More Than Career Advice: How Maho Helps Candidates Take Their Next Step

Every career journey is different. For some, the next step may mean advancing into a new role. For others, it may mean taking a bold step across borders and starting a new chapter overseas.

Behind many of these career transitions are career advisors who do more than connect candidates with job opportunities. They listen, understand individual aspirations, communicate the realities of the market, and sometimes encourage candidates to take a chance on opportunities they may not have considered themselves.

In this Employee Spotlight, we speak with one of Reeracoen’s Career Advisors, now in their third year with the company. Supporting Japanese professionals pursuing overseas career opportunities and career advancement, they share their perspective on what makes a meaningful match, the challenges that come with cross-border recruitment, and the experiences that have shaped their growth at Reeracoen.

Most importantly, their story highlights one idea that sits at the heart of career support: sometimes, creating a new possibility starts with simply encouraging someone to take that first step.

Getting to Know Our Career Advisor

Q1: Can you briefly introduce yourself and your role at Reeracoen? How long have you been with the company, and what attracted you to join us initially?

As a Career Advisor at Reeracoen, I support Japanese jobseekers who are looking to work overseas or advance their careers.

Years with Reeracoen:
I am now in my third year with the company.

Why I joined Reeracoen:
I thought it would be rewarding to be involved in people's lives and careers. I was also drawn to the people I met at Reeracoen during the interview process, and that made me want to work together with them, which ultimately led me to join the company.

Supporting Candidates Beyond Their Job Search

For a Career Advisor, the role is not simply about introducing vacancies. It is also about understanding where a candidate wants to go, helping them see what is realistically possible, and knowing when to encourage them to take a bigger step.

Q2: What is the most important responsibility in your job as a career advisor?

Supporting candidates in envisioning their ideal career is a given, but in reality, there are barriers such as conditions, market trends, and language ability, and a job search will not go well with only sweet words. Therefore, I place great importance on the sincerity of openly and clearly communicating the “reality,” including not only the advantages but also the difficulties and risks.

At the same time, for promising candidates with high potential and enthusiasm, I actively encourage them to apply for “challenging opportunities” one level above their current position or in fields where they have no prior experience, by helping them overcome assumptions such as “It may still be too early for me” or “The conditions may not suit me.”

I believe the most important role of a CA is to carefully assess reality and fully support candidates in taking on challenges when they should take that step. By bridging the gap between hopes and reality, we can maximise each candidate’s potential while accompanying them throughout their journey.

This balance between honesty and encouragement is an important part of career support. It means being realistic about the challenges while still recognising that a candidate may have more potential than they initially believe.

When Persistence Opened a New Possibility

Some of the most memorable moments in recruitment happen when a conventional matching process does not immediately produce an answer.

For this Career Advisor, one particular experience demonstrated how persistence and proactive thinking can create an opportunity where one may not have seemed available at first.

Q3: Can you share one candidate or client story that has left a deep impression on you?

This is an episode from when I supported a senior-level candidate, for whom the number of available opportunities tends to be limited.

Although the candidate had an excellent track record and very strong skills, it was difficult to find a match among existing open positions due to age-related requirements, and their job search was struggling.

However, I saw great potential in their extensive experience, management skills, and personality, so I never gave up and actively made direct proposals to companies that could potentially be a good fit.

As a result, companies showed interest, which led to interviews and ultimately to the candidate joining a company.

The candidate thanked me, saying, “I was able to realise my dream of working overseas, which I had given up on, and start a second chapter in my life.” It was a deeply meaningful experience that made me realise how the ability to make proposals and persistence can greatly open up possibilities for both people and companies.

This experience reflects an important part of recruitment: sometimes, the right opportunity does not come from simply waiting for an existing vacancy to appear. It can come from understanding a person’s potential and having the determination to explore possibilities beyond the obvious match.

Finding the Right Balance Between Two Sides

Recruitment brings together two parties, each with their own expectations, priorities, and goals. Finding the right balance can be one of the most challenging parts of the job.

Q4: What has been your most challenging experience in this role, and how did you overcome it?

It was facing the reality that there is no such thing as a “perfect match” that is 100% aligned in terms of conditions, skills, company culture, and so on. Both candidates and companies have their own non-negotiable conditions and ideals, but if these remain unchanged, it is difficult to move forward, and there is a risk of missing out on a valuable opportunity.

Rather than compromising, I have been able to reach results that satisfy both sides by continuously proposing the “optimal point of agreement” that protects each side’s “non-negotiable core” while bringing out each other’s potential.

The idea of finding an “optimal point of agreement” is particularly relevant in recruitment. A successful match does not necessarily mean that every expectation is identical. Instead, it can mean understanding what truly matters to both sides and finding a way forward that respects those priorities.

Creating a “Happy Spiral” Through Cross-Border Careers

At Reeracoen, our mission is to create a “Wonderful” future with people around the world who seek happiness.

For a Career Advisor supporting people who are considering an overseas career, that mission can extend far beyond the individual candidate.

Q5: How does your role contribute to Reeracoen’s mission of “creating a wonderful future with those pursuing happiness”?

I see my role as “creating a ‘Happy Spiral’ that spreads to everyone involved by helping as many jobseekers as possible realise their dreams of working overseas.”

If I can help even one person successfully take on the major challenge of working overseas, it does not simply expand that individual’s career. The local company that gains excellent talent can grow its business globally, while not only the jobseeker but also the lives and futures of the family members supporting that challenge can become richer and more exciting.

This positive chain, this “Happy Spiral,” begins with the hands-on support provided by us CAs and each matching.

By lowering the barriers to taking on challenges across borders and continuing to sincerely engage with each person in front of us, I want to create more “Wonderful” futures around the world.

This perspective brings recruitment back to its human side. A successful placement can have an impact that extends beyond a job title or employment contract, reaching companies, individuals, families, and their future possibilities.

Growing Through Challenges and Unexpected Moments

Cross-border recruitment can involve many unexpected situations. From changes in regulations to concerns about offer acceptance and differences in expectations, not every career transition follows a straightforward path.

These experiences have also shaped the Career Advisor’s own professional and personal growth.

Q6: Can you describe a moment where you felt proud, emotional, or even “goosebumps” in your job?

Professional growth:
I have developed the “persistence to see things through without giving up” and the “ability to respond to unpredictable, irregular situations.” In cross-border career support, there are many situations that do not go smoothly, such as changes in laws and regulations, concerns about declining job offers, and mismatches in conditions.

I feel that my tenacity to continue searching for solutions no matter how difficult the situation becomes, as well as my adaptability to respond calmly and quickly to unexpected circumstances, have been greatly strengthened.

Personal growth:
Rather than focusing only on my own results and benefits, I have developed a much stronger “awareness of acting more for the sake of others.”

I have developed a stronger desire to meet the expectations of candidates, companies, and the colleagues I work with, and I have naturally become more capable of taking action from the other person’s perspective and providing proactive support.

Through experiences of being close to other people’s lives, I feel that my perspective and capacity as a person have also broadened.

The growth described here goes beyond professional skills. Working closely with people during important career decisions can also change how we understand responsibility, support, and the impact our actions can have on others.

A Culture of Openness, Challenge and Collaboration

For many people, choosing where to build their career is just as important as choosing what role to pursue. The people around us and the company culture we work in can have a meaningful influence on how we grow.

Q7: How have you grown personally and professionally since joining Reeracoen?

Because it has an overwhelmingly “open and approachable atmosphere” and an environment where there are colleagues who inspire and support each other while working towards high goals.

Regardless of position or seniority, there is an open culture where people can freely express and discuss their opinions and ideas, and a culture of supporting challenges is firmly established.

In addition, rather than focusing only on individual performance, the members are highly collaborative and passionate about achieving results as a team. When someone encounters a challenge, others are willing to listen and provide support, and when someone succeeds, everyone celebrates that success as if it were their own.

I can confidently recommend Reeracoen as an exceptional environment for those who want to experience personal growth together with their colleagues in a culture that is both stimulating and warm.

Final Thoughts: Creating Possibilities, One Person at a Time

From encouraging a candidate to consider an opportunity they once thought was beyond their reach, to navigating the complexities of cross-border recruitment, the role of a Career Advisor goes far beyond matching a CV with a job description.

It is about understanding people, communicating honestly, recognising potential, and sometimes having the persistence to keep looking when the obvious path does not work.

This Employee Spotlight offers a glimpse into what career support can mean at Reeracoen: bridging the gap between aspiration and reality while helping people take meaningful steps towards their next chapter.

Every successful career transition starts with a decision to take that next step. And behind some of those steps are people who believe in the possibilities, even before the candidate sees them themselves.

At Reeracoen, we will continue working alongside candidates and companies to create meaningful connections and build more “Wonderful” futures across borders.
 

Interested in joining Reeracoen Malaysia?
Apply here: https://www.reeracoen.com.my/en/recruitments