You're hired : employers planning to add staff

Improved market conditions will trigger a more active recruitment for the first quarter of 2011.

According to Hays' Quarterly Report for January to March 2011, the recruiter found that employers are creating new roles to bolster their teams for the year ahead. According to the report, the fact that employers now need to promptly backfill roles that become vacant following staff departures is another factor.

The report reveals that organisations will use temporary assignments this quarter, particularly at the support level, for projects and to cover workloads while a permanent employee is sourced. In the report Hays notes that there are also more temporary roles coming up with a view to becoming permanent and that such long-term opportunities for temporary candidates have not existed since before the GFC.

Commenting on the Hays Quarterly Report Chris Mead, General Manager of Hays in Singapore said: “Candidate levels will rise in the first quarter of 2011, particularly now that bonuses have been paid. As well as the traditional mentality of seeking a new role in a New Year, more people are now far more confident in the market’s ability to present them with a solid career-advancing opportunity.

“Despite this rise, the demand for certain specialist skills – specifically in banking and finance, IT and oil and gas, will not be met. The shortage of these skills will remain a challenge for employers even as candidates move and employers recruit, creating a busy but tight market,” he said.

According to the January to March Hays Quarterly Report, the following skills are in demand:

Accountancy & Finance:

• Candidates with strong IFRS and accounting policy experience as well as those with Basel and capital adequacy experience.
• Product Controllers across all asset classes, especially commodities and emerging markets.
• The focus on risk management across the board means that internal audit, risk and internal controls candidates are still in high demand.
• In the commercial sector, there has been an increase in finance business partnering roles as employers look for candidates that can add strategic and commercial value.

Banking:

• Wealth management and private banking continues to be an area in great demand.
• Senior banking professionals with strong regulatory and risk management experience, in particular credit risk, portfolio risk, compliance and economic capital.
• Experienced corporate actions and trade support professionals in order to support the growth of global markets trading businesses.
• People with strong networks and proven origination and execution experience for structured trade finance, export finance and project finance roles.

Construction:

• Civil works are driving demand, particularly the underground rail network with the first section of the DTL predicted to be completed by 2013.
• Specific senior positions are still highly sought with an emphasis on local experience from a contractor’s perspective.

Finance Technology:

• Programme/Project Managers through to Developers, particularly those with Temenos T24 and Avaloq product knowledge and experience.
• Architects with experience in Tibco middleware.
• Vendor led technology experience such as Misys Summit (Treasury), Murex and Wall Street (back office) is highly regarded.
• Project Managers, Business Analysts and .Net/Java Developers with specific business knowledge of market risk and credit risk.

Human Resources:

• HR Business Partners, Talent Managers and Learning and Development (L&D) professionals
• Regional roles are another hotspot due to more and global organisations setting up their regional hubs in Singapore.
• Contract/temporary roles are on the increase again as employers wait for their headcount approvals.

Information Technology:

• Strong technical infrastructure, project management and ERP candidates for the banking, telco and industrial sectors.
• There are more permanent roles for Network Engineers and Cloud Computing Consultants.

Insurance:

• Growth in the insurance and reinsurance industry will continue to accelerate in 2011, benefiting from sound economic recovery and further improvements in financial markets.

Office Professionals:

• Personal Assistants with five or more years experience, particularly in the banking and finance industry.
• Project Administrators with specific package experience such as MS Project, Visio and SAP.

Oil & Gas:

• Project controls, procurement and contract, ROV and installation personnel.
• There is also a worldwide shortage of subsea control personnel.

Pharma:

• There is an increase in the number of health economics, market access and pricing and reimbursement roles.
• Quality assurance and compliance professionals are needed to address quality issues within clinical trials and manufacturing processes.

Property:

• Project Managers and Facilities Managers, in particular those with more than six to eight years local experience delivering commercial interior or data centre projects.

Sales & Marketing:

• Sales and business development professionals who can provide ideas to gain market share.
• In terms of marketing skills, SEM, SEO, PPC, viral, web analytics, EDM, social media, are a must.

Supply Chain:

• The main sectors driving growth are aerospace, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and tourism as a result of foreign investment.