SOOL

What SOOL does

株式会社SOOL is a Tokyo-based private HR services company founded in November 2009 by Representative Director Yuma Fukasawa (深澤祐馬). The firm operates mid-career recruitment agency services, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), and EQ-based coaching for both enterprise clients and individual job seekers, with a stated mission of supporting adults who maintain aspirations in order to enable children to dream. It holds a paid employment placement business permit (license 13-ユ-308584) and reports 11–50 employees across its Tokyo headquarters in Ginza and Kanazawa branch, which is co-located in the self-owned SOOL BUILDING facility.

The company's core technology is the proprietary LOTUS assessment — a 100-question online diagnostic that generates a 17-category characteristic report covering introspection, emotional quotient, flexibility, self-esteem, execution ability, ownership mindset, project management, teamwork, listening ability, altruism, decision-making, influence, and other dimensions. LOTUS is delivered both as a paid individual diagnostic (¥5,000 per test) and integrated into a three-tier EQ coaching offering (¥30,000 per individual session, quote-based multi-year corporate contracts). A free public Lotus web service has been available since July 2015 and functions as a top-of-funnel acquisition tool. The firm also operates SOOL Media, an online leadership content platform launched in 2015.

Revenue is generated across five streams: (1) transaction-fee mid-career recruitment agency placements, (2) professional-services RPO engagements covering end-to-end hiring workflow, (3) individual and corporate EQ coaching (with corporate contracts structured as multi-year engagements), (4) recruitment and management consulting, and (5) medical equipment leasing and cosmetics wholesale operated via the Kanazawa subsidiary ecosystem, including wholly-owned SOOL BEAUTY (established January 2020). Distribution is primarily direct enterprise field sales supported by an inbound inquiry channel, complemented by self-service web assessment for individuals and partnership marketing with Aoba-BBT under a METI-accredited reskilling program since May 2024.

Name

SOOL

Legal name

株式会社SOOL

Website

https://sool.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SOOL is a Tokyo-based HR services firm founded in 2009 offering mid-career recruitment, RPO, and EQ coaching to enterprise clients and individual job seekers, leveraging its proprietary 100-question LOTUS assessment for cultural-fit matching, with adjacent cosmetics and medical equipment operations in Kanazawa.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Human Resources Services

NAICS

Employment Services (5613), Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services (56131), Human Resources Consulting Services (541612)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361), Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

HR Service Delivery, Case Management & Employee Self-Service (BPACAPAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Comprehensive HRO (Multi-Process HR Outsourcing) (BPACAKAA), Employee Lifecycle Transactions (Transfers, Promotions, Job Changes) (BPAAAIAE)

Keywords

• Mid-career recruitment
• RPO services
• EQ coaching
• Talent assessment
• HR consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. 人材紹介事業 (Recruitment Agency): Fee-based placement services matching job seekers with companies. Consultants provide detailed matching considering both skills and cultural fit to ensure successful placements that contribute to client profitability.
2. RPO（採用代行）事業 (Recruitment Process Outsourcing): Comprehensive recruitment process outsourcing where SOOL manages the entire hiring workflow from job advertisement creation through selection process management on behalf of corporate clients.
3. EQコーチング事業 (EQ Coaching): Emotional intelligence coaching services that help clients deepen self-analysis during job hunting, discover suitable careers and ideal workstyles. Provides both individual sessions and corporate training programs.
4. 採用・経営コンサルティング (Recruitment & Management Consulting): Consulting services leveraging management consulting, human resources consulting, and recruitment expertise accumulated since company founding.
5. 医療機器リース・化粧品卸売業 (Medical Equipment Leasing & Cosmetics Wholesale): Medical service business including medical equipment leasing and cosmetics wholesale distribution through subsidiary operations in Kanazawa.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

SOOL is a Japanese HR services company that provides mid-career talent placement (recruitment agency), Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), and EQ-based coaching services to both enterprise clients and individual job seekers. It uses its proprietary LOTUS 100-question assessment tool to match candidates with companies based on both skills and cultural fit, and supports enterprise clients through end-to-end recruitment workflow management.

Product overview

SOOL is a multi-service HR solutions provider operating primarily as a human resources placement company with related consulting and service businesses. The core portfolio includes Recruitment Agency, RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing), and EQ Coaching services. EQ Coaching is offered across three tiers: EQ diagnostic (self-service), EQ coaching sessions (individual), and Enterprise EQ coaching (corporate programs). Additional offerings include SOOL Media (leadership content platform) and Lotus (free web-based self-analysis tool with 100-question assessments generating 17-category reports). Related businesses encompass recruitment consulting, management consulting, cosmetics wholesale, medical equipment leasing, and real estate rental, with subsidiary SOOL BEAUTY handling cosmetics manufacturing and sales.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• LOTUS: リーダーシップアセスメントツール - 100問のオンライン・アンケートで内省する力・やりきる力・当事者意識など分野別の適性を可視化するアセスメントサービス
• Lotus
• SOOLメディア

Products and services

• Recruitment Agency Service (人材紹介事業) Fee-based placement service matching job seekers with companies. Advisors with diverse backgrounds provide high-density communication, considering both skills and cultural fit to propose career plans that increase market value. Targeted at mid-career job seekers and enterprise companies seeking talent.
• RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) Service (RPO（採用代行）事業) Comprehensive recruitment process outsourcing where SOOL manages the entire hiring workflow from job advertisement creation through selection process management on behalf of corporate clients. Leverages recruitment industry expertise with experienced directors matching client needs with suitable talent.
• EQ Coaching Service (EQコーチング事業) Emotional intelligence coaching service that deepens self-analysis during job search activities and helps discover suitable careers and ideal workstyles by improving EQ. Offered across individual sessions, EQ diagnostic tests, and corporate training programs.
• Executive Talent Discovery Support Service (経営幹部層に特化した人材発掘支援サービス) Talent discovery support service specialized for executive and management-level positions. Targets companies seeking senior leaders and C-suite executives.
• Mid-career Recruitment Support Service (中途転職支援サービス) Mid-career recruitment support service for professionals seeking career transitions. Complements the core recruitment agency offering.
• SOOL Media (SOOLメディア) Online leadership growth media platform featuring content from entrepreneurs, business professionals, and academic experts in fields including business administration, psychology, and medicine. Designed to attract both job seekers and corporate clients through thought leadership.
• Lotus Self-Analysis Web Service (Lotus（ロータス）) Free web-based self-analysis service featuring 100 questions that generate 17-category characteristic reports for long-term career planning and job change consideration. Includes introspection ability, emotional quotient, flexibility, self-esteem, challenge spirit, execution ability, ownership mindset, and other business-relevant traits.
• LOTUS Leadership Assessment Tool (リーダーシップアセスメントツール「LOTUS」) Business person characteristic analysis service that visualizes aptitude across different fields including introspection, execution, and ownership mindset. Designed for business people aiming to become core organizational members.
• Recruitment & Management Consulting Services (採用・経営コンサルティング事業) Consulting services leveraging management consulting, human resources consulting, and recruitment expertise. Covers recruitment consulting and management consulting as part of SOOL's related business operations.
• Medical Service Business (メディカルサービス事業) Medical service business including medical equipment leasing and cosmetics wholesale distribution operated through the Kanazawa branch office and related company operations.
• SOOL BEAUTY - Cosmetics Business Wholly-owned subsidiary engaged in cosmetics planning, manufacturing, and sales. Located within SOOL BUILDING in Kanazawa.
• BBT Personalized x SOOL Career Support Service Joint career support service combining BBT Personalized's learning platform with SOOL's career consulting expertise. Provides reskilling and career advancement support selected for a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry program.

Quantifiable outcome

• LOTUS tool has been used by ambitious professionals in their 20s and 30s for career analysis
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• 株式会社Aoba-BBTcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 14 May 2024Strategic partnership with Aoba-BBT to launch 'BBT Personalized × SOOL Career Support Service', selected for Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's 'Reskilling Career Advancement Support Business'. Joint service combines BBT's learning platform with SOOL's career consulting expertise.
• エン·eapan株式会社 (En Japan)minorOthers · 22 July 2014Iroots new graduate recruitment business and related job placement operations were transferred to INNOBASE Corporation, a newly established company fully acquired by En Japan. SOOL completed new share issuance and business transfer for the Iroots service expansion.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• En Japan: En Japan is one of Japan's largest online recruitment and job placement firms, operating platforms such as en Japanese job search engine and most directly relevant as the acquirer of SOOL's former Iroots new-graduate scouting business in 2014. It is a direct competitor in mid-career placement and executive search for the same Japanese enterprise clients.
• BizReach: BizReach operates Japan's leading high-class (mid-career/executive) job-matching platform, serving the same enterprise customers seeking experienced talent and the same experienced hire candidate pool that SOOL targets through its recruitment agency and RPO services.
• Robert Walters Japan: Robert Walters is a global mid-career and executive recruitment firm with a substantial Tokyo office, competing head-to-head with SOOL in mid-career placement, executive search, and RPO for Japanese and multinational enterprise clients.
• Hays Japan: Hays is a global professional recruitment firm with deep Japan operations, specializing in mid-career placement across functions like sales, marketing, IT, and life sciences — overlapping directly with SOOL's mid-career recruitment agency business.
• Michael Page Japan: Michael Page is a global professional recruitment firm operating in Japan, focused on mid-career and specialist placement — directly comparable to SOOL's recruitment agency and RPO offerings to enterprise clients.
• Wantedly: Wantedly is a Japanese recruitment and employer-branding platform emphasizing culture fit and mission alignment in hiring — philosophically aligned with SOOL's emphasis on cultural fit, EQ-based matching, and candidate self-understanding through the LOTUS tool.

Broad incumbents

• Recruit Holdings: Recruit Holdings is Japan's dominant HR conglomerate operating Indeed, LinkedIn (minority stake), and numerous Japanese recruitment and staffing brands. It is a broad incumbent whose placement, RPO, and HR tech offerings encompass SOOL's niche across the Japanese market.
• Pasona Group: Pasona Group is a major Japanese HR services provider offering temporary staffing, placement, BPO, and HR consulting — a broad incumbent that overlaps with SOOL's recruitment, RPO, and consulting services for enterprise clients across Japan.

Emerging players

• HRBrain: HRBrain is a Japanese HR tech company providing HRIS, evaluation, and engagement tools. While not a direct placement competitor, it competes with SOOL's LOTUS leadership assessment and enterprise EQ coaching in the people-analytics layer of HR decision-making.

Others

• Aoba-BBT: Aoba-BBT is a Japanese business education and reskilling platform that is itself a SOOL partner in the METI-funded reskilling program. While not a recruiter, it is a strategic ecosystem participant whose learning platform is bundled with SOOL's career consulting to deliver joint reskilling outcomes.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/sool.co.jp

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 SOOL