What Confidence does

Interworks Confidence Inc. (株式会社コンフィデンス・インターワークス, TSE: 7374.T, branded as Confidence / CIW) is a Japan-based, segment-specialized HR services company founded in 2014 and headquartered in Shinjuku, Tokyo. It operates a four-line service portfolio — Staffing & Freelance (人材派遣 & フリーランス), Career / Recruitment (人材紹介), Outsourcing (アウトソーシング), and Media & Solutions (メディア＆ソリューション) — focused primarily on the Japanese game and manufacturing industries. The company employs 501–1,000 staff and serves both enterprise clients (game studios, publishers, and manufacturers needing dispatch, permanent placement, and outsourced operations) and individual candidates (new graduates, mid-career professionals, and freelance creators), with a dedicated creator-dispatch sub-brand at confidence-creator.jp.

The underlying operating technology is the company's accumulated HR-domain expertise and media-site operational know-how, applied across a vertically integrated platform rather than a single software product. There is no public API, SDK, or documented AI/ML system; differentiation rests on domain specialization in two narrow verticals, an owned job-media platform that also generates advertising and listing revenue, and a recurring primary-research publication — the 製造業平均賃金調査 (manufacturing industry average wage survey) — that functions as a proprietary labor-market data asset. Certifications include the JIPDEC Privacy Mark for personal-information handling, and recent brand credibility is reinforced by the 2026 BIZREACH JAPAN HEADHUNTER AWARDS Executive Division MVP.

The revenue model is a hybrid of recurring dispatch/freelance fees (subscription-recurring), success-fee permanent placement and executive search (transaction fee), project-based outsourcing (managed services), and advertising/listing revenue from the owned job-media platform (advertising). Go-to-market combines direct enterprise sales for staffing/outsourcing contracts with self-serve candidate applications through ciw.jp and the creator-dispatch site. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. The company maintains a comprehensive IR program including an English IR microsite, a note.com IR magazine, dividend policy disclosures, and 12 annual shareholder meeting notices, confirming its status as a publicly listed Japanese kabushiki kaisha with no disclosed parent company and no controlling-shareholder information in the source data.

Name

Confidence

Legal name

株式会社コンフィデンス・インターワークス (Interworks Confidence Inc.)

Website

https://confidence-inc.jp

Company type

Public

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Interworks Confidence Inc. (TSE: 7374.T) is a Japan-based, segment-specialized HR services firm founded in 2014 that provides staffing dispatch, freelance, permanent placement, outsourcing, and media services to the Japanese game and manufacturing industries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialized HR Services (Staffing, Recruitment, and Outsourcing)

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services (56131)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Equity Compensation & Global Share Plan Administration (BPACAHAI)

Keywords

• Specialized staffing services
• Game industry recruitment
• Manufacturing workforce solutions
• Executive headhunting Japan
• HR outsourcing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Staffing dispatch and freelancer services: "人材派遣 & フリーランス" — recurring dispatch fees and freelancer placement fees from client companies for supplied workers and creators.
2. Recruitment / headhunting placement: "人材紹介" — success-fee-based permanent placement and executive search services (BIZREACH Japan Headhunter Awards 2026 Executive MVP recognition).
3. Outsourcing services: "アウトソーシング" — project-based or managed service contracts where the company delivers work product on behalf of clients.
4. Media & Solutions: "メディア＆ソリューション" — advertising, job listing, and solution revenue from the company's job media platform.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Confidence is a segment-specialized Japanese HR services company that provides staffing dispatch, freelance placement, recruitment/headhunting, outsourcing, and job-media solutions focused primarily on the game industry and the manufacturing industry. Its four core service lines (Staffing & Freelance, Career/Recruitment, Outsourcing, and Media & Solutions) are delivered through direct enterprise sales in Japan and supported by an owned job-listing media platform, including a dedicated creator-dispatch sub-brand.

Product overview

Interworks Confidence Inc. (株式会社コンフィデンス・インターワークス, also branded as Confidence / CIW) is a Japan-based segment-specialized HR services company that operates a multi-service portfolio rather than a single product. The offering is organized around four core service lines — Staffing & Freelance (人材派遣 & フリーランス), Career / Recruitment (人材紹介), Outsourcing (アウトソーシング), and Media & Solutions (メディア＆ソリューション) — primarily serving the games and manufacturing industries, with the Media & Solutions line encompassing dedicated sub-brand recruitment media such as the creator dispatch recruitment site (confidence-creator.jp). The four services share the company's accumulated HR knowledge and media-site operational know-how, and together form Confidence's HR business platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Staffing & Freelance (人材派遣 & フリーランス) Staffing dispatch and freelance professional placement services providing flexible workforce support to client companies, with primary focus on the games and manufacturing industries in Japan.
• Career / Recruitment (人材紹介) Recruitment, career placement, and headhunting services that connect professionals with hiring companies and support job seekers in realizing their careers, including executive search recognized by the BIZREACH Japan Headhunter Awards 2026 Executive Division MVP.
• Outsourcing (アウトソーシング) Business process outsourcing services that leverage the company's accumulated HR expertise and operational know-how to handle client back-office and operational functions.
• Media & Solutions (メディア&ソリューション) Operation of job-listing media sites and HR-related digital solutions, applying the technology and know-how gained from running media sites to deliver advertising, job listings, and solution offerings to the game and manufacturing verticals.
• Creator Dispatch Recruitment (クリエイター採用（派遣）) Dedicated recruitment site for the company's creator dispatch service, focused on placing creators with client companies in the game and related industries.

Quantifiable outcome

• Winner — JAPAN HEADHUNTER AWARDS 2026 Executive Division MVP (BIZREACH-organized)

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• BizReach: Operator of Japan's leading direct-recruitment / executive-search platform and organizer of the JAPAN HEADHUNTER AWARDS where Confidence won the 2026 Executive Division MVP. Closely comparable on the executive-search and headhunting line and a channel partner/ecosystem anchor for Confidence's career placement services.
• WDB Holdings: Japanese listed staffing group specializing in scientific, R&D, and technical placements including manufacturing-adjacent roles. Comparable to Confidence as a public Japanese specialist recruiter, with similar vertical focus on technical/manufacturing talent pools.
• en Japan: Public Japanese HR services company operating job media platforms (en-ten, en-arb Nab) and recruitment / placement services. Directly comparable as a domestic competitor in job-listing media and mid-career placement, overlapping with Confidence's Media & Solutions and 人材紹介 lines.

Broad incumbents

• Indeed Japan: Japan-facing job-listing platform owned by Recruit Holdings. Comparable to Confidence's Media & Solutions line as a marketplace/listing destination where employer demand and candidate supply are matched digitally.
• Persol Holdings: Major Japanese staffing and HR services group offering dispatch, placement, and outsourcing across multiple industries. Comparable to Confidence as a public Japanese HR services peer with similar service-line breadth, though serving broader verticals.
• ManpowerGroup Japan: Japan operations of global staffing giant ManpowerGroup, providing dispatch and placement across industries. Comparable to Confidence as a generalist incumbent competing on dispatch in the same Japanese client base.
• Recruit Holdings: Japan's largest HR services conglomerate operating Indeed, LinkedIn-adjacent job platforms, and broad-line staffing across all industries. Directly comparable to Confidence as the dominant incumbent whose generalist scale overlaps with Confidence's segment-specialized staffing, placement, and media services.

Emerging players

• HRMOS (Hito-Resource Management Online Systems): HR-tech SaaS platform owned by Business Engineering that offers HRIS and recruiting automation to Japanese employers. Comparable to Confidence as a Japan-focused HR services / media-and-solutions peer that targets the same employer buyer with digital tools.
• Akihabara-based game-creator dispatch agencies (e.g., Allied Architects, Geekly): Japanese specialist staffing / dispatch firms dedicated to game creators and engineers (Geekly focuses on game/digital creative talent). Comparable to Confidence's creator-dispatch site (confidence-creator.jp) as direct niche competitors in the game-industry vertical.

Regional players

• Robert Walters Japan: Japan arm of the UK-listed Robert Walters executive search and mid-career recruitment firm. Comparable to Confidence on the executive/headhunting line in the Japan market, including overlap in the same BIZREACH Awards ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Confidence