Technology candidates remain in short supply in Singapore with demand only likely to grow over the quarter, according to recruitment experts Hays.
However, the latest Hays Quarterly Report reveals that despite the strong competition for talent, Singaporean employers are setting the bar high when selecting their preferred candidate.
“There is a rising number of roles coming to market but most employers are struggling to fill them due to the significant shortage of suitable local candidates,” explains Lynne Roeder, Managing Director for Hays in Singapore.
“Employers are running long recruitment campaigns aimed at Singaporean and Permanent Residents and even re-running those campaigns in an effort to hire locally,” says Lynne. “Where this is not possible, companies are willing to look overseas but the process is a highly selective one in order to secure an employment pass.”
“Despite the strong demand for talent, employers remain focused on hiring candidates with strong 'soft skills',” says Lynne.
“For example, project managers should be proactive problem solvers with the ability to effectively translate the tech world to non-IT colleagues plus be able to demonstrate a willingness to pursue professional development to keep up with the latest solutions and technologies,” Lynne says.
Candidates that meet the requirements are so hard to find that important project work is being put on hold in many organisations or must make do with far fewer resources than needed and this is proving a real struggle for Singaporean companies.
Investment, corporate and private banks are on the hunt for strong project managers able to drive projects across change management, regulatory compliance and business transformation. Candidates must have excellent stakeholder management skills and a proven ability to manage multiple decision makers, costs and people.
Cloud architects have a choice of roles this quarter and in banking and finance, cyber security professionals are in high demand. Corporate and retail banks also have a strong and constant need for big data and analytics experts, data scientists, data warehousing experts and business analysts.
Mobile developers remain in very hot demand too as more companies are looking to build their own mobile applications. Meanwhile, in the banking and fintech sectors, developers of all tech languages are needed to work on almost daily application changes.
We are also seeing steady demand for support and system engineers as many companies continue to struggle to back-fill roles. Singaporean-based firms expanding into South East Asian markets are looking for pre sales and technical sales candidates.
To read the full Hays Quarterly Report, please visit http://www.hays.com.sg/report/index.htm
Hays is located in Singapore at Level 27, UOB Plaza 2, 80 Raffles Place, Singapore.
Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people.
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About Hays
Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Asia Pacific and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe and Latin America. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 30 June 2016 the Group employed 9,214 staff operating from 252 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2016:
– the Group reported net fees of £810.3 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £181 million;
– the Group placed around 67,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 220,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 22% of Group net fees were generated in Asia Pacific, 45% in Continental Europe & RoW (CERoW) and 33% in the United Kingdom & Ireland;
– the temporary placement business represented 58% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 42% of net fees;
– Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA.