Photo/Illutration With smartphone in hand, college students take part in a job recruitment fair held in the metaverse. (Hideaki Ishiyama)

The days of Japanese college students turning up at job fairs in staid dark business suits may be swiftly coming to an end.

Welcome to the metaverse, where students armed only with a smartphone can peruse job offers and engage in online interviews from wherever they are in Japan, or even beyond.

Around 2,000 students took part in a job recruitment drive held in the metaverse on Jan. 27 and showed off their digital skills.

Booths in the metaverse were set up by 179 companies, including some big-name entities.

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This monitor shows avatars of college students and company officials meeting in a job fair held in the metaverse. (Hideaki Ishiyama)

Avatars were set up for both the students and company representatives in charge of recruitment.

But the students could hear company officials explaining the job requirements at their workplaces and could also ask questions, even of a highly delicate nature due to anonymity ensured in the metaverse.

Only those students who downloaded data from the companies they were interested in were required to register their names and contact details.

The event was organized by two Tokyo-based companies, Neo Career Co., which offers job placement services, and X, inc., which handles metaverse operations.

Officials of the two companies said the event was likely the largest of its kind ever held in Japan.

“The metaverse allows for both taking advantage of online meetings in which students from distant areas can take part as well as maintaining the spontaneity of meeting and conversing that occurs in face-to-face job fairs,” said Taiki Nishino of Neo Career.

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