Since Keidanren– a federation of 1,300 leading Japanese companies – changed the start of the job hunting season to the fourth year of university, students have begun visiting companies in April. Job hunting activities are called “shuukatsu,” and most students visit companies wearing what’s called a “recruit suit” in black or grey. Interview strategy seminars are frequently held, and many manuals about interview strategy are published. The other day I talked to A, a neighbor and female university student, who has attended a seminar on job interview strategies. She said, “It was very helpful to hear about appropriate dress code and makeup for the day, how to reply to questions that often come up and how to enhance one’s appeal.” I teased her saying, “Well, you’ll be able to enter your dream company then,” and she nodded confidently. A while after this, I had the opportunity to talk with the head of personnel for a leading company. “Since they study interview strategy through seminars and manuals, isn’t it difficult to form a real opinion?” I asked him. He replied, smiling: “That’s right. It’s my job to work out the applicant’s true identity, but I have often been disappointed when I see them in person, and this is especially the case with women.” Nowadays, you can easily modify a picture, so there are many applicants who look different to their resume picture. Furthermore, they emphasize how unique they are, but all of them talk just as the manual has instructed them to. “You are just like a detective examining a suspect,” I joked. Then he said, “They fail to notice that by secretly attending these seminars and reading the manuals, we have taken countermeasures.” After that, I had the opportunity to talk to A again. When I told her about the manager’s story, she said, producing a leaflet from her bag: “It’ll be fine, as I’ll be attending this seminar.” The following was written on it: “In depth seminar on how to ace job interviews given by a former job interviewer.” Even if this seminar got her a job, I worried whether she had the gumption necessary for work. (From June issue, 2014 / 2014年6月号より）