Japanese ‘recruitment bar’ gives free drinks to people thinking about quitting their jobs
A new hospitality concept in Yokohama, Japan, offers “bar-like career consulting” with 90-minute sessions accompanied by free cocktails. But not everyone agrees with its ethics…
Tenshoku Sodan Bar (which roughly translates as Job Change Consultation Bar) is the brainchild of businessman Shota Umemoto. He opened the bar concept in Japan’s second largest city, Yokohama, with the aim of connecting punters with new jobs while also quenching their thirst.
The bar works in a similar way to a recruitment agency in that companies seeking employees pay Umemoto commission of up to ¥1 million (US$6,495) per head, while the person changing his or her job pays nothing. The key difference is that the job-hunter gets to enjoy free alcoholic drinks and snacks as part of the deal.
However, according to the bar’s founder the experience is more than simply transactional.
“People don’t come here primarily for the alcohol. They come to talk,” Umemoto told The Japan Times.
“Work takes up most of your life, doesn’t it? If that time is agonising — if your working hours are agonising — it’s basically synonymous with an agonising life,” he says. “But Japanese people tend to just endure it.”
Appointment only
Visits are by appointment only and Umemoto has had about 60 job-hunters walk through the doors so far. When they arrive, he whips out a laptop from behind the bar so that they can peruse potential new roles together.
Surprisingly, the free drinks weren’t a gimmick to tempt people in. Umemoto has revealed that he is not legally allowed to charge “for showing people job listings” and therefore any accompanying beverage had to be free. It just so happened that he had a stash of spirits lying around that he thought he could put to good use.
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Umemoto believes that the bar environment can be more productive than a traditional recruitment office setting as it helps job hunters to drop the facade and share what they truly want from a job. “I wanted to make a place where people can speak openly,” he said.
Question of ethics?
However, some critics have challenged the altruistic nature of the operation, pointing out that Tenshoku Sodan Bar is only connecting those looking for new jobs with companies that are paying Umemoto. Not everyone approves of the involvement of alcohol either.
“So they drug you first, then give you an offer. That seems highly unethical,” commented one Reddit user.
Another commentator on the same thread was more pragmatic about the exchange: “So, it’s effectively like recruiters buying you a coffee, the only difference being it’s an alcoholic drink instead?”
A third Reddit member added: “Personally, I’d rather buy my own booze and drink alone than get drunk with a recruiter.”
Of course, Umemoto always has the option of curating an alcohol-free drinks menu for job hunters to imbibe instead. As db reported, Asia is seeing a steep rise in no and low cocktail menus, with no/low options making up 10% of the offering in some establishments.
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