The sluggish global commodities market is giving Singapore a competitive edge as it enables multinational companies with a foothold in the city-state to scout for acquisition targets. This will fuel recruitment activity and will be one of the top recruitment trends for 2016, according to recruiting experts Hays.
According to Hays, as a regional financial hub and pricing centre for key commodities in Asia, MNCs in Singapore will recruit fresh talent to consolidate their operations after mergers and acquisitions.
“In 2015 the weak global commodities market ushered in a new wave of M&A deals in Singapore as big MNCs took advantage of the slumbering sector to acquire smaller businesses,” says Lynne Roeder, Managing Director of Hays in Singapore. “Powerful international firms now need to invest in human capital to consolidate their footholds here in Asia’s leading financial and commodities trading centre.”
According to Hays, another top trend to watch out for in 2016 will be the strengthened efforts by MNCs to localise their workforce due to authorities’ push to restrict foreign workers.
“As the Ministry of Manpower targets not only those foreigners with low salaries, but those higher salaried roles, localising the workforce will become a focus for many companies in 2016 to sustain their growth in the local and regional market,” says Lynne. “In 2016 we also expect employers will shift their hiring focus and rather than recruit at the mid to senior level we will see more recruitment at the junior to mid level. With support teams top heavy, this shift in hiring focus is the result of cost control remaining a primary concern.”
Hays’ top 10 talent trends for 2016 are:
- Localisation of the workforce: This will continue to be the focus throughout 2016 and MNCs will train up local residents to fill key positions in their local operations. As The Ministry of Manpower pushes to restrict foreigners, particularly those on S Pass visas, employers find it harder to take on new staff from overseas and an increasing number of visa renewals are being turned down. While this clampdown previously focused on lower salaried roles, in 2016 employers will find it difficult to renew employment passes for higher salaried roles too.
- Increased focus around talent retention/internal mobility programmes: Amidst increasing wage pressure and fiercer competition for talent, companies will increasingly turn their focus to retention and internal mobility in order to gain greater value from existing human capital assets and reduce re-hiring and re-training costs.
- Wage pressure: Expect this to be a hot trend in 2016 as the demand for skilled local professionals and a shortage of highly-skilled talent put pressure on salaries for high-skilled occupations and industries.
- Shift in hiring focus from mid-senior to junior-mid level positions: Many support teams are top heavy after companies spent a year outsourcing and restructuring lower level roles. Add the cost pressures from increasing wages, and in 2016 companies will focus their recruitment efforts more at the junior to mid level, such as analyst and AVP-level positions.
- Consolidation within the commodities sector: Larger commodity MNCs are using the weaker market to acquire smaller businesses, resulting in a reversal of the fragmentation that has formed over the past decade. In 2016 these MNCs will recruit new talent to help consolidate their operations.
- Focus on internal controls / compliance: The costs of being non-compliant have increased exponentially, both from a regulatory point of view as well as from a reputational damage point of view. Companies across all industries will therefore continue to focus on ensuring both internal and external procedures comply with laws and regulations.
- Innovation: Businesses will not only have to embrace innovation from a talent acquisition perspective but to deliver the best talent to their stakeholders. In 2016, expect HR leaders to seek to get ahead of their competitors and lead, not just follow, when it comes to harnessing technology in their talent acquisition strategy. Talent acquisition leaders will have to look at proactively identifying new initiatives to differentiate their organisations in the market in the continued search for their industry’s most talented individuals.
- Digital demand: Managing and analysing data and relating it to problem-solving and strategy execution will be a key topic for many executives in 2016. The ability to make better use of the latest IT will have more of an impact on a company’s commercial performance in 2016 than it ever had before. Many businesses will therefore have a renewed focus on recruiting big data experts in order to control and direct their strategy using data-driven insights and analytics.
- Runaway train: Singapore’s construction industry will see continued demand for engineers with specific rail project experience thanks to the expansion of the MRT network. In particular, we will see demand for engineers and project managers with tunnelling experience, M&E engineers with station and tunnelling experience, signalling design engineers and Permanent Way design.
- Importance of Singapore: Singapore will continue to remain important as a gateway to South East Asia. We anticipate that many positions, particularly within the professional services sector, will be created thanks to the increasing trade and investment relations between Singapore and its emerging market neighbours (particularly Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam). As a result, candidates with regional experience will be at a greater advantage to those who have more of a domestic focus.
For more information on any of these trends or the local recruitment market please feel free to contact your local Hays office.
Hays is located in Singapore at Level 27, UOB Plaza 2, 80 Raffles Place, Singapore. Phone +65 6223 4535 or email
[email protected]
Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people.
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For further information please contact Kerryn Celine, Senior Marketing Executive - South East Asia at Hays, on +61 2 8226 9844 or
[email protected]