As the number of foreign nationals residing in Japan hit a record high of over 3.4 million in 2023 and employment-related visas are seeing significant growth, employers in Japan are facing increased competition for highly educated workers with advanced language skills.

As the largest job board for foreigners in Japan, GaijnPot’s data also shows a continuous influx of new bilingual candidates joining our database monthly, with an increase of 17.0% YoY in the number of native Japanese speakers registering in the candidate database in 2023.

Companies looking to hire global talent with high-level language skills have various platforms where they can advertise job opportunities. So objective data about the quality of potential applicants is essential for hiring managers who are trying to choose the most effective way to fill open positions.

GaijinPot Expo 2023 Attendee Survey Results

In this month’s marketing analytics feature, our team analyzed the survey results from attendees at GaijinPot Expo 2023, to see how this highly engaged pool of job seekers compare in terms of educational level and language proficiency.

GaijinPot Expo 2023, held on December 2, 2023, was the fifth edition of the leading showcase for companies and services looking to hire foreign employees in Japan.

The job fair and community event achieved record-breaking results, with over 35 exhibiting companies and foreign entrepreneurs and 822 attendees. The results below are based on 267 exit surveys conducted with event attendees.

Over 85% have a Bachelor’s Degree or Higher

Attendees at last year’s GaijinPot Expo, as a group, have a very high level of educational achievement, with over 85% having completed at least a bachelor’s degree.

Q: “What is the highest level of education you have completed?”

• Bachelor’s degree: 57.3%
• Master’s degree: 25.5%
• PhD: 3.0%

College educated, Fluent in English and Business-Level Japanese or higher: 20.5%

Attendees who have completed at least a Bachelor’s degree or higher and who indicated that they are fluent in English also had an impressive level of Japanese proficiency. 

About 33% of all exit survey respondents fall into this category, with 20.5% having at least business-level Japanese. The breakdown is as follows:

• Business-level Japanese: 11.4%
• Fluent Japanese: 4.5%
• Native Japanese: 4.5%

College educated, Native English and Business-Level Japanese or higher: 24.5%

Attendees who have completed at least a Bachelor’s degree or higher and who indicated that they are native English speakers have even higher Japanese proficiency, as a whole. 

About 41% of all exit survey respondents fall into this category, with almost a quarter having at least business-level Japanese. The breakdown is as follows:

• Business-level Japanese: 10.9%
• Fluent Japanese: 10.0%
• Native Japanese: 3.6%

Attendees have experience in a variety of industries from education to information technology

Though GaijinPot Job’s core strength is in the education sector, job seeker profiles are actually dispersed across the most popular industries among foreign job candidates in Japan, from information technology to sales and marketing and hospitality and tourism.

This was also true of people attending GaijinPot Expo 2023.

Q: What roles do you have professional experience in? (Multiple answers possible)

Here are the top ranking industries indicated by respondents (n=267).

Education	50.6%
Information Technology / Web	25.8%
Creative	23.6%
Marketing / PR	22.8%
Hospitality / Hotel / Restaurant / Tourism	22.5%
Sales / Business Development	21.3%
Localization and Translation	10.1%

Find the candidates your company needs

GaijinPot has been serving the foreign community in Japan for 25 years and enjoys high brand recognition and market penetration among resident foreigners. 

The GaijinPot Jobs database has more than 500,000 English-speaking and bilingual registered users, and about 17% of all resident foreigners in Japan are verified users of our resume bank.

We also deploy an omni-channel marketing strategy, including organic and paid search, content marketing, email and social media marketing and in-person events like GaijinPot Expo to continuously grow and engage with job seekers.

Are you trying to hire multinational employees?

If your company is looking to hire multinational talent, please contact the GaijinPot Jobs team to see how we can help.