Director and Executive Officer, Head of Corporate Planning Division
Mr. Manabu Kamiyama
Manager, Staff Strategy Section, Planning and Management Department, Corporate Planning Division
Ms. Marie Fukuzaki
Services you can use
SMS Connect (MailSMS function)
--Could you tell us about Brave's business activities?
Kamiyama Manabu (hereinafter referred to as Kamiyama): Our company was established in 2011 and is now in its 15th year of operation. We are a staffing agency that specializes in providing staffing services primarily in the medical field, including healthcare, welfare, and nursing care. We currently have approximately 230,000 registered staff members and 35 branches throughout Japan.
--Could you tell us about the responsibilities you each have?
Kamiyama: I am in charge of the Corporate Planning Department. In the context of temporary staffing, I'm responsible for the customer acquisition aspect. I handle business strategy, management strategy, and aspects close to corporate planning, including posting job advertisements and selecting media outlets.
Ms. Marie Fukuzaki (hereinafter referred to as Fukuzaki): I am in charge of recruiting temporary staff. Every month, we post job openings on various media outlets and check how many applications we receive, striving to improve the conversion rate. We also work to strengthen our relationship with our BPO center in Nagasaki, which acts as a contact center to handle job applications from all over the country.
—What is the process from recruitment to dispatch?
Kamiyama: We post job openings on various media outlets. When a job seeker sees a job posting and applies, the information is sent to our contact center in Nagasaki, where initial support is provided. Then, the staff information is passed on to the branch office, which then matches them with a client company, leading to dispatch and employment.
—What are the distinguishing features of the medical staffing business?
Kamiyama: Even though we broadly call it "temporary staffing," the characteristics differ depending on the field, and that's what makes it interesting. Broadly speaking, it can be divided into industries where matching is based on job openings and industries where matching is based on job seekers.
Matching based on job openings is common in fields such as on-site work, logistics, and manufacturing. In this scheme, the staffing agency allocates people to fill the vacancies.
In the case of temporary staffing for specialized professions, including medical fields, the scheme is closer to that of a recruitment agency, where the staffing agency searches for clients that match the job seeker's desired area, job type, and conditions.
—So your business model revolves around job seekers
Kamiyama: In that sense, the key is how to attract job seekers, so it's important to have many channels to reach them.
—Could you tell us about the communication tools you use when interacting with job seekers and temporary staff?
Kamiyama: We use a variety of methods, including phone calls, emails, LINE, and SMS (Short Message Service), sometimes interchangeably and sometimes simultaneously. First, we call the job seekers who have applied, but in this day and age, it's often difficult to get through. In fact, these communication tools don't quite match the needs of the current generation. The key to this business is how to make contact from there, and that's where SMS comes in.
--So you send an SMS to people who can't answer the phone?
Kamiyama: Receiving an SMS lets you know what the call you just received was about. We also use a system where we send both regular emails and SMS messages. We believe it's important to increase the number of points of contact with job seekers.
—Do you ever send SMS messages specifically to the temporary staff?
Fukuzaki: Of course. When we absolutely need to contact someone and they're not checking LINE or email, SMS is our most reliable tool as a last resort. Depending on the project, there are cases where we need to gather people quickly, and in those situations, SMS is more effective than email. Even those who didn't answer the phone receive a notification, so we can get them to call back later. We can send SMS messages to everyone who meets the criteria from the CRM, so I feel it's quite effective in terms of both time and cost.
—What other uses are there for SMS?
Kamiyama: This is also a common occurrence in the staffing business, but it often happens that registered temporary staff become inactive. We receive thousands of applications nationwide every month, but we can't introduce jobs to all of them. Sometimes the client's job openings are filled at the right time. However, even if there isn't a match now, there's a possibility of a match in the future. That's an asset for us, so we use various means to contact these people and ask if they are currently looking for work. This is called "unearthing" in the industry, and we also use SMS for that.
—In that case, will it be a specific case study, or will it be a more relaxed approach?
Kamiyama: We have both cases. For individual job postings, the job information is on Brave's website, so we include the URL and appeal to people by saying, "We have this job opening, are you interested?" In addition, there are areas and branches where it is difficult to recruit staff, so we send out mass emails and SMS messages to approach them asking if they are currently looking for work, and if they reply, we ask them again about their current employment situation and desired conditions and then proceed with matching them.
—What system do you use to manage the data of your temporary staff?
Kamiyama: We use a cloud system for recruitment services called PORTERS STAFFING*. It's a CRM tool. By using Acrito's MailSMS function, PORTERS STAFFING and Acrito's SMS Connect are integrated, so we can easily send SMS messages from the email sending screen of our usual CRM tool.
*PORTERS STAFFING:https://www.porters.jp/
--Brave introduced SMS in 2019. How were you using it at the time?
Kamiyama: We used it as one of the tools to reach job seekers. With email and phone calls, it was often difficult to find the right timing or we wouldn't get a reply, but SMS was a useful notification tool because people tended to see it. At the time, we sent it from the management screen of Acrito.
—What prompted you to start using MailSMS, a feature added in 2022?
Fukuzaki: It's simply more convenient that way. The main reason is that we can send SMS messages directly from PORTERS STAFFING. Before that, SMS Connect wasn't integrated with PORTERS STAFFING, so we had to open separate screens.
—That's really convenient
Fukuzaki: With the core CRM system for temporary staffing, you can segment and sort job conditions in detail, so when a new job posting comes in, you can seamlessly sort by area and job type that matches the job and send emails or SMS messages to the selected candidates all at once. I think that's a great feature.
—In that case, would you send both an email and an SMS?
Fukuzaki: Both. For those who don't have an email address, access is only via SMS, but some people receive both. The way we use it is that we first send a regular email to everyone at once, and if the response isn't good, we use SMS as the next tool.
-- Are there any differences in responses between email and SMS?
Fukuzaki: I think SMS will probably get a higher response rate. People who aren't in a B2B environment are using email less and less these days.
—What are your impressions after actually using the MailSMS feature that was added to your system?
Fukuzaki: The biggest advantage is that we can send messages from the CRM tool we already use, so we don't need to learn any new operations. I think the seamlessness of being able to do it with just one button is the best part. I've really noticed an improvement in the quality of our work by making full use of the CRM's functions.
Kamiyama: To be honest, the cost benefits cannot be ignored. We feel that we are getting good value for our money by making full use of tools such as SMS to reach out to potential users. As you know, the labor market for medical and nursing care is currently very much a seller's market. In order to gather registered users, we need to place advertisements in media outlets and have them register for our services through those outlets. However, due to the labor shortage, the cost per person to secure a new registered user after placing an advertisement in media outlets is increasing year by year. If we are not getting many new registered users, then it is only natural to move in the direction of having hundreds of thousands of people who are already using Brave's services contribute, and we feel that SMS is indispensable in order to increase the accuracy of this reach.
--What do you value most when it comes to communication with your staff, Brave-sama?
Kamiyama:That's right. I believe that reducing staff turnover is an important part of the job, and for that, daily communication and follow-up with staff are crucial. The medical and welfare fields have a strong heart-to-heart element, so I focus on conveying our enthusiasm. With SMS, staff members are sure to see it, so I feel it's an indispensable tool for maintaining connections.
—Are there any specific methods you use to reactivate dormant staff members?
Fukuzaki: One thing that's often overlooked is that the messages we send via email or SMS tend to become formulaic every time. Often, the goal becomes simply sending the message, so we make sure to carefully consider what we're writing and then use an A/B testing approach to analyze the effectiveness of each message, essentially running a PDCA cycle.
—Could you tell us why you chose Acrite for your SMS delivery service?
Kamiyama:When we were considering implementation, we looked at about four or five companies. The main reasons we ultimately chose Akrit were that their cost matched our requirements, but also because they are the originator of SMS in Japan, which gave us peace of mind, and their high level of experience meant they could flexibly handle custom development. I also have business negotiations with various companies, and I'm always promoting them, telling them what a great system it is (laughs).
—Are there any difficulties in operating MailSMS?
Kamiyama:There's nothing in particular. Acrite handled the connection with PORTERS STAFFING, so there's really nothing for us to do. We haven't had any problems, so we don't even need to use the support desk (laughs).
--Brave has been using our SMS service since 2019, and added MailSMS as an additional feature in 2022. By integrating it with our CRM tool, "PORTERS STAFFING," you've expanded the scope of your SMS usage. Hearing your story again today, I was pleased to hear that you're really feeling the benefits of MailSMS.
Thank you for your time today.
Founded in 2011, the company operates a staffing service specializing in the medical field. It has approximately 230,000 registered staff members (as of April 2025) and 35 branches throughout Japan. It joined the Mynavi Group in 2019. With the vision of "Everything starts with people," the company contributes to social development through job creation by providing high-quality staffing services that create new value through encounters between people and companies
