Here are the Top Hiring Trends in Singapore Right Now

As the pandemic ushers in a new era in the working world, there are three top trends set to influence Singapore's hiring scene according to Hays Singapore:

1. Remote working
2. Infrastructure
3. Cybersecurity demand

Regional director of Hays Singapore Grant Torrens says that more workers are in favour of working from home or flexible working options even beyond the pandemic. 

“Whilst some critical roles may still require a physical office space, the work-life balance offered by flexible working has set a precedent for the months to come,” he adds, anticipating more businesses to these arrangements on a permanent basis, or implement hybrid working models where 50% of staff can work remotely and the other in the office on a rotational basis.

Companies are also moving away from the face-to-face model and adapting remote meetings and ways of working through emails and video conferencing tools. "More businesses are also looking into offshoring and moving their call centres to regions with low overhead costs like Malaysia or India,” Grant said.

Hays also added that contracting activity has stayed mostly normal, with completed contracts coming up for renewal as per usual. The retail sector also records an increased demand for contractors as they try to recover their losses. Other sectors following this trend are healthcare, medical, manufacturing and professional services. 

As more companies upgrade their remote working capabilities for the long term, there is a high demand for network engineers, technical support and system integrators. This is also the same for cybersecurity job roles now that more companies move to cloud-based systems and servers that need digital protection.

There is a high demand for tech support and cybersecurity jobs in Singapore.

Grant stated that even though these industries are seeing growing demand, there is still not enough candidates in the market. This makes an opportune time for professionals in this sector to make a move. Other sectors that continued to see sustained hiring activity are: 

• Life sciences sectors, such as supply chain, nutrition and pharmaceuticals.
• Affiliate manufacturing companies dealing with medical equipment or latex gloves.

As the pandemic proves the importance of the telecom sector in enabling businesses and individuals to stay connected, the industry sees an increased hiring demand across the board which includes engineering, marketing, IoT, analytics and cloud technology functions. Continued hiring activity is also seen in the e-commerce space as it experienced a boom through the pandemic. 

Additionally, the education sector has seen significant movement and development in online learning as a result of social distancing measures. This has been further stimulated by the Singapore government’s decision to give out personal laptops or tablets to secondary school students by next year.

For banking and finance services, many organisations are taking a 'wait and watch' approach across all business activity as the sector saw a large wave of internal alignment.

Hiring for critical roles still continues but with a refreshed focus on local candidates as borders are likely to remain tightly controlled for some time to come. Fintech also continues to develop, with current hiring activity focused more on IT or data security-related roles.

Grant stated that though the recent period of crisis has been hard for both job seekers and organisations alike, the direction of its resulting changes remains definitively positive.

“A key strategic priority for businesses in Singapore at this time should be to ensure their employees and managers are equipped with the right skills to not just adapt but thrive in the new world of work,” he concludes.

Source: Singapore Business Review

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