Getting a job, fast and simple, with the push of a button: Q&A with Group President and CEO "Deko" Hisayuki Idekoba

Sure. I think I was an inconspicuous child. According to my parents, I was always doing the same things: running around on the block wall alone, pitching a ball at the wall for hours. I never found myself bored. My parents said that I seemed to be deep in thought a lot of the time.

For generations, my family has worked as roof tile makers in the countryside of Kagoshima Prefecture, which is located in southern Japan. When I was in elementary school, I sometimes helped my parents on my days off and got pocket money from my work. I was told to learn by observing the movements of good craftsmen, so I watched them closely.

Well, I was more interested in finishing my work as soon as possible. I carefully observed all the behaviors of good craftsmen, and discovered that the key to efficiency was their usage of the edge of the roof.

Sure. There's a difference in speed in cutting the tiles according to the size of the margin of the roof. The speed at which the tiles were sized depended on the craftsman: a skilled craftsman could crack the tiles with a hammer in about three seconds, while an ordinary craftsman would typically cut them with an electric sander^*1 in about ten seconds. As a child, I helped by going back and forth between the ground and the roof, cutting the tiles with an electric sander on the ground and then delivering them up to the roof.

Yes, it was. But even as a child, I wanted to be treated like a professional. I started drawing a temporary line on tiles, which allowed me to hold several pieces at once and become faster than the craftsman using the electric sander on the roof. I was about 12 years old then.

Not really. When I joined Recruit and worked as a salesperson, I remember disagreeing with a senior colleague about the necessity of writing a thank you card to a client after a client visit. I didn't understand its necessity and why we needed to spend our time on it.

Definitely. If someone says that something must be done in a certain way, I always wonder if it's true. I like to ask questions like: Is this scientifically verified? Why is it like this? Why is a person doing this? Or, if aliens saw us doing this, what would they think? And so on.

I actually wanted to get out of that environment. My father always converted everything he saw into the price of a single roof tile, which costs about 110 yen. So if there was something I wanted, he would tell me how much it was worth in tiles and then usually wouldn't buy it for me. I grew tired of the practice and that lifestyle, so I decided to attend university. My driving force at the time was to pursue a career or a line of work that made more money.

It wasn't really a business. Around 1997, my friend's parents wanted to make a website for their company, so I made one using a website builder. They gave me 50,000 yen for it. I was surprised at how much money I could earn, so I started making more websites. Running three web servers by myself, I eventually discovered how to display websites at the top of search engines through an optional fee, which improved SEO performance. I also set up a monthly running fee to maintain websites on behalf of their owners. It was a worthwhile investment for them, and today it's a common business practice.

There were none at all. And, at the time, there wasn't really a bigger purpose for me. I wanted to make some money, so I was just doing it by myself. Then the time came when I had to think about finding a job after graduation, so I went straight into the freshman recruiting period, which is common in Japan.

Yes. It was a time when the economy was stagnant, and it was difficult to find a job. At the time, it was impressive to get lots of job offers, if any. Like many people, I became absorbed in getting as many job offers as I could, without really considering if those roles were good fits for me.
During my job hunt as a new graduate, I remember being at the final interview stage with a certain company. I was told that they didn't think I embodied the enthusiasm to work in that industry. At that time, I was strangely convinced that I really didn't have the enthusiasm. Then, one day, I casually flipped through a recruitment brochure that I happened to have received.

Every single thing written in the brochure resonated with me, especially the question, "Have you ever wanted to make your own decisions?" It struck me, and I thought, "Yes!" I made a phone call to Recruit right then and there, scheduled an interview, and decided to join the company.

I did. I told everyone around me that I would quit after three years. But in reality, the number of users on Jalan Net increased and my work became so interesting that I didn't want to quit. However, around that time, I was diagnosed with peritonitis and had to be hospitalized for about three weeks.

I remember my doctor was very concerned for me, and said that I was wandering between life and death. The disease would not have been serious if I had properly taken care of myself on a daily basis. I asked him when I could return to my work. My team members were waiting for me, I told him. He grew angry, and said that I must reflect on my life. I decided to read books about philosophy and history while I was in the hospital.

For the first time, death became a part of me, and I began thinking about how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. If I had died then, I'm sure some of my colleagues would've said, "Thanks to Deko, the number of users of Jalan Net has increased." But I'd rather the people of the world say, "Thanks to Deko, this process has become more convenient, and has made my life better." Since then, I've decided to spend my time only on things that make me truly happy and make the people of the world happy. It's a feeling I've held onto for a long time now. I really think that everyone should pursue what they want to do and whatever makes them happy.

As a company, it is important to generate sales and profits to fund the things that make people happy. However, I think the essence of a company is whether or not it can make people happy. I think the role of the CEO is to coordinate across the company in order to maximize the value. In other words, Recruit Group is a group of people who work to help all people get jobs and help the enterprises in Japan work smarter. It's necessary to have a coordinator so that the group can produce the best results and make the world happy.

I don't know, I wouldn't say I'm spectacular at it. But I do recognize a sense that someone must do that kind of work. Since Recruit bet on my passion, it's my responsibility to produce results, so I work hard. And I know if I work hard, the results will follow. I've been working very hard in this infinite loop ever since I joined Recruit. But I do take care to focus on making our mission come true—not just increasing company value.

If a product has value, many people will want to use it. I think that fact alone is enough. On the same note, there is something wrong if people can't understand the results, which is why you must thoroughly explain them. And I know the results don't lie within me. I've always envisioned the final result as something that delivers a service that is widely used by many people.

I believe that if it doesn't, we're not truly striving toward Recruit Group's mission. I am not Recruit Holding's founder. I have only been able to use the assets of my predecessors, whether it be customer contacts, data, business models, or capital. It is my role and responsibility to build on those assets and deliver better services to billions of people.

I think it's important for all of us to ask ourselves, "Why did we join Recruit Group and what would we like to do?" It's my job to make the answer clear to our employees around the world. I'm trying to make it clear to my employees that when something is achieved, we can toast to it and celebrate together. To overstep language barriers, we're trying to convey these achievements and ideas through lots of imagery and pictures.

My interest in the HR industry was triggered by an experience in Jakarta around 2010. While there, I met a woman, a professional hitchhiker^*2 who carried a baby in her arms, and asked if there were any other jobs out there for her. She told me that she didn't know how to look for another job. In some countries, there were no jobs posted anywhere.

I thought, "This can't be good for the people or the economy of the country." At the time, I was in charge of looking for M&A opportunities at Recruit Holdings, so I had many connections with investors. There were many people who said that HR was not a sexy industry. It was too niche. But I thought it was very important for people to get jobs, and I thought this business was very meaningful.

However, when we wanted to provide services to more people at a low price, it was not realistic to deploy salespeople all over the world to collect job information, as was the Recruit way at the time. But I found that I could do this by using the search engine technology of the internet. That's how I fell in love with Indeed.

As we expanded our services to various countries, we were able to collect data and learn many things along the way. For example, more than 100 million of people will apply for dozens of jobs in a year, and most of them get no response.

Yes. For example, 1,000 people apply for a job at a restaurant in India. The restaurant doesn't have the resources to contact 999 people to tell them they're not hired, so those applicants don't receive a response. They never know if they've been rejected or not.

Actually, we know that if someone is unemployed for three months, there is a high possibility that the person will fall into poverty. That's why it's better to prevent this from happening.
There are many other parts of the job application processes like screening the documents, setting the interview date and time, interviewing the candidate, and so on, that take up a lot of time and resources not just for the employer, but for the job seeker. Every step requires patience and time, making it time-consuming to get from application to interview to finally being hired. In this way, there are various issues in each step.

That's right. Last year, Indeed launched Virtual Interviewing. When you look at each step of the hiring process in detail, there are many things that make you wonder, "Is this really the best way?" I believe that there are social issues that can be solved through technology to streamline these processes. As a benchmark, Recruit Group has decided to reduce the time to get a job by half by 2030.

From the product development side, it makes a big difference. On the other hand, from the user's perspective, both are important. Everyone is happier when they can find a job that suits them, right? If the job is right for you, you'll have a higher chance of making a decision that helps you get a job faster. That's why we are trying to develop a product that can recommend a job that suits each individual.

No, our AI technology will only recommend suitable jobs for the individual. It's up to the individual to decide whether or not to accept those recommendations.

That may be true. But if you look at it realistically, it is said that only 4% of people in the U.S. actually meet the recruiter who introduces the perfect fit job for them. I'd like to bring this kind of experience to as many people as possible. However, we can't just call billions of people and interview them in order to find their perfect fit. This is where technology can help automate the process.

That will be a consequence of how each individual uses the tools. Some people say that the internet and smartphones lack human warmth — but those technologies also bring the value of connecting with someone you haven't seen in years.

I think that human nature will not change so much. For example, I don't think we will have the same health management applications in 100 years from now, though I think there will still be people who eat too many delicious foods. The nature of human beings will not change — only the tools that surround them will change as technology evolves. And it is clear from history that the trend will be toward cheaper and more convenient products for more people.

Yes. Whether this tool is right or not is a question that cannot be answered at this time. However, I know for a fact that there are hundreds of millions of people who want to work but are unable to get jobs. If their unemployment status doesn't change for three months, there is a high possibility that they will fall into poverty. I would like to help develop a meaningful tool that prevents people from falling into this situation. I have a symbolic picture of a world where people can get a job as fast and simply as possible with the push of a button.

It's a niche thought, but I also think that we are the only company that can shorten the time to get hired by half.

It is because Recruit Group has lots of data to work with. I don't think any other company in the world is confronting this area at this scale — and that is why I think we should take the most responsibility. On the other hand, if the number of people who cannot find a job does not decrease over the next 10-20 years, that's on us. Even if we achieve a high growth of revenue at that time, I don't think that is so cool do I?. I don't know how close we'll get to reaching this goal, but I'm going to work hard to make it happen.