Singapore's top 10 talent trends for 2016

The sluggish global commodities market is giving Singapore a competitive edge as it enables multinational companies with a foothold in the city-state to scout for acquisition targets. This will fuel recruitment activity and will be one of the top recruitment trends for 2016.

The full list of Hays' top 10 talent trends for 2016 are:

1. Localisation of the workforce: This will continue to be the focus throughout 2016 and MNCs will train up local residents to fill key positions in their local operations. As The Ministry of Manpower pushes to restrict foreigners, particularly those on S Pass visas, employers find it harder to take on new staff from overseas and an increasing number of visa renewals are being turned down. While this clampdown previously focused on lower salaried roles, in 2016 employers will find it difficult to renew employment passes for higher salaried roles too.

2. Increased focus around talent retention/internal mobility programmes: Amidst increasing wage pressure and fiercer competition for talent, companies will increasingly turn their focus to retention and internal mobility in order to gain greater value from existing human capital assets and reduce re-hiring and re-training costs.

3. Wage pressure: Expect this to be a hot trend in 2016 as the demand for skilled local professionals and a shortage of highly-skilled talent put pressure on salaries for high-skilled occupations and industries.

4. Shift in hiring focus from mid-senior to junior-mid level positions: Many support teams are top-heavy after companies spent a year outsourcing and restructuring lower level roles. Add the cost pressures from increasing wages, and in 2016 companies will focus their recruitment efforts more at the junior to mid level, such as analyst and AVP-level positions.

5. Consolidation within the commodities sector: Larger commodity MNCs are using the weaker market to acquire smaller businesses, resulting in a reversal of the fragmentation that has formed over the past decade. In 2016 these MNCs will recruit new talent to help consolidate their operations.

6. Focus on internal controls / compliance: The costs of being non-compliant have increased exponentially, both from a regulatory point of view as well as from a reputational damage point of view. Companies across all industries will therefore continue to focus on ensuring both internal and external procedures comply with laws and regulations.

7. Innovation: Businesses will not only have to embrace innovation from a talent acquisition perspective but to deliver the best talent to their stakeholders. In 2016, expect HR leaders to seek to get ahead of their competitors and lead, not just follow, when it comes to harnessing technology in their talent acquisition strategy. Talent acquisition leaders will have to look at proactively identifying new initiatives to differentiate their organisations in the market in the continued search for their industry's most talented individuals.

8. Digital demand: Managing and analysing data and relating it to problem-solving and strategy execution will be a key topic for many executives in 2016. The ability to make better use of the latest IT will have more of an impact on a company's commercial performance in 2016 than it ever had before. Many businesses will therefore have a renewed focus on recruiting big data experts in order to control and direct their strategy using data-driven insights and analytics.

9. Runaway train: Singapore's construction industry will see continued demand for engineers with specific rail project experience thanks to the expansion of the MRT network. In particular, we will see demand for engineers and project managers with tunnelling experience, M&E engineers with station and tunnelling experience, signalling design engineers, and Permanent Way design.

10. Importance of Singapore: Singapore will continue to remain important as a gateway to South East Asia. We anticipate that many positions, particularly within the professional services sector, will be created thanks to the increasing trade and investment relations between Singapore and its emerging market neighbours (particularly Myanmar, Indonesia, and Vietnam). As a result, candidates with regional experience will be at a greater advantage to those who have more of a domestic focus.