The present study investigated the criteria used by Japanese college students in selecting a potential employer. A total of 154 undergraduate students majoring in social science at a major private university in a metropolitan area in Japan were asked to rate the importance of four criteria (including interest in work contents, salary, size of the company, and adaptability to corporate culture) when selecting an employer. The policy-capturing method and dominance analyses were used to predict the importance of each criterion, and the results were compared with the ratings obtained using direct questioning. The following major findings were obtained: (1) students valued interest in work contents most highly, while the size of the company was of relatively low importance, regardless of the method used; (2) for salary and students’ adaptability to corporate culture, results obtained using direct questioning were different from those obtained using the policy-capturing method; (3) students prioritized criteria differently according to differences in individual traits such as self-efficacy; and (4) adaptability to corporate culture most strongly affected students’ confidence in joining companies. Based on these results, we discussed appropriate recruitment and selection practices.