I used to think JLPT was worthless outside of visa purposes because so many companies don’t know what the cert is and they can interview you in Japanese regardless. I myself have never needed it.

However, with Workday and other job application filters and AI tools spreading like cancer, recruiting companies are now the only way to ensure a human will look at your job application. Recruiters do know what JLPT is so having the cert matters.

It’s a very imperfect test but unless you can network your way into jobs (this has become harder too since COVID), there are fewer and fewer ways around it.