Hays Accountancy & Finance
January - March 2012
Hotspots
Vacancies have been more sporadic and appearing in diverse areas following the festive season. Product Control continues to be a fluid area, with banks onshoring to Singapore and offshoring to lower cost centres. Regulatory Reporting, Capital Reporting and Basel are continuing to be hot areas and niche skill sets in these areas are in high demand due to the proximity of new regulatory guidelines and Basel 3 requirements.
Within commerce and industry, vacancy activity is greatest in the pharmaceutical, agriculture, information technology, manufacturing, construction and property sectors.
There is also demand in Singapore for technical, specialised and niche candidates.
The coming quarter
The downturn in the banking market has predominantly been surrounding more saturated economies such as Europe and the US. Singapore has somewhat transcended the slumps although there have been a few high profile cases in the Singapore markets, with top banks tending to lose employees at a senior level whilst holding out for the natural attrition to occur at lower levels at the end of the first quarter. However, these mostly seem to have happened and signs are positive that any redundancies that are going to happen have happened and the next two quarters will see a return to a healthier recruitment market.
The commerce and industry sector will see increased vacancy activity this quarter since most companies have their hiring needs for 2012 mapped out. Also as per the normal recruitment cycle, natural attrition will occur as staff leave after bonus payouts.
Employer trends
Recent research has shown that employers still see recruiters as key business partners in finding the best industry talent, especially for in demand skills. This is particularly applicable in banking, where the lead up to bonuses often means candidates become more static and passive in their search. Employers are turning to recruiters for candidates in demand as well as for harder to fill roles, such as those in remote locations or which require niche skill sets.
Cost reduction is still a buzz word and budgets can feel very tight. Consequently bloated relocation expenses, expat packages and big uplifts are avoided. It also means that the likelihood of employers choosing internal candidates, even over more qualified external options, is far more likely.
Furthermore, while Singapore continues to attract overseas talent we have seen a slight fall in the number of candidates relocating as banks cut expatriate and relocation expenses.
Offshoring versus onshoring is a hot topic across all industries as many banks look to integrate functions and cluster operations under shared service and centres of excellence in lower cost centres.
Candidate trends
Candidate levels fell towards the end of last year. The calendar year end, festive period and Chinese New Year all act as barriers to people moving. Upcoming bonuses and promotions also play a big part in lower candidate movement during this time.
However, figures show that many candidates also see this time of year as an appropriate time to lay the foundations for a renewed job search post bonus time. There has been a noted rise in the number of candidates approaching agencies in a passive nature to register and get advice as opposed to urgently looking.
