Last year,450 job-seekers went throunh Iwao's training centre in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuaka. He expects 1200 this year. Since competition for jobs in tough, he advises clients to change their way of thinking and look beyond Japan's major corporations to small firms. Iwao has succeeded in the part because he is much like his clients-a middle-aged man facing a mid-career setback who took a gamble and won.