Singapore's war for talent remains fierce despite a more upbeat outlook on the economy. Employers struggling to find suitable candidates to fill positions.

Singapore’s war for talent remains fierce despite a more upbeat outlook on the economy with employers struggling to find suitable candidates to fill positions. AFP PHOTO/ROSLAN RAHMAN

Singapore’s war for talent remains fierce

  • Singapore’s war for talent shows more roles require specific specialist expertise.
  • Singaporean tech workers are rejecting job offers.
  • Singapore will need 1.2 million additional digital workers by 2025 to remain competitive.

Singapore’s war for talent remains fierce despite a more upbeat outlook on the economy, with employers struggling to find suitable candidates to fill positions. 

Employers in Singapore are forced to rethink their recruitment practices as job vacancies are at a three-year high. 

According to Jobstreet’s 2021 Job Report, the Computer / IT industry has seen the hiring appetite return to pre-pandemic levels despite a 20.3% dip in 2020 — with this number expected to continue growing. 

Singapore’s war for talent shows more roles require specific specialist expertise

Employers look for fresh talent to fill their open positions as the economy improves. This is to keep up with the rapid changes in technology and the fast-evolving workplace. However, they face two big problems: The job market is flooded with CVs, and most potential candidates do not have the experience or skills required. 

Highly skilled IT professionals are sought-after across all industries with the imminent growth of the information technology industry and rapid adoption of digitalization. 

This highlights the importance of promoting reskilling and upskilling among Singapore’s workforce to meet changing job landscape needs and as more roles require specific specialist expertise.

Tech Talent Expectations

The 2021 Tech Talent Expectation Survey, commissioned by Randstad Singapore and independently conducted by YouGov, showed that only 48% of ICT respondents receive job interview requests at least once a month despite the high demand for tech talent in Singapore.

It also showed that IT candidates are incredibly selective about the types of companies and jobs that they want to work in, especially if they have in-demand skills and plenty of options to choose from. 

Decisive motivating factors for active job seekers include working for tech companies at the forefront of innovation and abundant opportunities for innovative trial technologies. Young tech workers are the most likely to accept job interviews, with 29% of them accepting interview requests 75% to 99% of the time.

Singapore’s technology sector is bracing itself for an exodus of talents as young professionals turn down job offers despite attractive compensation packages and benefits.

One of the reasons for these rejected offers is that the interviewer did not understand the job scope or role they were hiring for. Meanwhile, an overwhelming 96% want to switch their specialisation if given a choice. 

Singapore tech skills gap

In the coming years, tech firms will require a range of skills to promote Singapore and build innovative technology platforms. They will need talent who have experience with emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and professionals with skills in data science and cybersecurity. 

According to a new report commissioned by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Singapore will need 1.2 million additional digital workers by 2025 to remain competitive. 

However, Singapore’s skills in the ICT sector are lacking in “cybersecurity” as the top specialisation followed by “artificial technology, automation and robotics” and “data science/analytics”.

While technology experts, business leaders and policymakers have identified cloud architecture design, cybersecurity, software operations support, web/software/game development, and large-scale data modelling as among Singapore’s top five in-demand skills by 2025.