RareJob, Inc. (hereafter, “RareJob”), which utilizes data related to human resource to develop global talents , announces that it spun off its corporate business as a subsidiary and established PROGOS Inc. (hereafter “PROGOS Inc.”). The newly established company will start business on April 1, 2021.

Corporate Business Vision

RareJob believes that “the next-generation leaders = leaders who possess skills and leadership to drive global business success.” One of the most important issues in Japanese corporate HR is to develop “the next-generation leaders” who can drive business by responding to rapid changes in business environments. In particular, along with the accelerated growth of global business expansion, global business skills have now become an integral part of the next-generation leadership.

The next-generation global leaders are required to possess a more diverse range of skills such as team management based on individual skill sets and speedy decision-making based on data and technology, as they have to cope with changes such as remote communication and job-type employment.

Under these circumstances, RareJob decided to establish PROGOS Inc. to accelerate its business growth to address these corporate changing needs. Under the mission of “Developing global leaders truly needed in the world,” PROGOS Inc. aims to become a partner that strongly support corporations with the development and utilization of global leaders. The company will develop comprehensive corporate personnel services to support HR functions such as development, evaluation, assignment, and recruitment of global leaders. Specifically, its services will be based on multifaceted skill assessment data for global leaders. Its tools will be expanded from the business English speaking test PROGOS to other skill assessments. In addition to in-house development of services, the company will realize speedier and more flexible development by M&A and capital and business alliances with external companies.

PROGOS Inc. has set a medium-term management target of ¥10 billion in net sales for corporate business only, and is aspired to achieve the goal at the earliest possible time.

Human Resources Functions Supported by PROGOS Inc.

About the New Company

Company name: PROGOS Inc.
Business: Services related to assessment, training, and recruitment of global leaders
Address: 6th Floor, Craines Park Building, 18-1, Jingumae 6-chome, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Representative: Seishi Yasunaga, Chairman and Representative Director
Capital fund (including capital reserve): 100 million yen
Established: March 1, 2021

Strengths

The English speaking test PROGOS released in June 2020, is a product to assess (measure) practical business English speaking skills. The test is based on CEFR, a global standard of linguistic proficiency, so that test takers’ skills are measured by globally recognized levels. In addition, its AI automated evaluation realized an overwhelmingly competitive pricing as well as the quick return of test results. With these features, the test can be taken by a scale of thousands of employees and students in large corporations and universities, and the results can be used for their skill check and development.

Based on expanded skill assessments for global leaders, PROGOS Inc. will provide corporate HR services for training, evaluation, assignment, and recruitment. The company set one million test takers per year as its business KPI, and will disseminate the test both domestically and overseas to achieve it at the earliest possible time.
The size of the market PROGOS Inc. serves will shift from the English-language training market of ¥27 billion to the corporate training service market of ¥700 billion. By expanding the scope of its services, PROGOS Inc. and the RareJob group will have an extensive presence in the market.

(Source: Yano Research Institute and ITR)

Our Management

RareJob invited experts from the related fields to management of PROGOS Inc. in order to expand its assessment and corporate training services.

[Profile] Masuyo Ando, President and Director
After working at Nomura Research Institute and a German pharmaceutical company, she completed graduate programs and worked in the US for a total of seven and a half years. After returning to Japan, she accumulated 25 years of experience in English language education and global human resource development. She worked at the Institute for International Business Communication, where she disseminated TOEIC® programs to companies and universities, and promoted global human resource development for nearly seven years. After serving as an executive officer of an EdTech company, she joined RareJob, Inc. in 2020.

[Profile] Yasushi Tomita, Director
He started his career at Japan Management Center Inc. and then worked at Recruit Career Consulting Co., Ltd. He has served as an executive officer at CAPLAN Co., Ltd. from 2016. He has over 30 years of extensive experience in the corporate training business field.
In April 2021, he will become a director of PROGOS Inc.

Future Outlook

Along with changes in corporate HR management including job-type employment, side jobs, and diversified work styles, the demand for more quantitative business skill assessments is expected to increase.
PROGOS Inc. will expand its assessment (measurement) services from English communication to diverse global business skills such as leadership, communication, and cross-cultural understanding. The company plans to identify the skill levels of global leaders with a position-based skill map. This skill map will enable corporate HR functions to quantify global leaders’ skills and to efficiently manage them based on data.
By shifting from an English training service provider to a partner to support corporate global HR, PROGOS Inc. will realize its mission of “Developing global leaders truly needed in the world.”