JAPAN TODAY


 

TOKYO - For a long time some companies have chosen to check out job candidates’ social media pages in order to find out more about the people they are considering employing, leading some people to create two or more accounts, with one specially sanitised for prospective bosses, using their social media-savvy skills to impress.

Now, this has gone one step further, with an increasing number of companies expecting candidates to show off their creativity and “unique talent” through the photo-sharing social media app and service, Instagram.

Two Tokyo-based companies, marketing company Liddell and interior designers and furniture makers KAJA Design are among the many Japanese companies starting to use Instagram as part of their employee recruitment process.

▼ Step 1: Follow. Step 2: Record. Step 3: Edit Step 4: Share.

 

From this year, Liddell have been using Instagram to whittle down the number of people applying to their “Influencer & Social Media Marketing” agency. Only those who pass this process will then be asked to send a resumé or C.V. and attend an interview.

Those interested in working for the relative newcomer, established in 2014, are asked to share a video or still images in which they sell themselves, showing the company why they would be the right fit. Videos are limited to only 15 seconds long, and up to four videos can be shared as part of an application.

Like work-related speed dating, a minute is a very short time to make an impression but the company hopes that the Instagram shares will showcase prospective employees’ creative talent. The still images or video can be edited as much as the applicant wants, with filters, text and even stickers being allowed.

Equally unusually, the company has chosen to communicate the success (or not) of those applications by direct messaging the applicant via the Instagram app. Those who are successful are invited to visit the company with C.V. in hand, and then they can attempt to work their way through the multiple interviews still required before actually getting the job.

If that still sounds like too long a process, Interior designers KAJA, with stores in Tokyo’s Kichijoji and Chofu, are running a similar recruitment campaign, but in this case the right Instagram photo can catapult you to the final interview.

▼ KAJA Design gave some examples of photos that show off a sense of style, even if only one contains furniture.

 

The company asks that you send them a screenshot of your Instagram account, with the user name clearly visible (presumably so they can check further), and the photo doesn’t need to have anything to do with furniture or interior design, as long as it shows off your sense of style. Suggestions include plants, pets or even selfies. As KAJA themselves say,

“You can’t get a sense of someone’s style with a C.V. or an interview”. Instead, they’re looking for an image which matches their own sense of style, whatever that might be.

While this kind of addition to the recruitment process might make sense for jobs like marketing and interior design where presentation is everything, the “Insta-view” is also expanding to other large companies, but for those of us who are neither photogenic nor artistic, there are still karaoke-based interviews.