Following your values

It’s the early ’90s and a young James Kikuchi, of Japanese and English descent, is lamenting the fact that all he could ever say to his Japanese aunt who had just passed away was, nothing more than a simple greeting.

Despite traveling to Japan on a couple of occasions to visit relatives growing up, James never learned the language from his Japanese mother who raised him as a single parent. Determined to connect on a deeper and more meaningful level with his Japanese heritage, James made the decision to invest time and effort to learn Japanese. He also aspired someday to live in Japan, the home of the only family he ever really knew.

Putting his thoughts into action, James would eventually go on to study Japanese, Korean and management studies at the University of London, which allowed him to firmly connect with his Japanese side and also lay the groundwork for eventual life in Japan. For his first job out of university, he was able to land a position as a sales engineer with a Japanese hermetic package manufacturing company which was setting up its operations in the U.K.

While it was a good first step toward his goals, it wasn’t the place he saw himself being in the long term.

“I have a competitive side, and a never give up attitude which I can attribute to values my mother instilled,” James says, “But I would also say it comes from the schooling that I received in the U.K., in particular the competitive sports I participated in. Sports gave me the drive to be the best I can and understand the importance of training to get the most out of me. It also enabled me to get that winning mentality and absolutely hate losing.”

An aversion to defeat is a common byproduct of being exposed to competition during your formative years, but team sports like rugby, football and cricket, also tend to deeply instill the value of teamwork into those who were raised on the pitch. For James, the complementary values of healthy competition and teamwork were things he knew he wanted to be central in his future career trajectory.

James’ desire to work in a team-oriented environment became clear in his first job where, due to market circumstances, meant the business consisted purely of his boss and himself. The unfortunate lack of diverse ideas and team interaction led James to actively seek a change. In July of 2003, driven both by his dream to live in Japan and a desire to work in a team-oriented environment, James decided to make a leap of faith and move to Japan.

Finding your calling

In August of 2003, James arrived in Japan and embarked on an intensive job search.

While in the UK, and influenced by his love of sports, James had thoughts about trying to find a job in the sports agency industry.

But after doing research and consulting a friend in the industry James realized he just didn’t have the right background. From there, however, he would eventually connect the dots. “If I can't help sports people, maybe supporting other professionals in their careers would suit me,” he thought. “That was one thing that made me interested in recruitment”

James contacted various agencies and ultimately took an offer from Robert Walters, officially starting his recruitment journey.

“It was really more about the opportunity to develop as an individual, to learn new things,” James says about his decision to join the world of recruitment. “I also knew it was really important for me to build a network, and what better an industry to get into than recruitment to build a network?”

James assimilated well to the business and with his confidence levels improving day by day was able to learn and exchange ideas, not only with colleagues but with job seeking talent as well as clients. It was this opportunity to learn and get exposure to a diversity of ideas that really solidified for him that he had found himself in the right industry.

James did improve and develop, but not without some adversity.

Feeling empowered by a team and like you are growing is a positive aspect of life as a recruiter, but satisfying client and candidate needs requires skills and good practices that often have to be learned through failure.

“There really was a period of adjusting expectations versus reality,” James says. “I thought at the beginning that recruitment was just: get the job, get the candidates, make the match. Easy. But the reality was a hard, hard grind.”

He recalls experiencing the many hurdles that crop up in the placement process and that it wasn't an easy start to the business. “There were a lot of rejections at every single stage of the process,” he says.

But every successful recruitment career starts with finding a way to overcome the initial challenges of the job, and although it only took about six months for James to get into a groove, “it was on the back of learning from a lot of failure.” he says. “Failure came from how I was pitching the jobs and mismanaging the information that I was getting from both the candidates and the clients. But sustained success came from building my own checklist from all those failures, learning what to watch out for in the process and why.”

From that point on it was off to the races for James. He would spend over eight years at Robert Walters, quickly being promoted and ultimately working his way up to being the Director of their IT Division, the first of 4 key senior leadership roles which have defined his career to date.

Leadership

“I was terrified at the prospect of becoming a manager,” James recalls of his first chance at leadership in the recruitment business. “If I look at my personality, I'm a very shy, introverted individual. Despite the fact that, yes, at school, I was captain of some teams, if I look at the way that I led those teams, I wasn't necessarily the most vocal of people. But it was really my first manager in recruitment who was able to understand that I had potential, I just wasn't realizing it myself. So it was kind of a leap of faith.”

After moving on from Robert Walter in 2012, James would spend two and a half years as a Director at Intelligence and seven years as Director at en world Japan, before ultimately joining Randstad Japan at the start of 2022 as a Director in Randstad Professional Talent Solutions, making it over 10 years operating in a senior leadership position.

“I have been able to use my competitive spirit and my understanding of the value of good teamwork to harness some fundamental leadership skills. I have built a strong culture based on a good work ethic and discipline, but also incorporating a sense of fun and competitiveness on the desk. I’ve taken these values with me everywhere I have been.”

James says that “recruitment of recruiters, the training of recruiters” was key to his own growth over the years. Smashing the targets set for his teams and business division was made possible because he was able to bring out the best in the young recruiters under his wing.

“Yes, being very selective about who I was hiring, making sure that I'm hiring ‘A players’ was important,” James says. “I had my bar, and I didn't waver from that. But making sure I had the time to dedicate to training and coaching has always been my focus. I remember one particular hire where prior to the new hire joining I worked extra hard to ensure I generated good revenue in the first few weeks of him joining. As a result I was able to dedicate the majority of my time that quarter to training the new hire up.That consultant I trained developed into a consistent ¥50, million biller, and is now a successful business leader himself. So the emphasis was always to help the business by focussing on my teams and their growth.”

At Robert Walters, he built and industry leading and award winning IT division, and at en world he built a successful contract business, both achievements allowing him to boast a well rounded understanding of the recruitment business as a whole. In mid 2021 the situation was ripe for him to look for his next challenge.

“For any responsible business leader, it’s imperative to have a succession plan,” James said. “I had that succession plan. I had two people who I coached and promoted to associate director and so I felt this is the perfect timing for me to look outside.”

Randstad approached James that year to become the first externally hired Director in Randstad Professionals Talent Solutions, Randstad Japan’s permanent recruitment and high-level professional contracting business. .

“What attracted me to Randstad was the goal,” he says, “The ambition of the company to become a global number one player and having the ambition to become the biggest and the best in Japan — that's always attracted me. But then looking at my skill set and the things that I can offer, that's where the knowledge and the exposure played a part. When I heard that Randstad is also going to be starting up a high-level contract business — although working on the perm side would be my immediate responsibility — I could see that I would also act as an internal advisor to help with the growth of the contract business as well, so I felt the role perfectly matched each facet of my background.”

Making an impact

Going from being a shy, unassuming kid but someone who found confidence through sports and learning Japanese in the U.K. to being the director of the permanent recruitment division within the Japan branch of the global leader in the industry takes a lot of talent and determination, but James would be the first to tell you that it’s the people that you surround yourself with that can make or break a successful career.

He chose each and every one of his recruitment homes in Japan based on a clear rapport and respect for those in charge, and Randstad was no different.

“The importance and emphasis of people is something that runs through this company, probably more than any other recruitment company that I've worked at. I honestly feel that,” James says. “It's something that we speak about in every single senior leadership meeting. For me, the emphasis on people at Randstad is unparalled.”

The investment in their staff, be it junior or senior, is what James thinks makes Randstad such a good employer, and by extension, able to meet the needs of their candidates and clients. He says he’s felt that investment first hand, being given the opportunity to participate in a mini Randstad MBA program intended not only to improve business acumen but also build relationships and a network with the other Randstad participants who lead other offices in APAC.

Beyond a people-first approach with direct investment into the growth of their employees, James also feels that Randstad is where he can cement his legacy. “At some places you can add value by making some small tweaks to help the business,” he says. “But I saw an opportunity at Randstad, with the right investment — which we have — to dig deep, make improvements and, in turn, make a major difference and leave a long lasting mark on the company.”

“I see Randstad as my last recruitment company.”

“It’s all about making an impact,” he says, “How I impact my team, how I impact their lives, how I impact people’s lives with their career changes. This also extends to my family, which is of primary importance to me, supporting them and being able to provide and make an impact on their quality of lives too. No matter what you do, make sure you’re making an impact.”