Page 37 - Forbes - Asia (October 2019)

AKIKO NAKA, 34
Founder and CEO, Wantedly
JAPAN
After an orthodox career path—from Japan’s elite Kyoto Univer-
sity to Goldman Sachs and then Facebook—Naka has developed
an unorthodox way to match employers and job hunters as CEO
of her own job-search site, Wantedly.
Job listings on its site and its app, Wantedly Visit, don’t pro-
vide information on salary or benefits, only a job description and
the employers’ corporate philosophy. Based on that information,
employment seekers can pick a position and, if the company
agrees, line up—no, not a formal job interview—a casual visit
during which they can check out the company, and vice versa.
“Not marriage first, but dating first to get to know each other,”
says Naka. “It took about two years in Japan for that to be ac-
cepted, but it has become a de facto standard now.”
Wantedly has hit a sweet spot: Japan’s shrinking workforce
has created the tightest labor market in decades, a bonanza for
job search and recruitment companies. The recruitment industry
should expand by 27% to ¥500 billion ($4.7 billion) over the
next three years, according to Yano Research Institute in Tokyo.
While LinkedIn still dominates the career networking market
globally, Wantedly is about even with it in Japan, having gath-
ered about 2 million users in its short history.
Since listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Mothers board
for startups in late 2017, Wantedly’s share price has tripled, giv-
ing the company a market value of 29 billion yen. The company
counts internet advertising and game firm CyberAgent and
Shogo Kawada, cofounder of Japanese gaming giant DeNa, as
major shareholders—both with less than 10%. Naka holds a 71%
stake in the firm, worth about $189 million.
Her entrepreneurial journey began in 2005: While studying
at Kyoto University, Naka was inspired by a book she read about
CyberAgent to launch a free campus newspaper that sold ad
space to shops and restaurants around the school.
After graduating in 2008 with an economics degree, she
joined Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and sold stocks to institutional
investors. Uninspired by a potential career in finance, she left
the bank after less than two years and tried her hand at writing
manga. Naka then joined Facebook in mid-2010 but decided to
leave about six months later to establish Wantedly.
Companies pay between ¥40,000 to ¥200,000 per month
to list a job on Wantedly’s site or app; individuals can use the
service for free. Wantedly already counts 35,000 Japanese com-
panies as clients, including Nissan and Sony. Wantedly, which
also operates a business-card scanning and contact manage-
IRWIN WONG FOR FORBES ASIA workplace. “I usually decline interviews that are focused on a
ment app called Wantedly People, has expanded to Hong Kong
and Singapore.
Naka’s can-do attitude shapes her views on women in the

woman’s perspective,” Naka says. “I don’t really think about
being a woman, and that hasn’t been an issue in my career.”
—James Simms

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