[circusAGENT] New Graduate Offer Acceptances More Than Double YoY: Job Hunting Support Only Possible by Mid-Career Domain Agents

circus Inc. (Location: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Takashi Yabe) announced that on its talent introduction platform 'circusAGENT', the number of new graduate job offer acceptances for the class of 2026 (FY2025 results) reached 714 cases (as of March 30, 2026), a result that is more than double compared to the previous year. ## Structural Changes and Challenges in New Graduate Hiring In recent years, the job hunting timeline in the new graduate market has accelerated, with the job offer retention rate for university juniors graduating in 2027 reaching a record high of 51.7% as of March 1 (*1). While the overall job opening-to-applicant ratio in the new graduate market is 1.66x, the ratio jumps to 8.98x (*2) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 300 employees. A 'severe hiring difficulty' continues as students concentrate on major and popular companies. In such a 'hyper-seller's market', it has become normalized for students to receive many scouts from companies, shifting towards 'passive job hunting' where many options arrive even if the student does not act proactively. However, faced with overwhelming choices, many students cannot objectively judge 'which career is best for me', which paradoxically narrows their perspective. Therefore, utilizing an agent who stands between companies and students and can propose 'choices looking ahead to future careers' has become a strong option. Furthermore, by acting as a 'third party' to pick up on students' true feelings and hesitations that are hard to confide to companies during the long period from selection to joining, agents play a role in preventing declined offers and mismatches right before joining. *1 DISCO 'Job offer status of students expected to graduate in 2027 as of March 1' *2 '42nd Works University Graduate Job Opening-to-Applicant Ratio Survey (Class of 2026)' Recruit Works Institute ## '3 Characteristics of New Graduate Hiring' Provided by circusAGENT The number of accepted job offers for the class of 2026 (FY2025 results) on circusAGENT was 714 (as of March 30, 2026), more than double the previous year. Behind this rapid increase in contracts are the platform's unique characteristics that differ from traditional new graduate-specialized agents. ### 1. The majority are companies with '300 employees or less' facing hiring difficulties More than half of the new graduate job postings on circusAGENT consist of SMEs with 300 or fewer employees. By providing an efficient matching venue through the platform for small to medium scale companies facing an extremely high job ratio of 8.98x, it realizes hiring success that does not rely on name value. ### 2. Corresponding to a wide range of industries/roles and fitting 'job-based hiring' In FY2025, new graduate jobs across 107 industries and 155 roles (*3) were posted. Responding to the need for 'role-specific hiring' with clearly defined initial assignments rather than generalist bulk hiring, offer acceptances have been achieved in highly specialized professions such as the following. - IT Engineers - Mechanical/Electrical/Electronic/Semiconductor Engineers - Construction/Real Estate Professionals - Consultants/Certified Professionals - Sales/Customer Support - Administrative - Retail/Service... and others *3 Based on circusAGENT data