Hiring in Japan operates within a distinct labor market. Domestic talent pools remain competitive for mid-to-senior roles, particularly in technology, finance, and manufacturing. Hiring managers face friction: limited English proficiency narrows candidate pools for global-facing roles, work-visa sponsorship adds administrative weight, and cultural expectations around employment stability mean candidates often move cautiously between employers. Recruitment timelines stretch longer than Western markets due to formal interview processes and consensus-building norms. Raffi, an agentic AI recruiter, integrates into your existing workflow in Japan. The platform conducts interviews entirely in Japanese or English depending on your job posting language, reducing early-stage screening burden. Candidate conversations happen asynchronously; Raffi captures structured feedback and flags qualified applicants for your review. The system anchors all compensation in JPY and respects Japanese employment frameworks—visa sponsorship tracking, probationary period norms, and local compliance checkpoints are built into workflows. Raffi connects directly to Workable if that's your ATS, and syncs interview scheduling through Google Calendar to avoid double-booking. You control every step. Raffi only interviews candidates who actively apply to your jobs—no passive sourcing, no global talent scanning. It reduces time-to-qualified-applicant by handling repetitive screening calls so your team focuses on final-round conversations and offer decisions. For hiring managers in Japan facing bandwidth constraints and cultural fit complexity, Raffi absorbs the procedural load while you drive the hiring judgment.
6
Cities supported
30+
Candidate interview languages
<24 hrs
Application to first contact
Raffi calls every applicant for a 10-15 min structured interview. Not just the top 5 résumés — every one. Result: nobody good slips through.
Conversational AI interview, rubric-anchored scoring, transcripts you can read. You get a top 3-5 shortlist while competitors are still scheduling first-rounds.
SaaS pricing from $199/mo. No 15-25% of first-year salary, no per-hire kickback. Cancel anytime.
Japan's labor market shows sectoral divergence. Technology and healthcare roles remain undersupplied, driving salary growth and sponsorship appetite. Manufacturing and logistics face structural headwinds from demographic shifts and reshoring pressures. Financial services remain stable but cautious on headcount. White-collar roles in metro areas—Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya—see stronger candidate flow than regional postings. Blue-collar sectors struggle with aging workforces and limited inbound migration even as visa programs expand. Remote-first hiring has loosened geographic constraints slightly, but domestic-hire bias persists in conservative industries. Work-permit sponsorship appetite varies sharply: tech and healthcare hire sponsored talent readily; traditional sectors remain hesitant. Wage inflation is modest by global standards but real in technical disciplines. Retention expectations remain high—candidates still expect longer tenures and visible career progression within a single organization.
Hiring in Japan requires explicit work-permit planning. Most non-Japanese nationals need sponsorship; visa categories (Highly Skilled Professional, Intracompany Transfer, Engineer/Specialist in Humanities) carry specific salary and qualification floors. Language proficiency expectations vary: Tokyo tech firms increasingly accept English-primary candidates, while traditional corporates and regional employers expect N2+ Japanese. Job boards and channels differ markedly from Western markets; LinkedIn penetration is lower among mid-market candidates. Salary norms anchor in JPY with clear regional variance—Tokyo commands 20-30% premiums over regional centers. Cultural hiring cadences emphasize long interview cycles, formal assessments, and consensus sign-off. Employment is heavily regulated; probationary periods, dismissal thresholds, and benefits structures follow strict labor law. Candidates expect clear promotion pathways and often prioritize stability over aggressive compensation.
Raffi's structured interview format and rubric-based scoring is designed to meet anti-discrimination standards in Japan. AI use is disclosed to every candidate, and human review of every hire decision is built in.
Candidate transcripts and recordings are stored with consent, candidate-accessible, and removable on request. Per-country data residency available on Growth plan.
Yes. Raffi operates in 30+ languages and supports candidate calls in any timezone via self-booking — there's no per-country integration. If you can post a role from Japan, you can run Raffi from Japan.
Raffi is calibrated against the major AI-in-hiring frameworks (EU AI Act + NYC Local Law 144) and discloses AI use to every candidate before the call. For Japan-specific work permits and right-to-work checks, those happen outside Raffi — we screen, you verify eligibility before extending an offer.
Most non-Japanese nationals require visa sponsorship to work in Japan legally. Sponsorship eligibility depends on the visa category (e.g., Engineer/Specialist in Humanities, Highly Skilled Professional); each has specific salary minimums and qualification benchmarks. Your HR/legal team should confirm eligibility before extending an offer. Raffi's workflows include checkpoints to flag sponsorship requirements early.
Japanese remains standard for domestic candidates and conservative industries. English is increasingly viable for tech, finance, and startup-stage roles, especially in Tokyo. Bilingual postings expand reach. Raffi conducts interviews in your posted language, so choose based on your actual labor pool and role requirements, not assumed norms.
Expect 6-12 weeks from posting to offer, compared to 4-8 weeks in North America. Japanese hiring emphasizes multiple interview rounds, formal assessments, and internal stakeholder consensus. Candidate availability is often constrained by notice periods (typically 1-3 months). Raffi accelerates screening stages so you move qualified candidates into decision rounds faster.
Agentic recruiting is recruiting done by an AI agent that takes action on your behalf — not a chatbot or résumé summarizer. Raffi calls every applicant for a structured 10-15 minute interview, scores them against your rubric, and hands you a ranked top 3-5. The work happens autonomously.
Most agencies charge 15-25% of first-year salary as a placement fee — a $90k hire runs $13-22k. Raffi is SaaS at $199-599/mo plus per-action credits, typically landing under $10k/year for a team hiring 12 people. Same shortlist quality, no placement contract.
About 25 minutes to onboard, post your first role, and have Raffi ready to interview applicants. No engineering work, no integration project. Connect your work email, paste a JD, you're live.
Free $25 starter credit. No credit card. Screening live by tonight.