Finding a job in Japan as a foreigner can be challenging, but success stories like this one show that opportunities are growing every day. In this exclusive interview, we spoke with a person from The RCube Co., a restaurant management company in Japan, about how they successfully recruited talented foreign workers through Guidable Jobs. Their insights not only highlight the growing demand for diverse talent in Japan's hospitality industry but also provide valuable advice for anyone looking to kick-start their career in this exciting market.

Interviewee
Mr. Takuma Kobashi from The RCube Co.
The RCube Co. is a company which manages some restaurants. "Nikujiru Suigyoza Gyaopao Roppongi Kousaten", one of those restaurants, has been ranked number one restaurant in Tokyo on TripAdvisor, reviewed by over ten thousand customers on Google. Not only loved by the locals, but it also attracts many people from all over the world. The restaurant has a retro, lively atmosphere and is characterized by the close proximity between customers and staff.

Is this your first time using a recruiting media for foreign employment?
Yes, it is the first time. We had once considered hiring Vietnamese in 2016, but I've heard it did not work out very well.

What made you decide to start hiring foreigners? Is that because shortage of Japanese workers?
There are two reasons.
First is that hiring Japanese is becoming difficult. There were not many applicants for the jobs that were advertised for Japanese people. Even if there were applicants, we could not proceed to coordinating interviews for some reasons.
Second is that there are many customers from overseas. We were seeking for people who can talk with them about food allergies, dietary restrictions, payment options and etc.

Do you consider N3 or above to be the required level of Japanese?
As the standard, N3 or above is required. However, if they have not obtained N3, but we feel that they have no communication problems during the interview, we might hire them on the assumption that we will educate them when they join the company.

Have there been any episodes where you actually hired someone whose Japanese language skills were not that high and were unable to communicate well?
Basically, I don't think there are any communication problems. If I had to name one, we mainly use LINE for communication, but there have been instances where the shift supervisor and a foreign part-timer have had trouble communicating with each other, and the foreigner quit.
The problem there was the content of “I told you” or “I didn't tell you,” so it was something that would happen regardless of languages. However, this incident triggered a review to ensure that text messages should be left behind, rather than just ending with calls.

I often hear the opinion that foreigners are less punctual than Japanese. How do you manage with that?
There were cases where people gradually became accustomed to their jobs and became less punctual. There are two ways we respond to this.
Firstly, we have an allowance separate from the basic salary, but we set the condition that the employees must not be tardy or absent from work to receive it. Therefore, if they are even one minute late in a month, they will not receive their allowance for that month.
The other is more harsh. Some were late two or three times a week, so I told them that if they continued that, I would not make their shifts for a month and being late to work causes troubles. They understood and they now come to work with time to spare. So I did not have to take this suspension from work.

I see. Still, you are treating foreign workers just as same as Japanese ones.
Of course. They are members of our team. Though I do not say clearly, they understand what kind of person they should be while they work here.

If there is a foreigner who has been particularly active, we would love to hear their story.
It is difficult to extract and evaluate individuals. There are members who make sure that drinks are served smoothly in the backyard, and there are also members who prepare food in the kitchen while thinking about the order in which the food is served. Therefore, it is not always possible to evaluate only those whom I can see.
However, for simple way to evaluate, We have a fee-based system called “Fan Club Membership". Our customers who register in this club can review their experience. They only review when they are satisfied, so if there are many reviews about one person, that might mean the person is very active.

That makes sense.
We are very conscious of educating our people to increase customers' satisfaction.
We have a “pass management” program. For example, we have role-playing sessions in which we explain customers how to eat a dish, and if the employee is able to do so smoothly, they can stand in front of customers and serve the dish to them.
In that sense, all foreign workers can pass the test and serve meals to customers. Therefore, all of them are able to work well above a certain level.

I heard that Astha from Nepal (*who was hired through us) is highly regarded. How about her?
Not only Asta, but also the Filipino who recently joined us has been very active. Both of them are often named in reviews on TripAdvisor and Google, and we often see people say that they repeat their visits because of the good service.
In other cases, we have overseas customers who become paying members and introduce us to their friends. I have also seen them tell their friends that “This is a very nice restaurant and the customer service is very good". I think this is one of the results of our successful multilingual service.

I would also like to ask you about turnover. What do you think is the kind of environment that makes them want to keep working?
One is to communicate directly and firmly. Also, don't try to be too efficient is important. Well, this is a case where our company failed. Thanks to Guidable Jobs, we were able to hire many foreign workers, but we still faced the issue of training after hiring.
First of all, we considered whether it would be possible to reduce the amount of time spent by the employees on the training. When we first began training, we thought that simple customer service responses such as “Where is the smoking area?” and “Where is the restroom?” could be handled without direct instruction by employees. So when asked these questions, we have tried the method of having them watch a video of themselves modeling how they would respond, then role-playing it, and then filming and uploading it.
As a result, it did not work well. The newcomer spent too much time on a single theme or tried too hard to say every word exactly as in the model video occurred. Two left the company because they thought, “I can't speak Japanese well” or “This job is quite hard.”
So we changed the method, and once again changed the training to role-playing with two senior employees. This also gave us the opportunity to give immediate feedback that even if the Japanese was not perfect, it was okay because the customer could understand it. We found that it led to peace of mind for foreign workers as well.

Do you plan to continue to offer multilingual support by hiring foreign workers?
That's right. In our monthly sales, the ratio of Japanese customers to foreign customers is about 5:5. On some days, nearly 80% of our customers are from overseas, so we plan to hire people who can speak multiple languages.