New Job Hunting Site for University Freshmen and Job Hunters "CareerPod" released.

Concord Academy Corporation (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Chairman & CEO: Hidekazu Watanabe; President & CEO: Yoshihiro Takamatsu), a company that supports students' career development, has released "CareerPod," a new job hunting site that can be used by students from first-year university students to job hunters.

The service site can be found at: https://careerpod.jp/

CareerPod service site

Background of the launch of "CareerPod," a new slow job hunting site

Concord Academy was established with the hope that "we want students to seriously confront their careers from an early stage and pursue careers that will make their dreams and aspirations come true.

Career planning is an important theme for anyone to lead a fulfilling life.

However, in the current Japanese educational environment, there are few opportunities to learn about career planning in a systematic manner. As a result, many students end up deciding where to work without knowing "what kind of work I want to do" or "what career options are available to me."

At the same time, there are many cases in which students suffer from a skills gap after joining a company because they did not acquire the necessary skills and mindset for work during their school years. Many students are unaware of the true joy of work, which is "the pleasure that comes from being useful to others and society," and view work simply as "labor in exchange for money."

As a result, the unfortunate situation in career development has persisted for more than 25 years (*), with the problem that "about 30% of new college graduates leave their jobs within three years" remaining unresolved.

In order to change this situation in Japan, "CareerPod" conveys knowledge so that students can learn career planning from their first year of college, and provides opportunities to find a career path that will help them realize their dreams and aspirations.

*Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare website, "Job Turnover Rate within 3 Years of Employment by Educational Background".

https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/11805001/001156476.pdf

Overview of CareerPod

Four steps of "slow job hunting" proposed by CareerPod

Recommendations for "slow job hunting" and "preparation for entering the workforce

CareerPod is a new job-hunting website where you can learn the basics of career planning, and it can be used by everyone from first-year college students to job hunters. The site supports "slow job hunting" and "preparation for entering the workforce" to help each individual achieve the career they desire.

In the past, most students would start thinking about the industries and companies they want to work for in a hurry after they became job hunters.

Slow Job Hunting" advocated by Concord Academy is a new style of job hunting, in which students carefully consider their life and career from their first or second year of university, find a job they want to do, design their career, and choose a career path.

We believe that CareerPod will enable students to start a richer career by helping them to enhance their career aspirations and work resolutions before they begin their job search.

It is also important for students to acquire the qualities required of working adults while they are still students, in preparation for entering the workforce.

Participation in long-term internships is a valuable opportunity for students to acquire "basic business skills" and "preparedness to work collaboratively. By gaining this kind of experience, students will have a better chance of playing an active role earlier after joining the company and will be able to start their careers in a more fulfilling state. Furthermore, for employers responsible for training new graduates, being able to hire people with business experience before they join the company will be a great benefit.

"CareerPod" encourages students to participate in long-term internships as an opportunity to prepare for entering the workforce, and provides information on available positions.

■Concept is a "Relaxing Book Cafe"

A book café that serves as the stage for CareerPod's services

The concept of the CareerPod site is a "relaxing book café." Students can spend time to contemplate themselves, just as if they were concentrating on work or reading at their favorite café. The site is designed to make the seemingly difficult topic of careers accessible to first-year college students who are not yet interested in their future and students who are not yet ready for the job hunting process.

Visitors to the site can smoothly find content related to the industries and topics they are interested in, just like picking up a book of interest from the bookshelf of a book café.

■ Four features of "CareerPod"

(1) Students can learn from career planning

Many students choose careers based on name recognition, annual salary conditions, and public image, without fully considering what they really want to do. However, it is impossible to design an appropriate career without facing one's own sense of values.

In the "CareerPod," Hidekazu Watanabe, Chairman and CEO of Concord Academy, explains career design in a way that even first-year university students with no business knowledge can understand, based on the career design classes he gave at the University of Tokyo.

(2) Systematically learn about jobs and industries

Until now, job-hunting websites have emphasized the number of PVs, resulting in a myriad of articles scattered throughout the site, making it very difficult for students to know what to read.

Therefore, CareerPod has prepared a systematic collection of content to provide students with the necessary and sufficient knowledge about jobs and the industry. Each content is visually presented as a book, with multiple articles, each starting with the first article, in a lecture format that allows students to deepen their understanding of the topic in a step-by-step fashion.

Students who visit the site can learn the insights they need without getting lost in the site.

CareerPod Contents

(3) Carefully selected long-term internship information is available

Participating in a long-term internship allows students to acquire basic business skills such as research and document preparation. You can also learn how to work with others, how to keep learning with an open mind, and how to accomplish tasks entrusted to you.

CareerPod provides information on excellent long-term internship opportunities that allow students to acquire these skills and experience "completely free of charge." By carefully selecting and introducing internships that students can take on with confidence, CareerPod supports career development.

(4) We can provide a solid job-hunting strategy that is not based on petty techniques.

Even if you have found the job you want to do and have decided on the company and industry you want to work in, you will not be able to start the career you have designed unless you receive a job offer. CareerPod provides easy-to-understand explanations of the preparations you should make during your job hunting activities so that your career plan does not end up being a "cake made out of a picture".

Information on job-hunting websites and social networking sites tends to focus on techniques and job-hunting strategies. However, job hunting is essentially a valuable opportunity for students to grow. To give an example, in group discussions, "the ability to collaborate with those around you" is looked at. It is a unique experience for students to deeply reflect on the impact of their words, actions, and behavior on others.

CareerPod provides students with a solid job hunting strategy to help them grow significantly through their job hunting activities by unraveling the essence of what is required of them to become a member of society.

Service Logo

CareerPod service logo (left) and Concord Academy corporate logo (right)

Comments from Hidekazu Watanabe, Chairman of the Board

People spend most of their lives at work. "Career planning" is an important theme for anyone who wants to lead a fulfilling life.

However, in the Japanese educational environment, there are few opportunities to learn about career planning. As a result, many students begin job hunting without fully considering what they want to do, find a job with inadequate preparation for entering the workforce, and leave their jobs early. This situation, which is unfortunate for both individuals and companies, has continued for more than 25 years.

We launched CareerPod, a career education platform, to address these issues related to career development.

Career design has the power to transform Japan into a prosperous society. If more people become mentally and financially fulfilled through career planning, it will be of great significance in revitalizing Japan.

We hope to work with business leaders and companies to create a society that is full of such richness of life, where people can make those around them happy through the work they love and create a better society.

Hidekazu Watanabe, Chairman of the Board

Graduated from Hitotsubashi University, Faculty of Commerce, Mr. Watanabe founded Concord Executive Group, Inc. in 2008 and was appointed as President and CEO. He has a strong track record of career change from consulting to PE fund, management executive, and entrepreneur. He was the first MVP in the consulting category of the "Japan Headhunter Awards." His book "Career Classes to Create the Future"  was selected as a textbook for a career design class at the University of Tokyo.

Comments from Yoshihiro Takamatsu, President and Representative Director

Many students may think that "college life is a summer vacation of life, and working life is a time of endurance." However, in the age of 100 years of life, is it happy to live patiently for the remaining nearly 80 years of one's life after graduating from college?

Will it lead to happiness to work at a job that meets the expectations of parents and others around you?

I believe that happiness in life is to be able to engage in one's activities, including work, with a sense of fulfillment and an awareness that one's activities, including work, are making society a better place.

In order for each individual to lead a fulfilling life and for Japan to grow, we need to increase the number of individuals who find what they love and are passionate about from the career planning stage and engage in diverse activities with high motivation.

Concord Academy aims to create as many such self-motivated leaders as possible in Japan through career design opportunities.

Yoshihiro Takamatsu, President and Representative Director

Born in 1999. Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Economics, Department of Business Administration. After entering university, he was involved in the development of a genome business at a medical business company for about six months while playing in the university's athletic golf club, and was also involved in the start-up of a career support service for overseas students, serving as leader of several projects.

In his second year of undergraduate school, he founded Concord Academy, Inc. (formerly Pyxida, Inc.) and serves as its representative director.

About Concord Academy, Inc.

Company name: Concord Academy, Inc.

Representative: Hidekazu Watanabe, Chairman

President and Representative Director: Yoshihiro Takamatsu

Establishment: March 2020

Location: Otemachi Financial City Grand Cube 18F, 1-9-2 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-0004 Japan

Company website: https://concord-academy.co.jp/

Click the link below for the CareerPod site

https://careerpod.jp/

About the "CareerPod" listing

Concord Academy, Inc. is recruiting companies to post on CareerPod.

If your company is interested, please contact us through the inquiry page below.

https://careerpod.jp/contact