Hello

I am HOKA from the Human Resources Group at KINTO Technologies. I am responsible for organizational human resources and recruitment PR. I also manage our X (formerly Twitter) account.
As part of the annual Advent Calendar event, my focus on this Tech Blog article will be about how the Human Resources Group started. I hope you will stay with me until the end.

The Establishment of KINTO Technologies, a Development Organization

KINTO Technologies Corporation (hereinafter, "KINTO Technologies") was founded in April 2021 and is now in its third year. There are more than 320 employees as of December 2023. The company is growing rapidly.
KINTO Technologies was originally the IT Development Group of KINTO Corporation (hereinafter, "KINTO") and mainly consisted of IT engineers. Before KINTO Technologies was founded, KINTO was in charge of recruiting IT engineers, but it was a seller's market where every company had a shortage of IT engineers. It was hypothesized that in order to recruit the best IT engineers, you had to change hiring methods to fit the IT industry. So, Iwamoto, who had experience in hiring engineers in the IT industry, started hiring IT engineers for KINTO Technologies. She was the first member of our team.

Our Mission Was To Just Hire Engineers

At first, Iwamoto's mission was to just hire engineers. When Iwamoto joined in November 2021, KINTO Technologies had about 130 employees. There was no talk of setting up a human resources department, and Iwamoto was the only person in charge of hiring. Iwamoto started with the secretary, Shida.

IT Engineers Cannot Be Hired as Automotive Professionals

First, Iwamoto set out to change the hiring style to match the IT industry.

● Replacing PDF job applications with an applicant tracking system (ATS)

Due to the job application form being in PDF format, candidates were required to enlist with a recruitment agency in order to complete the application process. We renovated our corporate website and implemented an applicant tracking system (ATS) so that interested candidates could submit their applications easily.

● Engaging in dialog instead of scrutinizing during interviews

Having job interviews with 6 interviewers per candidate was oppressive and unpopular. We trained interviewers and changed the interview style so they engaged in dialog and casually asked about the applicant's career.

● Switching to a flexible selection process that involves getting close to the candidate

We listened to candidates' requests, did casual interviews with engineers in the workplace and offline interviews, and aimed to schedule interviews to accommodate the candidates. We switched to a more flexible selection process.

● Contacting successful job applicants five business days sooner

After the final interview, a paper offer letter with the interviewer's comments was mailed to Nagoya, and it took five business days for the employment conditions to be approved. We reviewed the process and implemented an electronic approval system. Thanks to that, approval was done the day after the final interview.

● Holding company briefing sessions for recruitment agencies

To better explain our prospects and position, we held an online briefing session that was about three hours long and had explanations by Mr. Kageyama, the Executive Vice President of KINTO Technologies, with other several managers. About 15 recruitment agencies participated in this event, and they are still supporting the recruitment of KINTO Technologies.
Finally, Sheer Effort! Iwamoto held interviews from 9:00 to 21:00 while implementing the aforementioned Kaizen (improvement). Takeno, a talented recruitment assistant, joined the company in January 2022 and sped up the hiring process further. (She goes home around 18:30 these days, so don't worry lol)

Establishing the Human Resources Group

After Iwamoto joined, we hired 140 people in one year (from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022). On the other hand, as our organization expanded, organizational issues came to the surface. Then, Tsun-Tsun, our labor expert, joined the company in April 2022. We gradually started doing HR work other than hiring, such as consultations for new employees and retirees. We now play a role in delivering the voices of our employees to management. Tsun-Tsun also started making Kaizen projects in the office (link to his article). Then, Mr. Kageyama finally told us to make official our Human Resources organization.

In August 2022, the President Said, “I Calmly Stand at a Staircase Landing”

In July 2022, KINTO Technologies will hold its first "all-employee interviews." Of course, this will be the first time for the employees, so the company received many requests and concerns, and the Human Resources Group was wondering how to solve them. Looking at the situation, Kotera, the president and CEO of KINTO and KINTO Technologies, gave us this advice: "Stand calmly at a staircase landing. Build management functions appropriate for the size of the organization, then hire the required people." That was in August 2022. Since then, we hired less frequently but focused on training our management and improving our organizational capabilities. Managers gradually started cooperating more with each other.

Reviewing the Hiring Requirements in October 2022

Since then, KINTO Technologies developed services other than for the KINTO brand and did more as a company as engineers had bigger roles. We thoroughly reviewed the hiring requirements and targeted people with experience in developing their own services to better fit our organization. Around that time, we were joined by Muranaka, who had experience in HRBP at a mega venture. By building the aforementioned management functions, hiring less frequently, and reviewing the hiring requirements, the Human Resources Group's leadership strengthened its organizational capabilities, but Muranaka was overwhelmed by how quickly KINTO Technologies grew. He smiled bitterly, saying, "I have no memory of anything from the moment I joined in October 2022 to March 2023."

The Human Resources Group Enters Its Second Phase

KINTO Technologies has 320 employees as of December 2023. As the organization has grown, we have added more layers in departments and increased the number of roles. We think about the kind of people we want to have in the company as the Human Resources Group started to receive more requests, and we conduct more personal interviews with managers and employees. We also train more employees to become interviewers and constantly get more employees to be involved in the recruitment process. The hiring activities that Iwamoto started alone is by now a series of activities conducted cross-functionally.
There are currently ten people in the Human Resources Group, and it is divided into the Recruitment Team, the Labor Affairs and General Affairs team, and Organizational Human Resources team. The Human Resources Group intends to keep working together in 2024 so that we can keep growing and everyone can challenge themselves even further.

Well... many of you may look back on your life, review your life plans, or consider changing jobs at the end of the year. KINTO Technologies is looking for new colleagues in various positions, so please feel free to apply if there is a job that you are interested in. We are also happy to conduct interviews. You can check job openings at KINTO Technologies here.
That concludes my article "Let's Make a Human Resources Group."
Since this is part of our Advent Calendar, let me finish by saying... Merry Christmas to you!