The current mood in Singapore’s  job market has seen an uplift as the economy is gradually recovering from the Covid situation. For 3Q and 4Q 2021, we saw an encouraging increase in hiring needs of companies which may have withheld hiring theur requirements earlier in the year.

We expect the hiring requirements to be continaully healthy come 1Q 2022 due to the usual timing of candidates looking out for jobs after receiving their expected bonuses (mostly paid during Jan to March for companies).

Key trends for the  job market in Singapore:

Growing trend for part time or contract roles

Given the uncertain economic climate, companies who need resources are turning to offering contract positions (versus perm roles) so that they have the benefit of added flexibility to decide at the completion of the contractor’s assignment on whether they like to extend the employment contract further. The contract period can be 6 months, 1 year or more. We also see some candidates being more receptive to contract roles in light of the challenging economic situation and the trend of the growing contracting job market.

Employment rising for younger fresh grad workers

Given the uncertaintiesin the job economy, fresh graduates are now experiencing a longer job search process which can take at least 6 months or more especially if they graduated with a normal (non-honours) degree with no specialisation. Some fresh graduates have turned to accepting temporary jobs or contract roles in the meantime, while searching for their ideal permanent role.

Employers looking for close to 100% fit before offering role to an external candidate

For companies who are still hiring senior employees, they are taking the opportunity of the higher supply of high calibre senior finance professionals (affected by retrenchment/ restructuring) available in the market and are evaluating and looking for close to a 100% perfect fit before finalising the decision to hire an external candidate. This will mean looking for candidates who are very likely to come from the same industry or have the specialised skills the role requires, so that the candidate can contribute almost immediately from Day 1 of his/ her employment. With this cautious hiring approach, it also means that recruitment cycles are getting longer if the role is not urgent. 

Hot industrty sectors that are hiring include the fintech sector and the investment/ PE sector. Hot roles include data analytics related roles

Not all is doom and gloom! We have seen increasae hiring requirements in certain sectors such as the fintech and the investment/ pe sector in the last 4Q.

Hot roles that are more in demand include data analytics, project management roles etc.