Talent Management
Fundamental Approach
We have declared our Group Purpose as "we aspire to create a better world by harnessing the power of financial markets".
In order to further embed our Group Purpose and to maximize our corporate value, we seek to improve our return on equity (ROE) through strategic investment for growth. To this end, it is essential that Nomura's human resources (human capital) generate maximum added value as a professional group pursuing optimal solutions to social issues, and continue to pursue improvements in productivity, creation of new value, and advanced risk management.
Nomura aims to enhance employee engagement by evolving its people strategy from a long-term perspective. Nomura seeks to differentiate intellectual capital that our human capital delivers as a team and further enhance the added value.
Nomura Group's People Strategy
Nomura began its operations in 1925 with 84 employees. Over nearly a century, Nomura has built a solid business franchise both in Japan and internationally, becoming a financial services group that offers a wide range of services. Our employees, who have built this 100-year history, are our greatest asset and the core source of added value for the Nomura Group.
In times of rapid change, we aim to be a team of approximately 27,000 professionals who can fully utilize their abilities and continuously take on the challenge of creating new value. To achieve this, Nomura Group seeks to develop leadership talent and build an organization with high leadership capacity by differentiating our human resource management cycle and fostering a strong organizational culture.

Overview of the Differentiation of the Human Resource Management Cycle
We are committed to developing leadership talent with specialized expertise through a uniquely differentiated human resource management cycle that sets us apart from other companies.
Recruitment
To attract talent capable of contributing to a "team of professionals who continuously take on the challenge of creating new value," we are enhancing career recruitment, job-specific recruitment (including for new graduates), diversifying recruitment channels. We are also working to attract diverse and talented individuals with high abilities and motivation by appealing our attractiveness through programs such as early career programs at overseas locations.
Strengthening Mid-career hiring
To generate new value by advancing existing businesses and developing new ones, we are actively pursuing mid-career hiring (hiring external personnel) as we need diverse talent with advanced knowledge and experience in specialized fields. Since fiscal 2021, global mid-career hiring ratio has consistently exceeded 70%. In Japan, mid-career hiring at Nomura Securities will make up approximately 50% of new hires in fiscal 2023.
Job-Specific Recruitment
We are promoting job-specific recruitment to pursue high levels of expertise and fully transitioned to this approach for new graduates in Japan starting in April 2025. To prevent post-hire mismatches and deepen business understanding, we offer numerous job-specific work experience programs, such as internships. Many prospective employees utilize these programs, which include five-day internships simulating actual work experience and one-day workshops to deepen industry and job content understanding, with a variety of dates and content available. In FY2023/24, approximately 1,500 people participated in our work experience programs. Participants can experience practical tasks, such as making M&A proposals to hypothetical clients and providing a range of services to wealthy individuals, from life plan simulations to inheritance strategies.
Diversification of Recruitment Channels
In 2018, we introduced "Nomura Passport," a recruitment program for doctoral students in science and engineering. Students who pass the selection process are notified in advance of their department assignments and can delay their entry until the expected completion of their doctoral degree. Additionally, their career paths after obtaining their doctoral degrees will not be restricted. Through this program, we aim to attract highly specialized personnel in fields such as AI development, data science, and digitalization.
From January 2023, we have established alumni networks and recruitment strategies in order to stay connected and regularly reengage with our pool of alumni who remain active in the industry and communities. As of March 31, 2024, the number of registrants on the network site has reached approximately 250 people, an increase of approximately 90 people compared to the previous year.
We are also actively engaged in referral hiring (employee-referred recruitment). Introduced in April 2023, the referral hiring system resulted in approximately 20 hires in FY2023/24.
For further details, please refer to the Careers page.
Talent development
Nomura Group is revising its hierarchical hiring system, which previously assumed that all new graduates were hired simultaneously. We are now focusing on the following human resource development policy to enhance professional and leadership personnel development.
Basic Policy of Talent Development
In order to further embed our Group Purpose, "We aspire to create a better world by harnessing the power of financial markets," we aim for Nomura Group people to differentiate themselves by being a professional group that continually takes on challenges to create new added value.
Professional and Leadership Development
When it comes to development of professional talent and leadership talent, after reorganizing the hierarchical training for new employees and managerial staff, we are working to enhance department-led, department-specific training that enhances specialization by department and self-development programs to promote independent career development.
Additionally, we are implementing various selective training programs that promote step-by-step learning with a particular focus on insight, determination and leadership. As a selective training program, we offer opportunities to acquire new perspectives and viewpoints that go beyond ordinary work.
These include self-applied and selective overseas study programs that we have sent employees on for more than 60 years, cross-border learning experiences such as training through secondments to venture companies, and leadership development programs offered by domestic and overseas external organizations such as the Nomura Keiei-Juku* and the Nomura Management School, which are flagship programs for leadership candidates.
Since introducing the overseas study program in 1960, we have sent employees to business and law schools in Europe, the U.S., and Asia annually, providing opportunities to gain expertise and international perspectives. Over the past 60 years, more than 600 employees have participated, many of whom are now active globally.
In the venture company secondment training program launched in 2022, approximately 10 employees are seconded annually to various business sectors to gain experience. These employees learn in a dynamic, hands-on management environment unique to venture companies and bring this valuable experience back to Nomura.
Nomura Keiei-juku - a flagship program of our executive leadership development: Employees selected from the entire Nomura Group participate in this program. The participants have opportunities to have discussions with senior executives to experience their perspectives and to deepen their own vision, self-awareness, and determination as candidates of future management. More than 60 employees have participated in this program since FY 2019.
Department-led training
Division/Department | Training/Program Name | Outline |
---|---|---|
Wealth Management Division | Hierarchy-Specific Training | We offer programs designed to equip employees, from new hires to management, with the skills and mindset necessary for business success tailored to their job levels. |
Contact Center Training | New employees learn the basics of order handling and client communication by managing incoming calls at the contact center. | |
Area-Specific Training | These programs are designed to provide specialized skills and mindsets tailored to the needs of each client. | |
Wholesale Division | Global Analyst Program | New hires from various regions gather in New York for a comprehensive global training program and networking opportunities within the company. |
M&A University | Young employees receive training and tools related to M&A practices from internal and external experts. | |
Finance | Global Finance Training Program | Identified and clarified the necessary expertise and digital skills in finance. We foster data-driven human resource development through digital training by dedicated instructors and finance training by employees, tracking each employee's progress with our system. |
IT | Early Career Program | This program includes sessions by global and regional speakers, networking events, and group work, providing young employees with essential IT and systems knowledge and opportunities to build cross-regional relationships. |
Global Common | Digital IQ University | In today's competitive financial landscape, digital knowledge is crucial. Digital IQ University offers all employees the opportunity to independently improve their digital skills, not limited to IT-related departments. |
Self-development programs
Training/Program Name | Outline |
---|---|
Language Training | We provide language training to enhance practical skills for employees aiming to improve their global business abilities. Private, group, and e-learning courses are available, allowing students to choose the course that best meets their language challenges and learning needs. |
Support for Qualifications | We offer company subsidies to help employees obtain qualifications like CFP, securities analyst certification, bookkeeping certification, certified real estate transaction examiner, DC planner, and CFA, essential for advanced professional roles. |
Nomura Business Academy (NBA) | The Nomura Business Academy (NBA) provides growth-minded individuals with opportunities to choose and pursue their learning independently. We offer NBA Classroom and NBA Portal programs, catering to different learning needs during and outside work hours, providing self-improvement opportunities through a variety of courses. We facilitate access to learning opportunities by expanding the course fee subsidy system and issuing regular newsletters. In FY 2023/24, approximately 6,000 employees across the Nomura Group (Japan) used this service. NBA Classroom is an interactive program where employees learn from each other during work hours, focusing on developing thinking and communication skills essential for leadership. NBA Portal offers about 200 courses in correspondence, e-learning, and in person formats during non-work hours, meeting a wide range of learning needs. We regularly review the course lineup to ensure it adapts to changing environments. |
Performance appraisal
In all regions including Japan, and across all departments and roles, we define the expected actions and competencies required of our employees. We are continually making further efforts to enhance our performance-based compensation system, through ensuring the fairness of performance appraisal and benchmarking employee productivity against external market data. At the beginning of each fiscal year, our employees set their goals aligned with their competencies and the Group's strategy. They have a Mid Year Review and Year End Review with their managers and have open discussions about their achievements and development areas. This performance management / goal management approach ensures proper evaluation and pay-for-performance and drives self-development for all employees. Additionally, continuous performance management and development conversations are conducted throughout the year. Since April 2020, we have introduced a system where all managers in Japan are paid by job type. Global evaluation criteria include "Challenging for the Future" and "Professional Ethics, Risk Management, Compliance, and Conduct".
At Nomura Securities, we introduced efforts to deepen understanding and promote DEI as a new evaluation item in FY 2023/24.
We have also introduced 360-degree feedback (supervisors, peers, and persons under their supervision) globally, and by fostering dialogue between the employee and the evaluators regarding the results, we are supporting the growth and leadership development of employees. In the future, we will seek to unify the targets and timing of 360-degree feedback. To enhance risk management and ensure adherence to the Nomura Group Code of Conduct, we additionally have introduced the ERCC Rating, a compliance and conduct evaluation.
Mobility and advancement
We respect employees’ entrepreneurial mindsets and revamped our internal recruitment system as Nomura Group Internal Recruitment (Nomura Career) in April 2020. Nomura Career is an opportunity for individual employees to develop independent careers and we significantly expanded the scope of this system. The internal recruitment system also includes post-retirement positions to promote independent career development for people of all ages. In FY2023/24, approximately 820 employees applied for the program, and about 300 achieved transfers. Since the revamping of the system in fiscal 2020, we have received a total of 1,800 applications, and 650 employees have transferred. In addition, we introduced career design sheets in Japan in 2023 to support independent career development. These sheets are used to deepen career planning through discussions with superiors and other means. These sheets enable employees to demonstrate their aptitudes and strengths, as well as enhance organizational productivity and competitiveness.
Additionally, from the perspective of appointing talent to key positions within the group and developing successors for such positions, we globally manage a talent pool of individuals with the potential to assume critical roles. Assessments are conducted for these talent pools, and various leadership development programs are provided to the respective employees based on their leadership potential.