Do employers aim to hire from the same pool of candidates?
A new study revealed that employers in Singapore have been hiring or are planning to fill roles in three functions. Employers said these roles will best help them meet their business goals in the post-pandemic world.
Interestingly, employers ranked leaders and managers at the lowest end of their hiring priorities.
Departments who have been actively hiring talent include:
- IT and digital (45%)
- Business operations (39%)
- Sales (29%)
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The study also found a jarring gap between the job functions employers are looking to hire versus what job candidates are applying for.
NTUC LearningHub found that candidates were looking to move into careers in leadership & management’ (39%), ‘business operations’ (32%), and ‘administrative’ (30%).
Overall, three in five employers cited the job market as ‘bleak’.
Seven in 10 employers who have been hiring said it’s been challenging to fill job roles due to a severe skills gap. The shortage of skilled talent was especially pronounced in the built environment (77%), manufacturing (76%) and essential domestic services (75%) industries.
To combat this, employers have been upskilling employees with complementary skill sets (55%), reskilling employees (40%) to take on newly created roles, and proactively attracting local talent (40%) to join their workforce.
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“Digital adoption and business transformation will continue to accelerate across industries, prompting employers to actively re-assess the talent pool they need in order to navigate the new economy,” said Eugene Wong, chairman at NTUC LHUB.
“In the new world order where new information and technologies are being fielded at an exponential rate, employers must lead their companies in upskilling or reskilling to learn in-demand competencies that help companies navigate a COVID-19 economy.”
