interview=Ken Mitsui | Text=Aya Rikitake | Photographs=Kohei Nishiyama
Toward a new world of human resources services looking 10 years ahead
Pasona Tech Vietnam Co., Ltd. provides comprehensive human resources services and BPO services primarily to Japanese-affiliated companies in Vietnam. With Japanese-affiliated companies' presence declining world-wide, what kind of support strategy has Pasona Tech Vietnam formulated and is implementing? We interviewed Mr. Seiichi Furuya, President of the company and found that he has a clear plan for the market 10 years into the future.
The beginning of their Vietnam business was a service that leveraged their own strengths
―Currently, your company offers a wide range of services, including staffing and placement highly skilled human resources, primarily focusing on Vietnamese individuals, as well as BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) and IT consulting, but initially, at the time of establishment, it started from the business of staffing and recruitment technical professionals?
At the time of our establishment, Vietnam had stricter regulations on foreign companies than today, and it was not easy to obtain licenses for business of temporary staffing or recruitment agency. On the other hand, we expected Vietnam to be a country with continued economic growth and high potential, thus we wanted to develop a business that was unique to our company, which led to the inception of our BPO business, utilizing talented IT engineers.
Our predecessor, CS Factory (which became Pasona Tech Vietnam in 2008), originally engaged in production management system businesses for factories, and Vietnamese CAD engineers could also take on Japanese projects. So, we initially started our operations with BPO.
Our entry into the recruitment agency business began in 2011. In line with the policy of strengthening the human resource business in Vietnam, I frequently traveled to Hanoi on a business trip basis, and in 2014 we started full-scale human resource business there. Thus, Pasona Tech Vietnam’s business began with a focus on BPO in the tech sector.
Seiichi Furuya"Always pursue services unique to their company and differentiate themselves in the HR field"
―What is the most focused initiative you are currently working on?
Our focus is on “Project-Based Recruitment,” or so-called RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) services. Currently, in Vietnam alone, there are 30 to 40 staffing and recruitment agencies operating in each of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Among these, we have initiated a distinctive HR service, known as “Project-Based Recruitment,” as a unique offering for our company.
This “Project-Based Recruitment” is a service in which our employees go into the client company and undertake the entire process from drafting a recruitment plan to selecting personnel, interviewing and hiring. Client companies tend to use standard recruitment content when they engage with multiple recruitment agencies, but this lacks the necessary and sufficient information for job seekers, and as a result, hiring mismatches are likely to occur.
With our “Project-Based Recruitment” service, we have an in-house recruitment marketing team dedicated to effectively communicating the company’s attractiveness and accurate information to job seekers through platforms like social media. We begin by crafting job descriptions based on a thorough understanding of the company and job roles, achieved through extensive consultations with the company’s human resources personnel. We are also flexible and can accommodate requests for creating job postings alone.
Vietnam’s economy continues to grow. For example, if a large retail store opens in Vietnam, it will be necessary to hire more than 100 people, and this need continues to grow as the chain expands. While this operation requires a significant amount of effort, Pasona values the human touch aspect of service and takes pride in being the only company in current Vietnam that offers a comprehensive service that handles all aspects of the hiring process.
―What are the benefits for users of “Project-Based Recruitment”?
The major advantage is the ability to hire efficiently by entrusting the hiring to a professional recruiter. We have a proven track record of high retention rates, and although there is a one-time cost compared to hiring completely in-house, we believe that the cost is well recovered as a result. In fact, among our many recruitment services, “Project-Based Recruitment” has an especially high retention rate.
In addition, the ATS (Applicant Tracking System/Interviewer Management System), which manages recruitment pages and applicant information created by our engineering team at the time of recruitment, remains in the possession of the customer after the service is provided. It can also be used as a management database for talented human resources. Therefore, even if a highly qualified individual did not get hired once, they can still be connected for the next opportunity of employment.
―What other areas are you focusing on?
We would like to evolve the ITO (Information Technology Outsourcing) business into the next generation. Currently, offshoring (overseas outsourcing) has the perception of outsourcing development overseas at low labor costs, but they are on rise in various countries. It is likely that this business model will eventually become difficult to continue and it is necessary to anticipate the development of a new business model. Therefore, we opened a center in Danang (Pasona DX Hub Danang) in June of this year as the cornerstone of our new ITO business. Fortunately, now-a-days we have low-code tools that allow us to create applications without advanced technology, and we use these tools to help our customers solve their problems. In terms of recruiting engineers, we plant to focus on hiring technically skilled personnel but also those who can apply their technical knowledge to solve customer’s challenges as consultant personnel. Additionally, we intend to invest in engineering talent development and strengthen our presence in the R&D field in the future.
Another strength is the connections between our group’s overseas bases. Recently, in collaboration with Pasona N A Inc. of the U.S., our recruitment marketing team and engineering team have begun offering website renovation and recruitment page creation services to improve recruitment efficiency for Japanese-affiliated companies in the United States. The recruiting pages are equipped with an ATS so that the management of job seekers can be done in-house. This service has led to a variety of HR-related consultations across countries and regions.
"The challenge for Japanese-affiliated companies is to strengthen their branding overseas"
―Vietnam is often seen as having a wealth of IT talent. Has DX (digital transformation) also advanced significantly?
From the information available about Vietnam in Japan, it is true that the country has an abundance of IT human resources, giving the impression of a DX advanced country, but in reality, DX in Vietnam is not yet well developed. It is said that there is a shortage of about 150,000 engineers in the country.
―Is the number of Vietnamese who want to work for Japanese-affiliate companies decreasing due to Japan’s declining international competitiveness?
Originally, Japanese companies did not have that much of a recruiting advantage in Vietnam, so the impact is mild compared to countries where Japanese companies would have been strong in terms of recruitment in the past. The presence of Japan in industries such as automobiles, motorcycles, electronics, electrical appliances, distribution, and retail remains high. Many Vietnamese people use Japanese-made cars, motorcycles, and beauty appliances, and the names of these manufacturers are well recognized, but working there is a different story. There is no corporate image of their favorite manufacturers.
In fact, even when there are events such as job fairs, in most cases, Japanese-affiliated companies only open one-off stalls and do not make a continuous approach. We believe that Japanese-affiliated companies need to strengthen their approach to bridge this gap in impression and create an image of “wanting to work for a Japanese company.” We are ready to support this point through our “Project-Based recruitment” service. We also undertake company briefing sessions on behalf of our clients.
By the way, Koreans are overwhelmingly strong in Vietnam when it comes to hiring at home appliance manufacturers. In South Korea, an organization called KOTRA (Korea Trade Promotion Corporation), which is equivalent to Japan’s JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization), has a system to introduce human resources free of charge, and also has its own recruitment system, such as strengthening industry-academia collaboration.
Among Vietnamese job seekers, those who are studying Japanese tend to choose Japanese-affiliated companies, while those who want to work in an English-based environment choose places to work from a wide range of countries. For Vietnamese job seekers, Japanese companies are just one of many foreign companies. I believe that many Vietnamese people aspire to work in Japan through the Technical Intern Training Program because it is nearby and considered a safe and secure option.
Although there may be changes in the trend of recruitment in the future, in order to increase their competitiveness in recruitment, Japanese companies will have to create sustainable business models and communicate how attractive their companies are.
―Lastly, what is your approach to future market prediction
The world will change dramatically in the next 5 to 10 years. As people, goods, money, and information become increasingly borderless, more business will be carried out overseas and cross-border than ever before. Technological innovation continues to advance, and we are entering an era where much can be solved with technology, such as AI, robots, and automation. At that time, the need for engineers will increase even more, so strengthening engineer training will be an essential initiative.
Looking at Vietnam alone, the retail, hotel, and food & beverage service industries will be even more exciting in the future. Recruitment will not only be a matter of attracting and introducing people, but also of raising the level of service and training personnel with a hospitality mindset. We would like to build an environment and system where personnel hired by Japanese-affiliated companies can take pride in their work.
Pasona Tech Vietnam Co., Ltd.
4th Floor, E.Town 1, 364 Cong Hoa Str.,Tan Binh Dist., Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
https://www.pasonatech.vn
Established in 2004. The company operates in 5 locations (Ho Chi Minh Head Office, Ho Chi Minh Satellite Office, Hanoi Office, Hanoi BPO Center, Pasona DX Hub Danang) and provide IT Solutions, BPO Solutions, and HR Solution.
2008: Joined Pasona Global
2010: Established the Osaka branch of the Global Business Division, which provides support for recruiting global human resources, mainly for companies in the Kansai area, and supports small and medium-sized businesses expanding overseas.
2014: Relocated to Vietnam to launch Pasona Tech Vietnam Hanoi branch. Took the role of branch management and handled recruitment, training, and BPO services sales for Japanese-affiliated companies in the northern region of Vietnam.
2017: Transferred to Ho Chi Minh City and assumed current position.
He is promoting challenges in new business fields, including management and new business development in the HR TECH field.
