Financial Professionals Job Market Booms in Singapore

The jobs market for financial professionals is booming across Asia, with the total number of job advertisements for professional positions in Singapore up 37% year-on-year (YoY) reports international recruitment consultancy Robert Walters.

The firm has published is Asia Job Index for the third quarter of 2014, which tracks job advertising volumes for professional positions across the leading job boards and national newspapers in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. The Q3 index shows an overall improvement in business confidence and demand for skilled candidates across the region.

“The encouraging increases in job advertising figures were largely a result of the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF), which has elongated recruitment processes and left positions open for extended periods,” said Toby Fowlston, managing director, Robert Walters Singapore.

“Hence, we saw a spike in demand for Singaporean talent and this intensified competition between companies for the best professionals.”

The FCF, a new guideline announced by Singapore’s ministry of manpower in September 2013, requires employers to consider Singaporeans fairly for all job opportunities before hiring employment pass (EP) holders.

Among the firm’s findings on the Singapore market:

• Job advertising in retail increased 45% from 2013 due to the growing affluent population and increased consumer spending.
• The product and logistics operations sector saw job advertising rise 29% due to active manufacturing hubs based in Singapore and the country’s standing as one of the busiest shipping ports in the world.
• Companies continued their focus on talent acquisition as well as compensation and benefits in order to secure top talent, resulting in the increase of HR job advertising by 67% from 2013.
• Significant boost in job advertisements for the legal and compliance sector, which increased by 88% from 2013 as firms strengthened their governance, risk and control efforts to comply with tightened regulations in financial services.

Comments are closed.