Job Hunters in Japan Drawn by Sony’s Tech Prowess Updated in September 2020

Sony and Ajinomoto were popular choices in a poll asking Japanese students where they would like to work, especially among those specializing in science.

In the annual Mynavi and Nihon Keizai Shimbun popularity rankings of Japanese companies among job-seeking university students, the travel business conglomerate JTB came first among liberal arts students for the second year running, while Sony was the most popular choice among science students for the fourth consecutive year. The online survey, which polled students who expect to graduate in March 2021, asked them to name the top five companies they would most like to work for and say why. There were 30,630 valid responses.

The top three companies named by liberal arts students were the same as in last year’s survey. Oriental Land, operator of the Disney theme parks in Japan, took fifth place, up from the twelfth place spot last year. Furniture and home accessories retailer Nitori rose from fourteenth to ninth place, making it into the top 10 companies for the first time since 2012.

Sony and Ajinomoto were the two top choices among science students for the fourth consecutive year. These firms also enjoy solid popularity among liberal arts students, who rank them among the top 10 on their list.

	Overall (Liberal Arts Students)	Overall (Science Students)
1	JTB	Sony
2	All Nippon Airways	Ajinomoto
3	Tokio Marine & Nichidō Fire Insurance	Fujitsu
4	Japan Airlines	Suntory
5	Oriental Land	Toyota
6	Itōchū	NTT Data
7	Sony	Kagome
8	Ajinomoto	Shiseido
9	Nitori	Meiji Holdings
10	Sony Music Entertainment Japan	Hitachi

Created by Nippon.com based on data from the Mynavi/Nikkei 2021 popularity rankings of Japanese companies among job-seeking students graduating in 2021.

Female liberal arts students favored companies in the travel, transport, and hotel operation fields, demonstrating their desire to travel to far-off places or enjoy out-of-the-ordinary experiences. Female science students, on the other hand, tended to have more down-to-earth aspirations such as making everyday life more enjoyable and thus ranked food and household goods manufacturers among their top 10 choices.

	Female Students (Liberal Arts)	Female Students (Science)
1	JTB	Ajinomoto
2	All Nippon Airways	Kagome
3	Japan Airlines	Shiseido
4	Tokio Marine & Nichidō Fire Insurance	Meiji Holdings
5	Oriental Land	Suntory
6	Shiseido	Morinaga Milk Industry
7	H.I.S.	Megmilk Snow Brand
8	Plan Do See	Kose
9	Sony Music Entertainment Japan	Kewpie
10	Ajinomoto	House Foods

Created by Nippon.com based on data from the Mynavi/Nikkei 2021 popularity rankings of Japanese companies among job-seeking students graduating in 2021. Blue highlighting indicates firms in travel-, transport-, and hotel-related businesses.

Sony, in first place last year among male liberal arts students, ranked second this year. When selecting a prospective employer, these students tend to look for a company that is an “industry leader,” that offers “stability,” or that “has a promising future.” In addition to these reasons, those who chose Sony said they wanted to work for “a company with solid technology.” Its recruiting slogan for new graduates, “Come seek adventure and change your world and Sony’s,” offering the prospect of creating something new, may have struck a chord among liberal arts students with an adventurous bent.

	Male Students (Liberal Arts)	Male Students (Science)
1	Tokio Marine & Nichidō Fire Insurance	Sony
2	Sony	Fujitsu
3	Itōchū	Ajinomoto
4	JTB	Toyota
5	Toyota	NTT Data
6	JR East	Hitachi
7	All Nippon Airways	JR Tōkai
8	Ajinomoto	Panasonic
9	Nitori	Sky
10	Suntory	JR East

Created by Nippon.com based on data from the Mynavi/Nikkei 2021 popularity rankings of Japanese companies among job-seeking students graduating in 2021.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)

Contributed by Nippon.com