no exaggeration to call this a societal issue.
To solve this, I believe it's crucial to shift our focus beyond just recruitment and adopt a perspective of "cultivating engineers." Just like crops—if you only keep harvesting, eventually there will be nothing left. First, you need to till the soil, sow the seeds, water and nurture them, and then harvest. But until now, it's been like everyone scrambling to grab a handful of the very few fruits available. The engineer shortage was bound to happen.
Q. So despite being specialized professionals, the system for nurturing them isn't well-established?
Kaede: Exactly. Of course, many companies invest in internal training to develop talent. But for engineers, the individual skill level is extremely important, and developing that talent takes considerable time. Traditionally in Japan, many companies hire generalists and have them gain experience across multiple departments to build their capabilities. But engineers are specialists, so I believe their recruitment and development methods should differ from generalists. That's why I strongly advocate to companies: "Understand the unique characteristics of the engineering profession and design your recruitment and development strategies accordingly."
Recently, we're finally seeing improvements in salaries and benefits, creating a more favorable working environment for engineers. However, the pool of talent remains small, leading to intense competition for top candidates. Recognizing this challenge and working to change the status quo is precisely what we at Supporterz, Inc. aim to achieve.
To acquire talent capable of driving DX, it's essential to understand the unique characteristics of the engineering profession and conduct recruitment activities tailored to them. Simultaneously, to fundamentally solve the talent shortage, the perspective of "cultivating" engineers is becoming increasingly important.
In Part 2, we'll hear in detail about the initiatives and future outlook for "developing engineers" that Supporterz, Inc., led by Kaede, is undertaking to change the current state of engineer shortages.
While attending Keio University, he co-founded Reseo Inc., a company providing job-hunting support. After graduating, he joined a major advertising agency, working in sales. He then moved to a venture company, worked in HR, and founded Supporterz, Inc. in 2012. Currently, while operating Japan's largest recruitment support service for engineering students, he also engages in development initiatives like the "Technical Education Project," which aims to cultivate future "technical" professionals. To date, he has supported over 70,000 engineering students in their job searches and assisted approximately 1,000 companies in hiring new graduate engineers.
