Hiring based on actions rather than words
The Japan News（東京）（新聞）
From the start of this month, companies are officially allowed to begin making informal job offers to university seniors. While this year’s job market, some companies are turning to tools other than the usual written tests and interviews to discern candidates` potential. I went along to two such events ― mahjong and a riddle-solving game.
This summer, I heard that Kakehashi and Digital Hollywood University would be putting on a joint hiring event in the form of a problem-solving escape game, so I took part.
The participants were given about 40 problems, such as number puzzlers or finding words encoded among randomly arranged letters. The idea was that by solving all the problems they would successfully escape from the imminent danger of a giant meteorite colliding with the Earth.
The students and other participants were divided up into teams of four to five persons and evaluated on qualities such as mental flexibility, logical thinking and leadership. If they succeeded in correctly answering all of the problems within the one-hour time limit they would receive a high evaluation. On that occasion, the session was being held to help the students discover their own strength, but at the real event the winners would be exempted from first-round interviews at participating companies.