Ryoichi Nishizawa, CEO of NeoCareer Co., Ltd.　

We engage with people sincerely and carve out a path to the future.

Ryoichi Nishizawa, CEO of NeoCareer Co., Ltd.

■ Profile
He joined an investment company as a new graduate in 2000. In November of the same year, he co-founded NeoCareer Co., Ltd. and became a director.
He became president and representative director in 2002. He is developing a wide range of businesses, including support for new graduate and mid-career recruitment, engineer recruitment, nursing care and childcare services, and HR Tech, with the aim of resolving social issues related to people.

Neo Career Co., Ltd. boasts one of the highest growth rates in the human resources industry.
The company not only provides recruitment support to companies, but also offers a wide range of people-related services, such as employment support for job seekers and business support through outsourcing projects. We spoke to Ryoichi Nishizawa, Representative Director and CEO, about the company's founding and its business operations.

When I was a university student, I worked part-time at a video rental store. They were looking for opening staff for a new store in the area where I lived at the time, and I somehow became interested in the job. At the time, the store was open 24 hours a day, but there were no full-time employees working late at night, so I worked as a sort of assistant manager. Since there were no customers at night, I acted like a "mini-manager," analyzing the sales of movies, reviewing the displays, and creating product POPs. It was a lot of responsibility, but I enjoyed those four years.

I studied finance in college, so during my job search, I focused on the financial industry, including banks, securities companies, and life insurance companies. However, the financial industry at the time was heavily seniority-based, and it was difficult to even become a branch manager until your late 30s. I wanted to achieve the "three freedoms" by the time I turned 30: "mental freedom," "time freedom," and "financial freedom." To give specific examples of each, mental freedom means not worrying too much about others, time freedom means being able to travel whenever you want, and financial freedom means being able to act without worrying about money. Believing that the seniority-based financial industry would not provide me with these three freedoms, I aimed for a different industry. By chance, I received an offer from a venture capital firm that allows you to start a business in your first year. I was skeptical at first, but I believed that freedom cannot be achieved without taking risks, so I accepted the job.

■ Sharing success patterns is the first step to turning a profit

In November of my first year at the company, we decided to start a recruitment agency and recruitment media agency as a joint venture between our company, a recruitment agency, and a recruitment media company. We started the company with nine new graduates, including myself, but it was a series of hardships. From the launch in November 2000 to March 2002, we never made a profit and ended up with a deficit of 40 million yen. We ran out of capital, our salaries stopped, and the situation had worsened by the time the CEO left. Our team was made up of people who had graduated from university, so we worked hard, but we didn't even know what the cause of the deficit was. That was the situation we were in.
Among them, I was the only one who was making a profit in sales, so with the support of shareholders and members, I was appointed as the representative to replace the previous representative who had resigned.
In order to achieve profitability, I began by aligning the goals of the members, who were all scattered, by showing them the direction. From there, I imparted to them the successful sales patterns I had used. After one month, the company gradually began to turn a profit, and after a year and a half, it had eliminated the deficit.

■ Contrarian decision to protect employees

After that, sales and employee numbers continued to grow steadily each year, achieving operating profits of 2 billion yen and net profits of over 20 million yen. However, due to the impact of the Lehman Shock in 2008, the entire recruitment industry found itself in a situation where people were quitting on a weekly basis. However, in order to avoid laying off the employees who stuck with me even in such a situation, I decided to expand my recruitment business into rural areas where other recruitment companies had withdrawn. As a result, I was able to meet the demand for recruitment in rural areas and gain market share. It may be that coming up with a contrarian strategy in times of crisis can lead to the growth of a company.

■Establish a unique position through job advertisements and recruitment agency services

The human resources industry can be broadly categorized into various business models, such as recruitment introduction, temporary staffing, recruitment advertising, and recruitment agency services. Our company provides all of these services, but we are particularly proud of our top sales record in recruitment advertising. To put it in perspective, we are like a "recruitment advertising agency" that purchases recruitment media from companies like Mynavi and provides them to our customers. We are in a unique position within the human resources industry, with major companies like Mynavi becoming our clients.
In addition, in the area of ​​recruitment agency services, we also provide comprehensive support for the entire recruitment process, from accepting job applications to contacting applicants and final selection. What is particularly distinctive about this service is that it covers all the way up to the final interview, and we handle a wide range of recruitment, not only for new graduates and mid-career hires, but also for part-time hires.

■ People are what make the difference in business

Our company's purpose is "Faithfully engaging with people and carving out the future." While business models in the recruitment industry are not all that different, and there are some differences depending on the quantity and quality of media and the type of industry, I believe the biggest difference lies in the people. I believe that highly motivated people can provide high-quality service to customers. Naturally, customers will want to entrust their work to companies and people who are courteous and enthusiastic. Whatever your reason for working hard, as long as you are motivated and passionate, you will thrive in any environment. Our future goal is to become a company with operating profits of at least 100 billion yen by 2030. However, to achieve this, we need people in their 20s and 40s to play a central role. I believe that if people in their 40s are at the center of management, people in their 30s are at the center of business, and people in their 20s are at the center of the field, we can achieve sustainable business expansion. To achieve this, I encourage highly motivated people to join our company.

■ Thoughts are the key to changing your life

I hope that all students will feel as excited when they enter the workforce as they did at their university entrance ceremony.
Humans are thinking creatures. How we perceive things can greatly change our lives. In today's society, there is an overwhelming amount of information, making it difficult to make decisions and understand things. Even in such circumstances, I hope that you will be able to maintain a strong will and lead your life in a positive direction.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on May 3, 2024 by Ryusei Nishiyama, a fourth-year student at Musashino University