High demand for digital skills in Singapore

Digitalisation and automation will continue to drive growth in 2021, says Randstad Singapore, which has just released its 2021 Market Outlook Report for recruitment in 2021.

Jaya Dass, MD for Randstad Malaysia and Singapore said, “The increasing focus on digital transformation will no doubt drive talent demand and shape the local workforce in 2021. There will be higher demand for technologists and digitally-adept professionals skilled across all functions and industries.

“The fear of uncertainty due to the virus outbreak has very much dictated the climate in 2020, and businesses are likely to remain cautiously optimistic in 2021, depending on the rate of market recovery. With change and innovation as a constant, companies must stay agile and find new pockets of growth in 2021. As a global talent recruitment agency with a strong local market focus, it is important for us to start putting people to work so that we can achieve recovery and growth together.”

“There is an ongoing and severe shortage of technologists across the world. Border control measures have only made it more challenging for companies to attract these highly sought-after candidates,” said Daljit Sall, Senior Director of Information Technology recruitment at Randstad Singapore.

The company forecasts more demand for developers (software developers, engineers, mobile, user experience/user interface [UX/UI], digital transformation, data scientists, cloud architects and cybersecurity experts.

The majority of demand is driven by small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that need to develop their technical competency and sophistication. Software engineers who have worked in big tech companies are highly sought-after due to their technical expertise, industry exposure and experience, for example. On the other hand, multinational companies are more likely to hire digital transformation experts.

The interest in cloud services has created a spike in demand for cloud architects, stated the report. Cloud architects who have managed big transformation projects and can look at the big picture are in demand.

As organisations take on the responsibility for cybersecurity, experts in cloud security, risk management, threat intelligence, governance as well as data privacy and security will all be in demand.

Sall advised employers to budget more time and money for each hire. “Instead of setting a fixed time and budget to hire, be flexible with it. Companies should also plan their talent recruitment strategy ahead of time rather than react to market developments. Candidates tend to engage with companies that contacted them first, so employers that engage with their talent early on will have a lead when hiring,” he said.

Randstad also suggested using remote employees to address talent shortages and remain agile, but cautions that the workforce should not be fully cloud-based as "it is difficult to replicate the energy of a dynamic office culture".

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