Where Paradox Becomes Potential—Behind the Scenes of a Recruitment Branding Project | Project Story

What’s the plot of PJ?

What was the goal of this project?

My goal for this project was to articulate the “true appeal” of open positions and identify “who they’re a good fit for and who they aren’t,” and to convey that information accurately to candidates.

We wanted to do more than just revamp our corporate website; we wanted to lay the groundwork for reducing hiring mismatches and connecting with the talent needed to support our business growth.

To that end, we needed to re-examine the company’s philosophy, culture, and hiring criteria, and ensure consistency across our career site, recruitment pages, blog, and even the content we discuss during interviews.

The main goal of this project was not only to increase the number of applications, but also to ensure that the opportunity reached the right people—those who could thrive in an open environment—while allowing those who weren’t a good fit to sense that it wasn’t the right match for them from the outset.

When does this initiative start and end?

The project got off the ground in earnest around November 2025.

We are working toward the launch of the redesigned corporate website and recruitment page around July 2026.

In the initial phase, we conducted internal surveys and interviews with stakeholders to develop our recruitment concept.

After that, we received a proposal for a recruitment concept from an external partner, and through a series of steps—including refining our HR policies, analyzing survey results, and reviewing our recruitment messaging—we finalized the concept.

Who were the members involved, and what was the organizational structure?

As the lead, I drove the project forward from the perspective of human resources and recruitment marketing.

However, this project was not something that could be handled solely by Human Resources.

We moved forward by gathering input from management, business unit leaders, frontline employees, and external partners, and using that to reexamine the company’s identity as “Open” from a company-wide perspective.

By gathering insights not only from the perspectives of recruitment and human resources but also from the leaders driving the business and employees actively making a difference, we were able to find words rooted in the reality of the company—rather than just polished marketing copy.

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What sparked the project?

What was the customer’s challenge?

The challenge I initially identified was that candidates weren’t getting a clear enough picture of “what kind of company Open is” and “what kind of people thrive here.”

While reasons for joining the company included compensation, job responsibilities, opportunities for growth, and the appeal of the people there, some employees also reported feeling a disconnect between their expectations and the actual company culture and job responsibilities after joining.

In other words, it wasn’t that the company lacked appeal; rather, its true nature wasn’t being fully conveyed at the initial stage.

Open, in particular, is a company that offers a great deal of autonomy, moves at a fast pace, and requires employees to think for themselves and take initiative.

We believed that proceeding with the hiring process without fully conveying that reality carried the risk of a mismatch after the candidate joined the company.

Why did they start taking action at this particular time?

A major change was that the focus of our recruitment efforts had shifted from “building a talent pool” to “improving the quality of hires.”

Until now, the priority has been to increase the number of applicants and lay the groundwork for our hiring efforts.

However, as the business grew, what we needed next wasn’t simply to hire people, but to find the “core talent” who would support Open’s growth.

While the company’s stability as a publicly traded firm was growing, another challenge was how to convey the inherently challenging and rapidly changing nature of the open-source environment.

Although it appears to be a stable company, in reality there are many instances where it has to build its own business from the ground up.

We needed to accurately convey that gap in our recruitment message.

What was the original hypothesis?

Our initial hypothesis was that the appeal of open organizations cannot be fully explained by factors such as “an environment for growth” or “discretion” alone.

What became clear through interviews and surveys is that, at first glance, seemingly contradictory elements coexist within the concept of “open.”

“Open is a publicly traded company, yet it has the kind of chaos you’d expect from a startup. It’s logical, but in the end, it’s down-to-earth. It encourages independence, yet it never abandons those who take on challenges. I came to believe that this very contradiction is a strength that no other company possesses.”

I’ve come to believe that it is precisely these contrasting elements that define what it means to be “open” and that they are what set us apart in the hiring market.

From there, it eventually led to our recruitment concept: “Turning Contradictions into Possibilities.”

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What challenges have you overcome?

What kind of contradictions did you face?

The hardest part was that the very essence of “open” is difficult to explain in a single sentence.

Open is not simply a “company where you can grow” or a “company that offers autonomy.”

Values that appear to be contradictory at first glance—such as freedom and responsibility, rationality and passion, independence and support, and efficiency and single-minded dedication—coexist simultaneously.

To make a recruitment message easy to understand, you need to keep the wording concise.

On the other hand, if you stop down the aperture too much, you’ll lose the complexity and depth of the wide-open shot.

I felt that simply making candidates look attractive wasn’t enough; unless we also communicated the challenges involved and whether they were a good fit or not, we couldn’t truly improve the quality of our hiring.

How did you deal with it?

First, rather than limiting ourselves to superficial copywriting, we began by carefully gathering feedback from within the company.

In interviews with management and business unit leaders, we delved into the characteristics of people who thrive in an open environment, the company’s appeal, and the type of candidates they are looking for.

In addition, through a survey of all employees, we identified their reasons for joining the company, any discrepancies between expectations and reality after joining, the company’s strengths that can be highlighted to prospective candidates, and the work attitudes of high-performing employees.

As a result, it became clear that high-performing employees share common traits such as a “willingness to take on challenges,” a “commitment to results,” “speed,” a “desire for self-improvement,” “ownership,” “the ability to work independently,” and “the ability to see things through to the end.”

At the same time, we also moved forward with the development of our human resources policy.

We explicitly stated that employees are evaluated based on value creation rather than age or tenure; that this is not an easy environment for those who are passive or content with the status quo; and that we consider both results and processes. By doing so, we sought to align our recruitment message with our HR systems and corporate culture.

What did you learn?

What I learned through this project is that employer branding isn’t about “making yourself look good,” but about “communicating accurately.”

Simply listing a company’s selling points won’t lead to a decision on the part of the candidate.

In fact, by sharing details—including the challenges and the types of people who might not be a good fit—you provide reliable information for those who are truly a good match.

Furthermore, a recruitment concept cannot stand on its own as a piece of copy.

Only when you maintain consistency across the board—from HR policies and performance evaluation systems to employee interviews, project stories, job postings, and how you present yourself in interviews—will your message truly resonate with candidates.

I realized that revamping a recruitment website isn’t just about changing its appearance—it’s about sharing the company’s philosophy with the outside world.

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How did you overcome the challenges, and what were the results?

What was the turning point?

The turning point came when we adopted the idea of turning “contradictions” themselves into strengths, rather than forcing a simplification of the complexity of the open system.

Initially, we considered several different directions, such as growth, taking on challenges, and making the most of the company.

However, as the discussion progressed, it became clear that the essence of “openness” lies not in focusing on a single value, but rather in the ability to reconcile conflicting values.

That’s how the concept of “Where Paradox Becomes Potential” was born.

“Instead of choosing one or the other, we aim for both. Instead of avoiding contradictions, we find potential within them. I felt that these words could capture both the true nature of our open culture and the kind of talent we want to hire.”

This way of thinking aligned with both the reality of the open position and the type of candidate we wanted to hire.

What were the results?

As a result, we established “Where Paradox Becomes Potential” as the core concept for Open’s recruitment branding.

This concept has enabled us to express the appeal of our open culture not merely through generic terms like “environment for growth” or “autonomy,” but as a philosophy unique to our company.

In addition, we’ve established a framework that can be applied not only to our career site and recruitment pages, but also to employee interviews, project stories, HR policies, job postings, and efforts to showcase our company’s appeal during interviews.

The results of this initiative cannot be measured solely by the number of applications or hires at this time.

First and foremost, I was able to share the appeal and challenges of the open season—not just through intuition, but in words.

By ensuring that our recruitment concept, HR policies, blog posts, Entrance Book, job postings, and efforts to showcase our company’s appeal during interviews are all connected by a common philosophy, we have laid the groundwork for delivering a consistent message to candidates.

What impact did this have on customers and the organization?

This project not only resulted in the creation of a recruitment website for candidates, but also served as an opportunity for our company to reexamine “who we are.”

As we refined our hiring concept, we gained a clear understanding of the type of talent that thrives in an open environment, the growth opportunities the company can offer, and the characteristics of candidates who are a good fit—and those who aren’t.

This has created a common language that can be applied not only to recruitment but also to interviews, onboarding, performance evaluations, and development.

By sharing not only the positive aspects but also the reality with candidates, you can help them set realistic expectations before they join the company.

I feel that this served as a catalyst for our organization to elevate our recruitment efforts from simply “attracting people” to “communicating our company’s philosophy and meeting future colleagues.”