Sales and marketing professionals should see a much welcomed increase in hiring this quarter, predicts recruiting experts Hays in Japan.

The latest Hays Quarterly Report reveals demand for digital marketing experts, sales professionals in retail and business-to-business professionals (B2B) in smaller companies, which is set to rise over the April to June period.

“We saw a slowdown in hiring last quarter so the predicted increase in recruitment activity is hopefully a sign of a positive trend for sales and marketing professionals,” says Marc Burrage, Managing Director of Hays in Japan.

“The recruitment of digital marketing candidates has remained strong and will continue over the quarter. Companies across most sectors in Japan are making significant investment in developing their digital infrastructure generating increasing recruitment activity for talent with digital marketing skills.”

“Those highly skilled in using tools such as Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics to perform data analysis and data mining are always in high demand and this will continue over the quarter and beyond,” he says.

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Hays also predict strong demand for candidates with B2B sales experience as well as independent sales managers with entrepreneurial and bilingual skills. Most of the demand for independent sales manager roles is from companies with lower profiles looking to grow.

In retail, the opening of the urban development and shopping complex project, Ginza Six in Tokyo’s Ginza District has major fashion retailers on the hunt for quality in-store sales staff this quarter.

“Employers across all sectors continue to hire Japanese candidates with local professional experience for sales and marketing roles, rather than returning Japanese expats or overseas candidates,” Marc added.

On the candidate side, the region will see an increase in sales and marketing candidates undertaking MBA to advance their careers. Greater work-life balance continues to be a hook employers can use to attract the best talent. Candidates with English language skills are also looking for opportunities to use their language skills at work in the hope of securing a role with an overseas office in the future.

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