Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, to Promote Community-Wide Recruitment Activities. Official Job Site "Suzuka de Hatarakko!" Fully Renewed, Receiving Multiple Applications from Job Seekers in Two Months

General Incorporated Association Wakuwaku Switch (Headquarters: Yokkaichi City, Mie Prefecture, Representative Director: Norikazu Nakamura) and its partner company, Regista Inc. (Headquarters: Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, President: Nobuyoshi Chiga), have fully renewed the "Suzuka de Hatarakko!" website. This initiative redesigns the recruitment system from individual company efforts to a community-wide approach, with the local government taking the lead and regional companies participating in a common platform. In approximately two months since the renewal, we have received applications from multiple job seekers.

Click here for Suzuka de Hatarakko!

"Youth Outflow" and "Structural Recruitment Challenges" Faced by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Region

Currently, the outflow of young people to urban areas is a serious issue across Japan. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' "Basic Resident Register Population Movement Report (2025 Results)," the Tokyo metropolitan area recorded an excess of 123,534 people moving in, with the largest age group being 20-24 years old. Mie Prefecture also saw an overall excess of 5,986 people moving out, with approximately 40% of those being in the 20-24 age group, indicating a situation where the outflow of young generations cannot be stopped.

Amidst a declining population, small and medium-sized enterprises in the region are suffering from chronic labor shortages. Even if individual companies put significant effort into recruitment activities on their own, they are currently unable to secure talent as desired because they are compared to companies in urban areas or large corporations in terms of name recognition and salary conditions.

Source: Basic Resident Register Population Movement Report, 2025 (Reiwa 7) Results, Recruit Works Institute "Works University Graduate Job Opening Ratio Survey." The job opening ratio for small and medium-sized enterprises with 300 or fewer employees is 8.98. On the other hand, for large corporations with 5,000 or more employees, it is 0.34. A very large gap is emerging.

Approach to Solving Challenges: "Three Elements" for Connecting Young People and Regional Companies

On the other hand, there are many small and medium-sized enterprises in the region with unique technologies and strengths, as well as motivated managers eager to create employment. Furthermore, Suzuka City has established a supportive administrative system that promotes co-creation support for regional economic revitalization and the retention of young people, indicating that the potential for recruitment and employment within the region is by no means low. Suzuka City has also been undertaking initiatives to create employment, such as operating a job site led by the city.

To ensure that the appeal of these companies and the initiatives of the local government are correctly communicated to young people and job seekers, we hypothesized that it is necessary to break away from the conventional system of comparison based solely on superior or inferior conditions and adopt the following three approaches:

1 Creation of Awareness Opportunities: Provide opportunities for young people to deeply understand regional companies.

2 Design of Gradual Touchpoints: Create gradual engagement points (touchpoints) after learning about a company, leading up to job hunting.

3 Platform Development: Implement coordination functions and a platform in the region to sustainably connect companies and young people.

In previous job sites, the superficial nature of company information made it difficult for job seekers to form a "working image," and the convenience for both job seekers and companies was insufficient. It is difficult to solve this structural problem by continuing recruitment activities solely by individual companies. It is important to develop an environment on a community-wide basis where the true value of companies is properly evaluated and young people can engage with companies in stages from before job hunting.

Renewal Points: Three Perspectives to Realize "Community-Wide Recruitment"

The initiative undertaken this time is to create a "community-wide recruitment" system where the local government and regional companies cooperate, participate in a common space, and promote recruitment, human resource development, and retention as an integrated process. Renewals have been made for each of the three parties involved: "job seekers," "companies," and the "local government" that operates the system.

Job Seekers: In addition to job postings, they can now access more in-depth information such as workplace environments and internship opportunities. This allows them to deepen their interest and curiosity in companies and form a concrete image of working. The site also includes a function to directly inquire or contact companies of interest from the page.

Companies: By disseminating information through a common regional site, they can connect with a larger and more diverse pool of job seekers compared to individual company efforts. Furthermore, they can measure the effectiveness based on data such as access numbers and application numbers from the management screen (dashboard), enabling continuous improvement of recruitment activities.

Local Government: The systemization of complex update and management tasks, which were often person-dependent and inefficient, has significantly improved operational efficiency.

By establishing diverse touchpoints such as internships, side jobs, and workplace tours, in addition to job placement, we have designed a pathway for young people to build relationships with companies from the stage before job hunting. We have unearthed and organized the hidden appeal of small and medium-sized enterprises in the region, creating a system that reliably reaches job seekers.

Collaboration between Wakuwaku Switch and Regista

General Incorporated Association Wakuwaku Switch has been developing programs to connect young people with regional companies for over 10 years, based in Mie Prefecture. With a track record of matching approximately 150 companies and over 800 individuals, they possess solid know-how in shaping the appeal of regional companies into content.

Meanwhile, Regista Inc. has a proven track record of visualizing the hidden value of companies and local governments rooted in the region through high-level planning and creativity, and providing co-creation support.

By combining the expertise of Wakuwaku Switch, which connects companies and young people in Mie, with Regista's know-how in creatively expressing corporate value, we are building a platform from both content design and technical infrastructure perspectives.

Future Outlook: Expanding the "Regional Value"-Based Local Recruitment Model to Regions Nationwide

In many local governments and regions across Japan, small and medium-sized enterprises with excellent technology and capabilities exist, but their appeal does not reach job seekers, leading to a structural issue where youth outflow and labor shortages occur simultaneously.

General Incorporated Association Wakuwaku Switch and Regista Inc. will leverage the knowledge gained from "content design that unearths and visualizes the appeal of regional companies" and "the technical infrastructure that supports it," cultivated through the renewal in Suzuka City, to promote expansion to other local governments and chambers of commerce facing similar challenges.

By horizontally expanding a "self-sustaining recruitment environment" nationwide, where regional companies can communicate their appeal in their own words and continuously create gradual touchpoints with young people, beyond simply providing a job platform (system), we aim to contribute to regional revitalization and the sustainable development of regional economies.

Inquiries Regarding This Matter

Regista Inc.

Company Overview Regista Inc. is a local zebra company that develops businesses centered on "co-creation," creativity, town development, and challenger support. Its mission is to create "an interesting society" by generating value through co-creation with companies, local governments, and regional people.

Business Activities Creative Business - Brand Strategy/Concept Design - Graphic/Web Design - SNS Operation Support

Town Development Business - Planning and Operation of Town Development Events (e.g., Nagoya Antique Market) - Support for Matching Regional Companies (Creating touchpoints between students/young talent and regional companies) - Co-creation Business with Temples (System development, matching business between temples and young entrepreneurs)

Challenger Support Business - Project and Career Support for Young Social Innovators - Social Creative (Creative support for youth support organizations)

Contact Information Contact Person: Kotaro Ueda Email Address: [email protected] Phone Number: 052-339-0233

◾️ Media Coverage [Cable News] Featured in "Suzuka City Official Job Site Renewal."