TILT CAREER

  "Toyota's People Development That Akio Toyoda Values Most" (Published by President Inc.) The release date was May 27, 2025. I bought and read it right away. The book gives a detailed account of the Toyota Technical Skills Academy , an in-house school run by Toyota.   As a career consultant, I have a deep interest in the advanced approach to career education in Nagoya. Career education begins as early as elementary school, likely due to the large number of major manufacturing companies in the Tokai region. This environment fosters a culture where children aspire to become technicians or engineers from a young age. At the center of this culture, naturally, stands Toyota.   The Toyota Technical Skills Academy is a school independently established by Toyota. Company-run schools are quite rare, and I imagine many people are unaware they exist. The academy has two educational tracks: a high school-level department where students enroll at age 15 and attend for th...

The revised Childcare and Caregiver Leave Act came into effect on April 1. This section focuses on caregiving, and the main changes are as follows: Relaxation of eligibility requirements for caregiving leave → Previously, employees with less than six months of continuous employment were not eligible for caregiving leave. This restriction has now been removed. From the moment of hiring, employees can take caregiving leave. Workplace environment development to prevent employees from quitting due to caregiving → Employers are now required to provide training for employees about caregiving-related systems and to promote the use of such systems through awareness campaigns. Individual notification and confirmation of intention to use caregiving systems → Employers must now individually inform employees facing caregiving responsibilities about the available systems and confirm their intention to use them. Additionally, e...

 My late father had a physical disability. In his prime, in his 40s, he began experiencing health problems and eventually ended up in a wheelchair. As a child, I couldn’t comprehend the profound life transition that occurs when someone who was once able-bodied becomes disabled. But now, I often wonder what was going through his mind during that time. In any case, he continued working until retirement and supported our family. While people with disabilities are often regarded as “weak” in society, at home he was a stubborn and intimidating father—someone none of us dared to defy. Because of that, I’ve never strongly associated disability with weakness. Starting in fiscal year 2026, the legally mandated employment rate for people with disabilities in private companies in Japan will rise to 2.7%. This statutory employment rate began increasing rapidly in the 2010s, when Japan’s labor shortage became more pronounced: 2.0% (2013–2017) → 2.2% (2018–2020) → 2.3% (2021–2023) → 2.5% (2024–...

 When you take a training course to become a career consultant  in Japan, you learn about the effectiveness of the Self-Career Dock system and acquire the skills to passionately explain its value. However, it's still hard to say that the concept is widely recognized. According to the 2023 Basic Survey on Human Resource Development by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, only 41.7% of companies have introduced the system. In reality, public awareness seems to be lower. Even if the system is introduced into companies, it may be not being used. The other day, I had the rare opportunity to hear from an HR representatives at a certain company that is actively implementing the Self-Career Dock system. Many career consultants may be able to guess the company name, but here I’ll just refer to it as “a certain company.” It’s a retail company with around 4,000 employees. Currently, it has 10 in-house career consultants who conduct career interviews based on employees’ age mile...

  On April 22, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare issued a press release titled “On the Use of AI at HELLO WORK as Looking Toward the Future.” Initially, starting in this fiscal year (FY 2025), AI will be trialed at 10 HELLO WORKs across Japan. The aim is to assess the potential of AI in performing job placement services, which have traditionally been carried out by humans. When thinking how deeply AI has become embedded in society, it seems to be natural that HELLO WORK would consider making use of it.   Limiting the trial to just 10 locations feels narrow—I can’t help but think it would be better to conduct it nationwide, across all 544 offices. Even if it’s just a pilot program, large-scale data inputs would provide clearer insight into AI’s effectiveness. But, anyway, it must be a positive step forward.   While AI can be applied to various tasks, its most meaningful use at HELLO WORK will likely be in matching job seekers with employers. That is apparent...

  In career consultant training programs, various assessment tools (psychological tests) are introduced and their usage is taught. Among the most well-known are VPI (Vocational Preference Inventory) developed by Holland and GATB (General Aptitude Test Battery) developed by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. When you actually take one of these assessment tools for yourself, you may be surprised or enlightened—"So this is my personality?" or "I have this kind of aptitude?"—or even find yourself reacting with skepticism, saying things like, "No way!" Either way, it provokes a range of responses. Thus, learning about assessment tools in career consultant training programs is positioned as a way to support “self-understanding.” But they are strictly considered support tools. That’s why the training emphasizes not placing absolute trust in the results. You're also taught to always confirm whether the client—who is the one taking t...