Channel Optimisation: Making Every Sourcing Dollar Count
Move beyond passive referrals. Proactive mapping makes it simple to surface quality candidates through recognition, not recall – faster, more secure, and with collaboration tools that turn employee networks into a repeatable hiring advantage.
Why this matters
Most are overspending on job boards that don’t work.
It’s easy to default to the biggest names – doda, Mynavi, Rikunabi, BizReach, Green – without asking whether they actually deliver your Ideal Candidate Profile. For bilingual GTM roles, the reality is that only a handful of platforms are effective. Our RPO service exists to cut through the noise, assess which boards are right for your needs, and stop wasted spend.
Your channel strategy needs to be measured, not assumed.
Posting jobs everywhere and hoping for the best is wasteful. It burns budget, floods you with the wrong applicants, and hides which channels actually work for your Ideal Candidate Profile.
The difference between wasted spend and a sourcing engine that delivers comes down to four things: assessing the right job boards, tracking ROI, cutting underperformers, and running the platforms on your behalf. Get these right, and job boards become a controlled, optimised channel – not a black hole of cost.
Channel Optimisation
LinkedIn – powerful but noisy
LinkedIn is essential, but it’s not enough. With only ~3.5M users in Japan, LinkedIn is small compared to other markets. Usage is concentrated in certain sectors – fortunately, enterprise tech is one of them. In our past RPO and agency projects, 83% of hires had some form of LinkedIn profile, showing its value for GTM and technical talent.
But LinkedIn is also crowded. Candidates are bombarded by automated messaging from tools like Waalaxy and Dux-Soup. The result: low response rates and rising candidate fatigue. Success depends on being a trusted source with the right message, not just another automation. That’s why our RPO combines LinkedIn sourcing with brand optimisation and referral mapping, giving candidates a professional, credible reason to respond.
Source of hires – what the data shows
MyNavi’s 2025 survey shows Japanese corporations hire mostly through job boards (29.7%), aggregators (25.9%), and agencies (25.9%), with direct sourcing and headhunting making up 33.8%.
Foreign-affiliated firms show the opposite pattern. Research with 40 gaishikei managers highlights direct sourcing (~40%) and agencies (~30%) as the main channels, with referrals and company sites adding ~15–20%. Job boards and aggregators barely contribute (~5%).
The data is clear: inbound is fine for local-first hiring, but global firms competing for bilingual GTM talent need outbound channels.
The problem with job boards
Not all boards are equal – and most don’t serve bilingual GTM hiring.
doda & Mynavi Tenshoku – huge reach, but skewed toward local-first candidates.
Rikunabi NEXT – high traffic, but the bilingual pool is thin.
BizReach & Daijob – more relevant for bilinguals, but expensive if not used carefully.
Green & Wantedly – effective for tech/startup roles, but quality varies.
LinkedIn – 3.5M users in Japan, heavily concentrated in tech; powerful, but crowded with automated spam.
And it’s not just local boards. Global sourcing platforms such as HireEZ, Loxo, SeekOut, or AmazingHiring promise all-in-one recruiter databases, but in Japan they lack scale. With low user adoption locally, their databases are shallow, incomplete, and unreliable for bilingual talent.
The risk: without testing and ROI tracking, you end up spending heavily – both on domestic boards that deliver churn and global tools that lack coverage – and still hire no one.
Our approach to channel optimisation
We bring structure, data, and discipline.
Research which job boards and aggregators map to your ICP.
Run controlled pilots to measure cost-per-qualified intro, not just raw applicants.
Track ratios: intro-to-interview, intro-to-hire.
Drop channels that don’t convert, double down on those that do.
Operate the platforms on your behalf – from posting to candidate management.
This ensures your spend is targeted, measurable, and justified.
Brand coordination across all channels
Your message must be consistent, whatever the channel. Job board profiles, LinkedIn pages, and agency briefs often tell different stories – creating confusion and weakening your appeal. Candidates see the gaps instantly.
Our RPO fixes this by coordinating brand assets across every channel:
Job boards – optimised company profiles and postings
LinkedIn – consistent positioning in your market
Agencies – controlled story delivery through our microsite platform
The result: whether a candidate finds you on a board, through LinkedIn, or via an agency, they hear the same accurate, compelling message.
Beyond job boards – the complete mix
Boards have their place, but they’re not the whole answer. We combine optimised job board use with outbound sourcing and referrals:
Direct sourcing for strategic bilingual GTM roles.
Referral mapping to surface trusted names.
LinkedIn for visibility in tech and GTM, where adoption is highest
Agencies where speed and scale are critical.
The result is a balanced channel strategy – one where inbound plays a role, but never dominates. We are firm believers in outbound, targeted sourcing.
What this means for leaders
Channel optimisation saves money and improves results.
For HR and TA leaders in Japan, this means:
No more wasted spend on underperforming platforms.
A data-driven view of which boards deliver for your ICP.
Recruiters who operate and optimise the boards for you.
A balanced channel mix that supports, rather than drags down, your hiring.
In Japan’s competitive market, channel optimisation isn’t just about cost savings. It’s about ensuring every dollar and every recruiter hour is aligned to hires that stick.
Success Starts With Strategy
Hope isn’t a strategy. Every effective RPO begins with a clear plan – one that shows where you can improve quickly and how to build lasting capability.
Our approach focuses on three critical levers that create the foundation for rapid wins and sustainable results:
Agency Optimisation
Agency management with teeth
We don’t just manage agencies – we audit and classify them. We identify which recruiters are true specialists and which are generalists.
Easy-to-fill reqs go to referrals and direct sourcing. Hard-to-fill or urgent reqs go to qualified, motivated agencies, with the right incentives to get the job done.
Because great results are about partnership and mutual success.
Content Strategy
Tell Your Story with content that converts
Most agencies pitch candidates with their own improvised story. We fix that. We create micro-sites for each project, with a storytelling model that works:
Industry trends and drivers, company positioning, product market fit and impact, people (leadership credibility), the role (kept concise), the candidate’s career path.
Every recruiter, every candidate, sees a consistent, compelling message – controlled by you, amplified by your agents.
Direct Sourcing
Candidate-first, Channel-smart
Our RPOs start with candidate mapping with the goal of optimising direct sourcing. We build a view of who’s in the market, who can be referred, and who should be avoided. From there:
Referrals – engage employee networks first.
Direct sourcing – outbound targeting of the right people.
Job boards – assessed and used tactically, not by default.
Trust Earned, Not Claimed
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Goh Hattori, APAC Talent Acquisition
“Instrumental in hiring key people, including Country Manager, and delivering RPO”
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Sung Hae Kim, Global Head of People
Murray built our Japan team, securing key sales & engineering hires. High quality candidates, knows his stuff.
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Jon Robertson, APAC VP
“Murray has been a tremendous help in hiring dozens of individual contributors as well as key leaders”
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Josep Garcia, APAC VP
“Impressive research and a job well done! Thanks for the great work.”
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Kate Berkeley, APAC Talent Acquisition
“One of the top recruiters VMware has worked with, across the whole of Asia Pacific. Exceptional.”
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Anthony Palladino, CRO
“Thanks for your work. Nice job! I appreciate you running at a very intense pace. ”
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Anesh Ravi, APAC Sales Director
“Thanks for all your work throughout the process - I’ve enjoyed working together!”
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Patrick Cook, Director Innovation
“Murray has done outstanding work for PARC in a difficult talent space”
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Matt Thatcher, Global Sales VP
“His business sense and creativity helped fill a high level executive position in a relatively short period of time.”
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Stephen Beck, Services VP
"Murray was invaluable. His advice, cultural guidance, and results were outstanding. I highly recommend him.”
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Gerry Sillars, APAC VP
“If you need someone to assist as you try to enter the Japanese market don’t look any further.”
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Mathew Fleming, APAC Sales Director
“Helped us lock in a key leader for Japan. Did an excellent job.”
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Barry Kent, Global Sales VP
“Excellent work to hire a key sales lead for our new all-flash product in Japan.”
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Brian Burns, Founding Partner
“I see Murray as the only recruiter that really understands the markets that he recruits into.“
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Matt Young, APAC VP
“We almost exclusively found Murray to be our go-to recruiter. I highly recommend him.”
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North Compton, Executive Recruiter
“Murray has deep knowledge and experience about all things RPO.”
Collective Experience In Practice
We’re not just another agency calling itself an RPO. Together with our partners, we’ve led Asia-Pacific recruitment programmes that helped build some of the world’s top technology companies. From executive search to large-scale hiring, our experience spans the leaders that have shaped today’s innovation economy.
And more.