Singapore’s economy has been recovering rapidly from the aftermath of the pandemic since 2 years ago and there has been a revival in local labour market conditions with a new inflow of investments to declining unemployment rates to projected salary hikes across all sectors, especially for hot sectors such as high tech industries. In fact, many companies are recovering from their previous inertia in hiring new talents, which resulted in more job openings than job seekers by a factor of 2.

With the recent wave of great resignation, companies in Singapore might have faced challenges in recruiting new talents to fill in the vacuum or for expansion purposes.

Our Client’s Success story in Effective Hiring

We would like to share how one of our clients from Reeracoen Singapore (“Company A”)  has constantly managed to make successful hires within a short period of time. Company A is our biggest client and has been using our services continuously throughout the years. As an MNC with a worldwide presence, they are always on the lookout for bilingual candidates who are able to communicate effectively with their clients as well as their co-workers in their respective branch offices. Company A has requested for 23 unique job openings to be filled and they have made 110 successful hires through our team in their 3 years of partnership with us – this translates to 1 hire for every 4 resumes we sent to them; making 1 hire per 3 candidates interviewed.

In contrast to other companies, Company A has the foresight and drive to adopt a “hire first and train later” strategy for effective hiring. With a well-structured training program to orientate the new hires and a clear focus on the top 3 job requirements for each candidate to fulfill his/her role, Company A is able to maximise its pool of potential candidates and increase efficiency in talent acquisition.

How to hire effectively in the war for talent

Our team at Reeracoen Singapore understands that it may not be easy to fill a role requiring a very specific skill set, nor is it easy to adopt a complete “hire first and train later” strategy due to resource limitations. Our suggestion is to adopt a lean methodology in hiring and minimising over-production and over-processing:

1) Minimising overproduction of resumes

Be specific in your job requirements when you are creating a job description for the vacancy to be filled. Global Staffing Firm Robert Half found that 42% of job applicants do not meet skills requirements but will apply nonetheless. This percentage is even higher in job advertisements with more skills requirements listed. By being more specific in your job description, you would be able to screen the applicants more efficiently with fewer applicants without the required skill set for the role, cutting down on screening time for submitted resumes.

2) Reducing over-processing of candidates

It is advisable to secure an interview quickly with candidates and have just 1 interview with key stakeholders. Multiple interviews take up valuable time and resources for both your company and the candidate. Moreover, multiple interviews risk candidate attrition as candidates may receive competing job offers during the process. Currently, jobseekers receive an average of 3 job offers in a month of job search. So, the faster you provide your candidate with the option to exit the exhausting job search, the more likely he/she is willing to take up your offer.

Our team at Reeracoen Singapore hopes that the above case study and tips would help your company set itself apart from the competition in hiring new talents. If you would like to know more or are planning to make a new hire, please feel free to contact our consultants here. Our professional consultants would be able to advise you on better hiring practices to secure the best talents for your company.