Top Job-Hunting Review of 2026: A Mid-Tier Firm Beats the Big Consultancies

OneCareer CMO Shunichi Atsuchi and former Itochu HR lead Takashi Watanabe break down the trends in the 2026 job-hunting review rankings

• #1 review ranking goes to Ligrit Partners: interns praised the firm for delivering “one month’s worth of feedback from other firms in just two days”
• The consulting dominance is cracking: as headcounts expanded, selection-process quality slipped, and more students are taking a fresh look at operating companies
• What top-ranked employers share: visibility into growth paths — Kirin and Toyota strengthened track-based hiring to cut candidate-role mismatches
• Stand out in interviews with specific stories, not abstract buzzwords (“competitive spirit” etc.) — one memorable example: a millimeter-level rivalry over a banana
• Structure alumni-visit questions around four axes (FANS): e.g. “Who thanked you, and for what?” and “What was the smallest decision you owned?”
• STEM students are also chasing foreign consulting firms and ad agencies as their top choices, accelerating a shift beyond the traditional technical-track pipeline
• Watanabe’s advice: showing up as a 120-point version of yourself leads to struggles after joining — choose a company that evaluates you as you actually are

2026-04-15 · Watch on YouTube

Japanese page: 就活クチコミ1位はコンサルではなく中堅ファーム