Online hiring for bankers slip 9% in October

Overall online hiring during the month remained flat.

Online recruitment activity has well and truly come to an abrupt halt across Singapore, as the country witnessed zero year-on- year growth in hiring activity in October 2016.

According to the Monster Employment Index (MEI), Singapore has not seen any annual growth in online hiring activity for the months of August, September and October, signifying employers’ hesitation to increase headcount during uncertain economic conditions.

The MEI is a gauge of online job posting activities compiled monthly by Monster.com. It records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity locally.

With regards to individual industry sectors, the IT, Telecom/ISP and BPO/ITES sector reported 13% annual growth in October – the highest across the industries monitored by the MEI. This is a 4% improvement from 9% year-on- year growth reported in September, and is the only industry seeing a double-digit growth.

At the other end of the scale, the BFSI sector reported a -9% year-on- year decline – the sharpest across all sectors monitored by the Index.

Across all the occupations monitored by the Index, Software, Hardware, Telecom jobs emerged the top growth occupation in Singapore, reporting 25% year-on- year growth in online hiring. This is the group’s fifth consecutive month in the lead.

HR & Admin talent saw the greatest plunge in online hiring at -11% year-over- year in October, faring the worst among the occupational groups.

“As Singapore’s economy continues to go through a prolonged downturn and broader market sentiments remain dampened, it is unlikely that overall hiring activity will pick up anytime soon.

The economy’s exposure to some of the hardest-hit sectors, such as oil and gas, coupled with the sequential decline in GDP are also partly responsible for this sluggish hiring,“ said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director of Monster.com – APAC and Middle East.

“Despite seeing some positive annual growth in online hiring across multiple sectors and job roles, positions are still left vacant, partly due to the disconnect between candidates’ capabilities and their expected remuneration – an increasing common trend in today’s workforce. To remainrelevant in this challenging landscape, the workforce must learn to constantly adapt to new demands and be eager to upskill themselves.”

The Monster Employment Index Singapore is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career websites and online job listings across Singapore.

The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.