FAQ

Below is our ratio of new graduates and mid-career hires over the past three years:

FY2021—New graduates: 4.0%, Mid-career hires: 96.0%

FY2022—New graduates: 3.1%, Mid-career hires: 96.9%

FY2023—New graduates: 12.0%, Mid-career hires: 88.0%

(as of September 12, 2023)

All members of Mercari Group (including full-time employees, contract employees, part-time employees, and interns) can use Your Choice. However, there are exceptions for certain positions and types of work.

For more information about Your Choice, see this page.

No, you’re free to choose the work style you want. However, in cases where the type of work must be done inside the office or requires you to be in the office for security reasons, you may be required to come to the office at the discretion of your division head or manager.

Company-wide events are held regularly, but employees are not required to participate in person and can participate online if they want. At the same time, we also believe in the importance and value of offline communication. Depending on the event, we may encourage members to join at the office.

If you are visiting for work reasons (where staying overnight would be the logical choice), you may be reimbursed for the expense if deemed necessary by your manager.

As of right now, Mercari does not allow members to work remotely from overseas. However, we are currently considering the possibility of allowing remote work from overseas in the mid- to long-term future.

No, it doesn’t. At Mercari, we evaluate members based on their output and behavior while using our company’s values as a guide.

We established the Your Choice policy to get us closer to achieving Mercari Group’s mission. By allowing each individual to choose the work style that best enables them to demonstrate our values, we believe it will help generate the highest performance for themselves and the organization. If we find that it is no longer fulfilling this original intent and disrupting the mid- to long-term growth of our organization and businesses, the contents may be updated or changed based on the situation.

We allow outside work that is in compliance with our internal guidelines, with the expectation that all members will conduct themselves as professionals and give their best at Mercari.

Yes. Interns are paid based on their skills and experience.

Similar to our internship positions, the salary of full-time employees is determined based on their individual skills and experience. In other words, there is no one set salary amount that is offered to all candidates—the managers who were involved in the interview process discuss and decide on an offer that is appropriate for each individual. Once the amount is decided, we will also make sure to address any concerns you may have so that both sides are on the same page regarding the offer.

Once you are given an offer, we will set up meetings before your joining date to gather information and decide which team you will be assigned to. This decision will be made taking into account your overall career development, aptitude, and potential, and also after speaking with the current members of the team. If you are a new graduate that has completed an internship program at Mercari, there is a high chance that you will be assigned to the team that you interned for. However, we will still ask you about your preferences and career plan in the interviews for the full-time position. Based on this information, we will work out a plan and decide which team is best for you to be assigned to.

The onboarding for new graduates takes about one month, and it is largely divided into two parts. The first is the shared training, where you will be guided through the basics of working and being a Mercari member, such as business manner training and our general orientation. For engineers, the second is DevDojo, an in-house training program that is more focused on the tech side of things. It covers development at Mercari Group and the tech stacks our engineers use. For non-engineering positions, we will design an individual onboarding program catered to you for this second part, taking into account your skillset and field of expertise. For more details, please ask your recruiter.

To view some of our past DevDojo materials and videos, see this page.

There are some positions that require in-person interviews, but as a general rule, the entire process is conducted online. However, if you would like to have an interview in person, please let us know and we will see if we can make arrangements.

If you are applying for the same internship position as last time, you will need to wait until six months have passed since your last application. If it is a full-time position, one year must have passed since your last application for the same position. However, if you would like to apply for a different position, you can do so at any time. 

Yes, you can! Mercari strives to be an attractive place to work, even to our former employees. We welcome back any alumni who choose to re-join Mercari Group.

Yes, you can apply for more than one position at the same time. However, as a general rule, if you pass the document screening for more than one position, we will ask you to choose one position to move forward with.

Mercari puts together many events to share information about our organization, including company information sessions.

To find more information about our latest events, check our Connpass and Meetup pages.

The selection process consists of a document screening, a technical assessment (only for certain positions), multiple interviews, and an offer meeting.

• We may perform a reference check at some point during the selection process. This will require people you’ve worked with (managers or colleagues) to fill out a form with questions about their experience working with you. The reference check will be performed using a third-party service.
• In order for you to learn more about Mercari’s values and culture, we may organize a casual meeting for you to chat with current Mercari members sometime during the selection process.

See this page for more information on Mercari’s selection process.

Generally, our interviews are about 30 to 60 minutes long. If it is a case interview or an interview with interpretation, it may take about 90 minutes. There may also be two or more interviewers in one interview. If it is expected to take longer, the recruiter will let you know beforehand.

We offer online interviews through tools like Google Meet regardless of whether you reside in Japan or overseas. The interviews can be conducted in English or Japanese, or a mix of both. We are also flexible in terms of the time you’d like to have your interview.

There is no dress code, so feel free to wear whatever you are comfortable with. What you wear will not be a factor in our final decision. The interviewers will also join in casual attire. You also don’t have to bring anything with you. However, if you’d like to take notes, please bring your own note-taking supplies.

In-person interviews are held at either our Tokyo or Fukuoka office. However, the location may differ for some types of work, so please check the email from your recruiter for details.

No, we ask for your understanding that we cannot answer any questions about the selection criteria or the reason why you did or did not receive an offer.

Mercari Group handles the personal information that we obtain from candidates during the hiring process according to our Privacy Policy for Recruitment Activities.

See this page for our Privacy Policy for Recruitment Activities.

Yes, Mercari offers a relocation package to help ensure a smooth move, which includes obtaining a visa, shipping your belongings, reserving your flight, and finding somewhere to live. We provide more details during the offer meeting.

You can also check this page for more details on our relocation package and to read stories of Mercari members who relocated to Japan.

Mercari Group’s members come from a wide variety of backgrounds, with members from over 50 different countries and counting. Our company does not have one official language, but we use both Japanese and English in our work. The level of Japanese or English required will depend on the position and the type of work you are involved in. However, Mercari offers Japanese and English language programs as well as a dedicated interpretation and translation team to allow all members to communicate smoothly with one another, regardless of their language level or background.

For more information on our language learning programs and the interpretation and translation team, see this page.

At Mercari, we conduct performance evaluations twice a year, during which members are evaluated based on their output and behavior while using our company’s values as a guide. Evaluation isn’t simply between you and your manager; the process also includes systems such as peer reviews between employees (360-degree evaluation) and calibration meetings between managers to include many different viewpoints. We focus on encouraging personal growth first and foremost in our evaluations and feedback.

Mercari employees receive an annual salary paid in 12 monthly installments. We do not base starting salary on age or career history. Your annual salary will be offered based on your individual skills and demonstration of our company values.

Ever since Mercari was established, we’ve placed great importance in giving back to our employees through stock-based incentives. In addition to cash bonuses, we also offer stock options to members above a certain grade. This is based on our strong belief in working together with employees toward our mission and sharing in both the risks and rewards of the company through stock-based incentives.

Mercari employees take two days off per week. Other than that, there are the following holidays and leaves.

• National holidays
  • About 15 national holidays a year in Japan
• Annual paid leave
  • 10 days granted upon joining the company
  • Percentage of annual paid leave used: 85.0% (as of June 2023)
• Year-end holidays
• Sick leave (paid)
• Relax days (paid)
• Child nursing leave and caregiving leave (paid – partially)
• Celebratory/bereavement leave (paid), etc.

Mercari provides communication support and an original benefits package to enable individuals and the organization to demonstrate maximum value and performance.

For more information on the benefits and communication support we provide, see this page.