Recruit Group is celebrating its 65th anniversary. What challenges do its leaders face, what are their visions, and what future are they striving to create? We spoke with Keiichi Ushida, President and Representative Director of Recruit Co., Ltd, which leads Marketing Matching Technologies SBU.
Keiichi Ushida, President and Representative Director, Recruit Co., Ltd. and Executive Vice President, Head of Marketing Matching Technologies Business, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.
Follow Your Heart: Opportunities for Individuals to Make Their Own Choices
For 65 years Recruit Group has worked to turn people’s aspirations into action through business. As stated in our vision “Follow Your Heart,” the ability for individuals to make their own choices is a deeply meaningful freedom. A wealth of options essential to realizing this has been made possible by a wide range of products and services offered by companies and business owners. Today, Japan is increasingly recognized as a place where people can enjoy truly distinctive services and options.
On the other hand, service providers are facing challenges in delivering better services and maintaining the value they have built, primarily due to labor shortages and rising raw material costs. With 4.34 million SaaS solution service accounts*1 and 93 million Recruit IDs*2, Recruit operates a variety of marketing matching platforms designed to help our business clients increase their own added value. By leveraging our services, clients are better able to deliver various opportunities, making their efforts feel more rewarding. We also believe individuals navigating daily choices deserve even more supportive services; ones that empower them to make confident and satisfying decisions.
*1 As of the fiscal year ending March 2025
*2 As of the fiscal year ending March 2025, including both active and non-active accounts
A New Chapter: Evolving Marketing Matching Technologies
In June, we renamed our SBU from “Media & Solutions” to “Marketing Matching Technologies.” This change reflects our renewed focus on delivering tangible marketing results for our clients, and on transforming the matching process through technologies such as AI.
In reality, many small and medium-sized businesses struggle to even visualize or fully understand their current state. However, by using structured insights gained through Recruit’s platform and business support SaaS solutions, they can uncover clear opportunities to improve both the process and quality of matching, and feel confident investing in value creation. At the same time, improving business efficiency also helps address labor shortages, while boosting overall productivity.
Japan is often seen as a pioneer in tackling social and business challenges, and we aim to support workplaces nationwide by evolving business matching and helping companies and business owners grow their value. We hope to lead the way in developing and advancing new methods that ensure Japan continues to be a society where everyone can choose freely from a wide range of options.
Keiichi Ushida
President and Representative Director, Recruit Co., Ltd. and Executive Vice President, Head of Marketing Matching Technologies Business, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.
Keiichi joined Recruit in 2007, following an earlier career at a major seafood company. He served as the product manager for Jalan.net, Hot Pepper Gourmet, and Hot Pepper Beauty, and was the producer for Ponpare, an e-commerce site, as well as being involved in the launch of Recruit ID. Since December 2014, he has been a director at Loyalty Marketing, Inc. From 2015, he has served as the head of the Net Business Division at Recruit Lifestyle, and from 2020, he has been an executive officer at Recruit, responsible for Air BusinessTools. In October 2024, he took on responsibility for both marketing and SaaS solutions businesses. He assumed his current role in April 2025.