“Expert position (station attendant). After working as a station attendant, aim to be a conductor or driver.
From high school graduate to around 28 years old. To aim for careeer development through long-term employment.”
Edit: Photo included in comments as no photos allowed in posts
I saw this Keio recruiting advertisement on the train this morning. I shouldn’t be, but I was surprised to see an age restriction so blatantly advertised.
What do you think of these kind of restrictions in Japan? And have age restrictions affected you applying for jobs?
Note the “justification” after the age restriction.
So 25 or 30 years employment for a 30 or 40yo isn’t long term enough?
Or is it still one in those companies where progression is year based and so rather than knowledge, it’s X years that qualifies you as an “expert” and so if you don’t do XX years as a station attendant, you can’t progress to becoming a conductor or driver?
I guess at least they are clear about it rather than pretending anyone can apply but throwing away the CVs of oldies.
I wonder how many of these staff will still even be needed in 20+ years.
For clarity: I have no interest in applying for this myself. If it’s not a Shinkansen driver, I’m not interested 🙂
10 comments
When I was job hunting and trying to switch fields at 27, I had a couple of recruiters tell me I was too old already. I did find a good job, but only after a full year of job hunting.
I used to work at a private school, and my supervisor told me they had quota brackets for certain age ranges, so they can’t hire someone if that bracket was already full (I guess to ensure there are young replacements when some retire, and to keep the number of older people lower so they don’t need to replace people too often). I’m not sure if this is the norm everywhere.
Yes it’s legal and common. The point is to smooth out the ages of their new hires so they don’t have concentrated groups of employees all retiring at the same time.
There is a general age discrimination law but this falls under exception 3イ (例外事由3号のイ). There are certain conditions you have to meet to use this exception, such as only applying to entry level roles – like the one you posted.
Saw a job ad for filling vending machines for Coca-Cola. Age limit was 35. I *was* going to apply. Apparently closer to 40 means you can’t fill vending machines
Age restrictions for job applicants are common in Japan. They’re mainly for entry-level jobs so they want people who will start at minimum salary and hang around for a career. Age discrimination in employment, like most other forms of discrimination, is not illegal in Japan.
When I was a PhD grad, I tried the shinsotsu hiring system for various large Japanese multinational tech companies and was told flat out that they don’t accept people over 28. I was like 31 at the time. It was probably for the better since shinsotsu hiring is usually low pay and they will treat you like a child throughout the “training” process.
Age requirements could also mean that it is a very entry level, menial job or low pay. You may be better off looking elsewhere.
Even if not posted, often time internally they will have age limit for 35 for most roles, with some exceptions such as if 35+ contract instead of full time. Unless you make it to director level or similar, your company is pretty much set once you reach 35
I hope they’re still needed. Using the machines is nice, but humans are useful to keep around.
Shit, we had to go to England last year, and needed to take the train from the local station to the city. Obviously they’d fired all the staff, so we had to use the stupid ticket machine. It was a single track from A to B and back again; but somehow I still managed to fuck it up and get the wrong ticket. The Gestapo Officer on the train said it was the wrong ticket, but didn’t explain in what way it was wrong; I mean, the train still went from B to A, so fuck knows what it was that I bought 🙂
Also: I hate those stupid self checkout things. The nice lady adding up my potatoes is a much better experience.
There’s no logical justification, for most of the job advertisements I’ve seen. For example, for a firefighter, it makes sense. However, the example of the station attendant position is ridiculous. People who are age 29, 30, and 31 are still young and mentally flexible, and can definitely adapt to such a job. It is clear age discrimination when viewed from the employment norms of other countries.
Unfortunately, Japanese law allows it, and Japanese companies will do all they can to trap their employees for as long as possible. Because, if everywhere has a silent cutoff line of age 30-35 then no employee will have confidence to try to find a new career after passing that boundary. Sayonara, hopes and dreams.
Age, sex, marriage status, photo required. All fair game.
The most desperate companies are for workers the more this will have to change.. very narrow minded and archaic