Social media may be a big part of people’s daily lives in Singapore, but it remains the least favoured way to find a new job according to a poll conducted by recruiting experts, Hays.
“Our latest Hays poll reveals that the highest proportion of respondents in Singapore (45 per cent) rely on online job boards to find a job while 31 per cent turn to personal networking,” says Lynne Roeder, Managing Director of Hays in Singapore.
“Singapore has among the world’s highest internet connection speeds making ‘job shopping’ online easier than in many countries, but it’s interesting to see that personal networks still rank above virtual networks when it comes to job hunting,” says Lynne.
“Research released earlier this year revealed that social media is now part of daily life for up to 70 per cent of Singaporeans but only 24 per cent of respondents in our latest Hays poll turn to social to look for a new job opportunity,” she says.
“Job boards are a great way to get an overview of what roles and skills are in demand, but personal networks offer a way to hear about a job before it’s advertised as well as to learn about the work culture of an employer from someone with inside knowledge.”
“Recruitment consultants should be part of a candidate’s personal networking efforts as they can offer insights on both, market trends and what opportunities are coming to the market. They are also able to share tips about what employers are looking for in their next hire,” says Lynne.
Half of the candidates polled in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Malaysia nominated job boards as their preferred job hunting option while in Japan, that figure was 40 per cent.
Personal networking was the second most favoured option for job hunters in Malaysia (39 per cent), Japan (35 per cent), Hong Kong (34 percent) and Mainland China (32 per cent).
Japan has the highest proportion of job hunters that use social media at 25 per cent and Malaysia the lowest at only 11 per cent. In Hong Kong, 16 per of respondents reported using social media to job hunt while in Mainland China that figure was 18 per cent.
The poll was conducted online at www.hays.com.sg between June and September 2017
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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 2017 the Group employed 10,000 staff operating from 250 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2017:
– the Group reported net fees of £954.6 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £211.5 million;
– the Group placed around 70,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 240,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 24% of Group net fees were generated in Asia Pacific, 49% in Continental Europe & RoW (CERoW) and 27% in the United Kingdom & Ireland;
– the temporary placement business represented 60% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 40% 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