The Growth of Each and Every Member of Our Corporate Staff Strengthens the Management of Recruit Holdings

Supporting key management decision-making and strengthening management.

I am now the head of both the Corporate Planning Department and the Treasury Department.

The Corporate Planning Department is responsible for: (1) planning and management of important themes to promote corporate strategies; (2) project management across the organization; (3) design and disclosure of the Group's corporate governance structure; (4) developing group-wide investment management policies; (5) supporting appropriate decision-making by orgizaniing the Board of Directors meeting and other important meeting, as well as information sharing among the group.

The mission of the Treasury Department is to realize optimal cash management by securing the funds necessary for business execution at any time, at low cost. Through both intercompany cash management and the capital markets. Specifically, we establish corporate finance policies, such as optimal capital structure and shareholder returns, and optimize cash management operations with treasury management systems while strengthening financial risk management, such as exchange rate fluctuations.

I believe both departments have essentially the same responsibilities, that is, supporting important management decision-making.

The current business environment is undergoing rapid changes both internally and externally, and there is increasing uncertainty about the future. Looking at the external environment, business confidence is deteriorating due to changes of monetary policies in various countries and the unstable international situation. Also, we are in the midst of major changes, such as the tightening of regulations on platform companies in various countries and the trend of ESG investments in the capital market. On the other hand, we are accelerating the global expansion of our business within the company, and our intra-group transactions are expanding rapidly as a result of collaboration between our HR technology business, staffing services business, and Matching & Solutions business. In addition, we expect to accelerate the challenge of new businesses, such as Fintech related services. In such a turbulent environment, management decision-making is complex and challenging, and the management may make a mistake in judgment if there is inappropriate or insufficient support from the corporate staff. In this situation, corporate staff must play important roles. I believe that it is necessary not only to support decision-making by executing regular operations, but also to become a sort of discussion partner for the management. In a certain situation, we may even be responsible for raising “a red flag” to ask the management to think twice before making the decision.

I joined the Company in 2013 and have been fortunate to experience major changes, such as IPO, globalization, and supporting two CEOs and their management team. During this time, I have been able to take on the challenges of finance, R&D, and various project management, while focusing on corporate planning. The constant opportunities to take on new challenges is one of the reasons I have been working for the Recruit Group. Above all, the mid-to-long term visionled by CEO Idekoba and COO Senaha is very attractive, and I would like to continue to firmly support the management team to realize the vision.

Create an organization with a high level of psychological safety where people can take on challenges without fear of failure, and secure opportunities for growth for all.

One of Recruit's most important values is “BET ON PASSION.” You may be surprised to find that when at work, you are often asked “What do you want to do on this matter?” by your supervisors or executives. It took me a while to get used to Recruit’s corporate culture, because I worked for a U.S. company before joining Recruit. The previous company had a top-down corporate culture. However, when I understood that this did not mean that I was being asked for the right answer, but rather that I should propose what I believe is the best for the company, I realized that I was being provided with a valuable opportunity for growth. Now, I think this is a wonderful culture where each individual's voice reaches management from the bottom up, regardless of their position, and the quality of decision-making is enhanced through frank discussions. Recruit's management team is young and close to us, and there are very few constraints or internal politics, creating an environment where things can move relatively simply and quickly. That is why I am convinced that management will become stronger if each corporate staff member thinks through what he or she thinks should be done in his or her own way and actively expresses his or her opinions, thereby increasing the number of situations in which he or she can give suggestions to management.

To this end, I recognize that my important role is to provide our members and new hires with the similar challenging work and growth opportunities that I myself have experienced so far. The more impactful the work of corporate staff is, the more stakeholders it must involve. It can not be completed by one person, and it requires project management skills. In such situations, your strengths in fixed relationships and the way you are used to doing things do not work. It is important to be able to gain experience working with a variety of people in a variety of ways daily.

In Recruit Holdings, we are currently working on a number of cross-organizational projects that transcend departments and national borders. We are able to provide growth opportunities that suit each individual by having them actively participate in non-routine projects according to each individual's aspirations. As long as you have the courage to challenge what you want to do, there are always opportunities for growth. Of course, there are also routine operational tasks that we must tackle as an organization, and these are equally important.

As an organization head, I try to be open with information, provide opportunities, and clearly communicate why this job was assigned now and what is expected of each mission that we entrust to our members. We strive to create an organization with a high level of psychological safety, where people can take on challenges without fear of failure, and thereby to have our members experience growth.

Both planning and execution are important at Recruit.
Build mutual trust with stakeholders and expand your network.

At Recruit, being headstrong is not valued at all. Nor is it valued in planning work or in operation work. In order to realize ideas more quickly and simply, it is important to have a concrete image of the business process and to involve others, sometimes even beyond the scope of one's own role. I think one of the characteristics of Recruit is that recognition is only accorded after you have realized both Planning and Execution.

This quality is represented by the words, “What do you want to do?” The basic premise behind this is that each person must think through “What should I do and why?” Working in such an environment, one inevitably begins to think from a perspective one or two levels above oneself, and becomes aware of the impact on other departments and on the business side. By switching between the two perspectives---the management perspective which looks at the entire project from a bird's eye view, and the onsite perspective which looks at the subject closely---the skills to improve the accuracy of the plan are naturally honed, and the network is expanded as mutual trust is built with the people involved in order to execute the plan.

Thus, the corporate culture unique to Recruit can be described as a system that encourages the growth of individuals as businesspeople, both in the way they work and in their evaluation perspectives. If interested in an opportunity to work in this unique corporate culture, please apply for an interview.