Birdy Ventures G.K.

Hiring Beyond the Resume: How Birdy Ventures Solved the "Culture Fit"

Why Face-to-Face Interaction at Daijob Career Fairs is Critical for Identifying the Right Talent

Birdy Ventures GK

Shaf Iochi, CEO & Founder

Daijob.com Media Sales Representative Yoshiki Maehata visited Birdy Ventures GK, a Tokyo and Nagano-based IT consulting firm that has successfully engaged bilingual talent through Daijob.com and the Daijob Career Fair.

In this interview, CEO & Founder Shaf Iochi discusses the company’s hiring challenges prior to using Daijob, why face-to-face interaction plays a critical role in evaluating candidates, and how their unique hiring approach—including team dinners—helps ensure long-term cultural fit.

Success at a Glance

The Challenge
Need for Global IT Talent

Birdy Ventures was specifically looking for a media platform capable of attracting high-quality foreign IT professionals to support their rapid growth.

Why They Chose Daijob
Superior Talent Pool & Precision

• Volume: A significantly richer database of global IT talent compared to competitors.

• Usability: The ability to granularly segment candidates by specific skills and career history via the database.

The Results
Exceptional Engagement

• 5 Hires made directly through Daijob.com job postings.

• 100+ Candidates attracted at the Daijob Career Fair—an exceptional turnout for a single event.

Company Name	Birdy Ventures GK
Locations	Nagano Head Office: Kiso-machi, Kiso-gun, Nagano Tokyo Office: Koto-ku, Tokyo
Industry	IT Consulting
Hiring Area	Japan
Positions Hired	IT Engineers, Sales
Services Used	Daijob.com, Daijob Career Fair

Democratizing Technology Through a Multinational Team

Maehata: Thank you for joining us today. Could you start by introducing yourself and Birdy Ventures?

Iochi: My name is Shaf Iochi. I have lived in Japan since 2003 and previously worked at several global investment banks. I founded Birdy Ventures in February 2021.

Our mission is to make technology accessible to everyone and help companies and regions remain competitive and grow in the digital era. We support leadership teams in designing target operating models centered on digital transformation (DX). In addition to DX consulting and system development, we provide secure AI LLM products, BI reporting, proprietary cloud solutions, and platforms for regional and tourism initiatives.

Our team is multinational, and we operate in a bilingual environment using both English and Japanese. Delivering value from a global perspective is central to how we work.

Using Career Fairs to Prevent Hiring Mismatches

Maehata: What challenges were you facing in recruitment before using Daijob’s services?

Iochi: We believe that delivering high-quality technology services depends not only on advanced technology, but on the people behind it. While we placed strong emphasis on hiring, we sometimes experienced mismatches between company culture and candidate values, even when skills were sufficient.

We felt there were limits to what could be assessed through online CVs and interviews alone when determining whether someone was truly the right fit.

Maehata: Cultural fit is certainly critical.

Iochi: Exactly. Daijob understood our hiring needs very well and proposed flexible recruitment methods that did not rely solely on online processes. In particular, face-to-face events like the Career Fair allow us to sense a candidate’s values and personality. You can also gauge seriousness and motivation simply by the fact that someone takes the time to attend in person. This greatly improves hiring accuracy.

Maehata: What led you to decide to exhibit at the Daijob Career Fair?

Iochi: After receiving the proposal, I decided to attend the event myself first. Seeing the atmosphere and operations in person helped me understand the potential, which led us to exhibit. There is no substitute for experiencing things firsthand.

Maehata: You also used several optional services. How did you find them?

Iochi: We utilized the database function to narrow down candidates by keyword and send scout emails before the event. This enabled us to proactively connect with candidates and smoothly transition to in-person meetings on the day.

By being as transparent as possible about the role and our company beforehand, we communicated our reality clearly, which helped reduce mismatches.

We also used a private interview space in addition to our regular booth. Having a calm environment for deeper conversations was a major advantage. The booth decoration tools and printed materials were also well prepared—we really appreciated the attention to detail in event management.

Hosting Team Dinners to Understand a Candidate’s True Character

Maehata: Do you have any advice for companies hiring bilingual talent, or any unique hiring “secrets” you could share?

Iochi: We see hiring not simply as filling positions, but as a best-match analysis—determining how well a candidate’s mindset aligns with our culture.

Because we value collaboration in an on-site environment, we place great importance on face-to-face communication to capture non-verbal cues. Our process typically starts with a casual in-person meeting, followed by interviews. In the final stage, we invite candidates to a team dinner.

It may sound old-fashioned, but observing how someone sits, their food preferences, attire, and interactions with team members reveals a lot about who they are. In a relaxed setting, you can see if there is real chemistry with the team before making an offer.

Looking for Talent Who Enjoys Taking on New Challenges

Maehata: As you launch new services, what kind of talent are you looking for?

Iochi: Four and a half years since our founding, we have focused on developing products that address Japan’s delayed DX adoption. We are now entering the phase of bringing those products to market.

We want to welcome more senior professionals who can help accelerate DX initiatives and take our products to the next stage. We have several innovative products in development that can bring fresh change to the Japanese market. For those who are not satisfied with the status quo and enjoy constant challenges, Birdy Ventures offers a highly rewarding environment.

Maehata: Finally, do you have any feedback or requests for Daijob.com?

Iochi: Overall, we were very satisfied and met many excellent candidates. That said, in a small number of cases, there were discrepancies between CVs and actual skills.

If candidate values and traits could be visualized more clearly—perhaps through AI-supported background analysis that integrates external information while maintaining security—it could further improve hiring accuracy.

From a business perspective, our secure AI LLM solution, ManualAI, could be safely integrated into Daijob’s infrastructure without sending data to external clouds. This would help recruiters process candidate information faster and more accurately. (Laughs)

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