SG Employers Still Searching for Talents
Singaporean employers may have a pessimistic outlook for the job market, but that does not mean the talent war is any way over.
According to the key findings from NTUC LearningHub’s (NTUC LHUB) The New Normal of Sector Skills report, three functions are in hot demand. They include 'IT & Digital' (45%), 'Business Operations' (39%) and 'Sales' (29%).
Overall, half of the Singaporean employers (56%) said they have been hiring or intending to, despite 61% expressing a pessimistic outlook toward the current job market.
When asked about their recruitment experience, seven in ten (72%) employers said it has been challenging to fill roles due to a talent shortage with the required skill set. It was most apparent in those in the built environment (77%), manufacturing (76%), and essential domestic services (75%) industry clusters.
In addition to searching for recruits, Singaporean employers are plugging skills gaps. The survey showed that they had been upskilling employees with complementary skill sets (55%), reskilling employees (40%) to take on newly created roles, and proactively attracting local talents (40%) to join their workforce.
“Digital adoption and business transformation will continue to accelerate across industries, prompting employers to actively reassess the talent pool they need in order to navigate the new economy,” said Eugene Wong, chairman at NTUC LHUB.
For employees, ‘leadership & management’ (39%), ‘business operations’ (32%), and ‘administrative’ (30%) are the top three business functions for a stable job and career.
Two in three (66%) employees felt they needed to upgrade their skills to move to another industry that may be more resilient.
About one-third (31%) of the respondents are open to moving into the healthcare industry, while 23% are open to moving to biopharmaceuticals manufacturing and 21% are open to moving to infocomm technology.
Among this group of respondents, employees from the built environment and trade & connectivity industry clusters felt the strongest need to move to another industry.
“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,” said Wong.
“It is heartening that more employers now see the value in upskilling and reskilling their employees, and many are also ramping up their efforts to attract our local talent pool. This signifies a bright spot for individuals who are reassessing their career paths, and they can leverage upskilling and reskilling resources to capture opportunities in these areas,” he added.
Image credit: iStockphoto/Ponomariova_Maria
