Tech Recruitment in Singapore 2018 - evolutionjobs.com · Tech Recruitment in Singapore The Year...

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#13-01 Anson House,72 Anson Road, Singapore 079911

Tech Recruitment in Singapore:The Year Ahead 2018

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Mike LathamManaging Director APAC,Evolution Recruitment Solutions

Chris HopkinsRegional Director APAC,Evolution Recruitment Solutions

Jake BridgeClient Solutions Director,Evolution Recruitment Solutions

Tech Recruitment in Singapore:The Year Ahead 2018

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Trends Impacting Tech Recruitment in Singapore

Developments that will affect Singapore’s tech industry

Staying Ahead of the Talent Game

The Evolution Experience

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Trends ImpactingTech Recruitment

in Singapore

4Tech Recruitment in Singapore:The Year Ahead 2018

Businesses are becoming more data- and technology-driven. It’s not just the tech companies - traditional businesses like banking and retail are moving their services online in a bid to stay competitive and meet customers’ evolving demands. These will lead to increased competition for tech talents. With more companies competing for the same skill set, the demand for tech talents is high and salaries in this sector will continue to increase in 2018. In 2017, technology sector salaries increased by 4%. This same figure is projected to be 4.1% in 20181.

Trend 1: Tight market fortech talents continues into 2018


Trend 2: It’s not just about the money

Various studies indicate that candidates are increasingly looking past just monetary benefits when deciding whether to accept a job offer. Other factors that they consider include career development, work-life balance, sense of purpose, culture and employer’s reputation. This means that although young companies and startups may find it challenging to find the right talents in a tight labour market, with the right employer branding, a well-designed compensation package and a structured employee engagement programme, they can still win in the talent game.

Trend 3: Focus is shifting to candidate experience, not just making the hire

With the competition for tech talents at an all-time high, companies are counting on using their candidate experience to get ahead of the pack. Candidate experience is a complex concept that includes sourcing, recruiting, interviewing, hiring and on-boarding processes. It is nothing new, but it has taken employers a long time to finally realise its far-reaching impacts on the employer brand, job offer acceptance rates and even bottom lines since candidates are often customers too. It is no longer enough to simply fill roles, it is about attracting, retaining and engaging the right talents.


78%of candidates say the overall candidate experience they receive is an indicator of how a company values its people2.


82%hiring managers say they view the candidate experience as very or extremely important3.


The contract market in Singapore is likely to continue growing in 2018. Contracting has been commonplace in the U.S. and UK for years. In Singapore, candidates are beginning to understand and recognise the benefits of taking on positions on a contract basis, such as having the freedom to work on projects that really excite them. With the government forecasting a volatile economy at a growth rate of 2-3% in 20184, companies will prefer to err on the safe side. They will be inclined to use contractors to keep their

Trend 4: Mode of employmentshifting to contracting

organisation lean and nimble, while supporting their growth. With this, companies will need to acquire competencies in managing contractors, in areas of payroll, compensation, career progression, employee engagement etc.

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Developmentsthat will

affect Singapore’stech industry


Smart NationSmart Nation is Singapore’s government initiative to harness infocomm technologies, networks and big data to create tech-enabled solutions. The initiative was officially launched in 2014 and will empower citizens to come up with their own solutions by making use of readily available information, instead of relying on the government for problem-solving. Technology startups will likely benefit from this initiative as the government plans to support them by doing business with them rather than administering grants5.

Singapore’s Smart Nation dream hinges much on Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT). These areas are expected to see accelerated growth and companies specialising in these areas will be looking for talents to stay competitive6. Big data and IoT are fields that produce a large amount of data. The continued focus in these areas means that demand for data analytics professionals will also remain high.


Artificial IntelligenceArtificial Intelligence (AI) has received a lot of attention in Singapore recently, with the launch of AI.SG initiative and Data Science Consortium. The AI.SG initiative will receive S$150 million in funding over the next five years and it will see Singapore-based research institutes partnering AI start-ups and companies to develop deep capabilities in AI, as well as grow AI innovation and adoption in companies7. The three main areas of focus are finance, city management solutions and healthcare.

The Data Science Consortium will strengthen collaboration between institutes of higher learning, research institutes and the industry. The consortium is anchored by Singapore’s top three universities, the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Management University, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the nation’s public agency that drives scientific discovery and technological innovation8. These institutes will train Singapore’s local talent pipeline with deep data science capabilities.

The lion city is also expected to have the world’s largest AI hub come 2018. The hub serves as a place for AI startups to test out new technologies and commercialise their products in a more systematic and organised manner. This development is expected to draw the world’s leading AI talents to Singapore9,10.

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CybersecurityThere is currently a global shortage of cybersecurity professionals11. To boost the local talent pool of cybersecurity professionals, the nation’s Cyber Security Agency is partnering leading industry partners to set up a new academy to train cybersecurity professionals. At the same time, the nation is developing a new Cybersecurity Bill which is expected to raise the standards of cybersecurity vendors in Singapore12.


RoboticsSingapore government is hugely supportive of the growth of the robotics industry, and plans to create an ecosystem that is competitive and differentiated13. It recognises the immense potential of the industry, which is projected to see a global growth from US$20 billion today to US$80 billion by 2025. The National Robotics Programme was launched in 2015 to drive and coordinate robotics technology research, solutions development and adoption across the public and private sector.


CloudContinued growth in cloud adoption will fuel demand for professionals in DevOps practices and cloud platforms like AWS, Azure and Google Cloud platform. Globally and in Singapore, “Cloud and Distributed Computing” is the top in-demand skills in 2017. This will continue in 2018 as companies know that they need talents in these areas in order to stay competitive.


Staying Aheadof the

Talent Game


According to our in-house research14, majority of tech professionals still see salary as a main reason for accepting a new job offer (25%); however, the types of project and work challenges is also a major factor (22%).

Additionally tech professionals are increasingly looking for more flexibility in terms of work hours. Location and culture are important factors as well.

Compensation is more than just salaries

According to data from LinkedIn, 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before applying for a job. Employer branding plays an important role in attracting the right candidates to join the company. This is particularly true for small and young companies, as candidates do not know much about the company.

Focus on Employer branding

A candidate is more likely to accept a job offer if he or she had a positive candidate experience. Even if there was no offer, the candidate is more likely to apply for a position with the same company again in the future. Furthermore, with social media, it is easy to spread word about a negative candidate experience. According to Talent Board, 36% of candidates use sites like Glassdoor to find out the inner workings of an organisation prior to applying. Hence, investing in candidate experience would have an impact on employer branding too.

To access resources on improving candidate experiences, visit www.evolutionjobs.sg.

Focus on Candidate experience

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1http://www.businessinsider.sg/tech-companies-

in-singapore-are-set-to-boost-their-2018-salary-b

udgets-here-are-the-jobs-to-go-for/

2,3CareerBuilder, Candidate Experience from

End-to-End, 2017

4http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singa

pore/singapore-s-economic-growth-could-excee

d-3-this-year-says-pm-lee-9420224

5https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

17-08-22/singapore-says-it-s-seeking-business-w

ith-startups-to-spur-them

6https://www.forbes.com/sites/federicoguerrini

/2015/03/12/how-in-less-than-a-decade-singa

pore-wants-to-become-a-smart-nation/#68a231

9b7ad9

7http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singa

pore/singapore-s-artificial-intelligence-capabiliti

es-to-get-s-150m-8813174

8http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/arti

cle/2116290/why-tech-giants-see-singapore-nex

t-artificial-intelligence-hub

References

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9http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/technology/sin

gapore-to-offer-worlds-largest-ai-hub-marvelstone

10http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies

-markets/marvelstone-to-launch-worlds-largest-ai-h

ub-in-singapore-next-year

11http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapo

re/singapore-s-cybersecurity-skills-shortage-why-it-

matters-7762864

12http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business

/singapore-to-have-new-academy-to-train-cybersec

urity-9229314

13https://www.edb.gov.sg/content/edb/en/industri

es/emerging-businesses/emerging-businesses.html

14https://www.evolutionjobs.com/uk/what-it-profe

ssionals-want/

Want to grow your team?Contact us.


+65 6511 4080

72 Anson Road, #13-01 Anson House, Singapore 079911

www.evolutionjobs.sg

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Tech Recruitment in Singapore 2018 - evolutionjobs.com · Tech Recruitment in Singapore The Year...

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