人 事(じんじ)

じんじ

noun

personnel affairs, HR; human affairs

businesswork

1. personnel affairs, human resources

Matters related to hiring, firing, transfers, and management of employees.

人事(じんじ)部(ぶ)に連絡(れんらく)してください。

Please contact the HR department.

来月(らいげつ)、大(おお)きな人事(じんじ)異動(いどう)がある。

There will be major personnel changes next month.

人事(じんじ)課(か)で働(はたら)いている。

I work in the personnel department.

人事(じんじ)評価(ひょうか)の時期(じき)だ。

It's time for personnel evaluations.

人事(じんじ)異動(いどう)で転勤(てんきん)になった。

I was transferred due to a personnel change.

人事(じんじ)担当者(たんとうしゃ)に相談(そうだん)した。

I consulted with the HR person.

2. human affairs; what lies within human power

An older sense, met almost only in the proverb 人事(じんじ)を尽(つ)くして天命(てんめい)を待(ま)つ: what a person can do, as against what is left to fate.

人事(じんじ)を尽(つ)くして天命(てんめい)を待(ま)つ。

Do your best and leave the rest to fate. (proverb)

人事(じんじ) is personnel management — hiring, transfers, evaluations, and the department that handles them. In business Japanese it is one of the standard department names, alongside 経理(けいり) and 総務(そうむ).

Common collocations

人事(じんじ)部(ぶ) (HR department, personnel department)
人事(じんじ)異動(いどう) (personnel transfer, job reassignment)
人事(じんじ)評価(ひょうか) (personnel evaluation)
人事(じんじ)担当(たんとう) (the person in charge of HR)

Watch the reading

Sense 2 is confined in practice to the proverb 人事(じんじ)を尽(つ)くして天命(てんめい)を待(ま)つ (do everything you can, then leave the rest to fate). Outside it, 人事(じんじ) means HR.
The similar-looking 他人事(ひとごと), 'someone else's problem', is a separate word with its own reading.

Related Words

Related: 他人事(ひとごと) (someone else's problem)

Related: 配属(はいぞく) (assignment)

Compare: 労務(ろうむ) (labor affairs)

Compare: 起用法(きようほう) (method of personnel selection)

core

Added 2026.1.13 20:15 · Revised 2026.9.4 21:29

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