Full-Time Permanent Employee Job-to-Applicant Ratio Drops Below 1.0 for First Time in 5 Years, Yet SMEs Continue to Struggle with Hiring.

Guardian Inc. has released "SCSC Recruit," a subscription-based recruitment website service for SMEs facing hiring challenges. Starting at ¥0 initial cost and a monthly fee of ¥32,000, the service builds and operates recruitment sites that automatically link with Indeed and Google for Jobs. Although the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reports the job-to-applicant ratio for full-time employees has fallen below 1.0 for the first time in five years, surveys by Teikoku Databank show SMEs still face severe labor shortages. This is due to structural issues like low name recognition and the lack of a proper company recruitment site, which candidates now check before applying. With over 85% of job seekers finding job board information insufficient, SCSC Recruit helps SMEs build their own hiring platform without high upfront costs, reducing reliance on external job media.