Tech hiring spikes across Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines – index | Digital Asia

COMPANIES in Southeast Asia are showing a spike in the hiring of tech talent, with Singapore leading the growth rates ahead of Malaysia and the Philippines in July, according to an employment index.

Jobseeking website Monster.com revealed the findings of the Monster Employment Index (MEI) on Wednesday which gauges online hiring activity across the three countries on a monthly basis.

Recruitment in the tech sector remained strong for Singapore, clocking in 14 percent growth year-on-year.

In July, Singapore bounced back in its availability of tech jobs with annual growth of 1 percent, up from June's six percent decline.

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“Competition to hire professionals with technical expertise and digital skills intensifies in the region as global demand for niche skill sets in areas such as e-commerce, cloud technology, cyber security, web development, mobile and more continues unabated,” Abhijeet Mukherjee, CEO of Monster.com – APAC and Middle East, said in a statement

The company said in Malaysia, the IT, Telecommunications and Internet Service Providers (ISP) and Business process outsourcing (BPO) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) industries charted the most notable year-on-year growth among sectors monitored by the index, at 11 percent.

Malaysia also witnessed an uptrend in annual online demand for Software, Hardware, Telecom professionals for the first time since March 2018, up 2 percent in July.

It index comprises data of overall hiring activity in each country, as well as specific data in the IT and BPO sector.

After six months of decline in hiring, the Philippines bounced back in July, recording two percent positive in the sector, the index said.

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The Philippines continues to register double-digit year-on-year growth for software and telecommunications jobs since December 2017, with figures further rising in July at 25 percent, the index added.

“We are also increasingly seeing organisations recognising the importance of upskilling,recruiting and growing talent in-house, as the MEI reports the majority of jobs posted online are seeking for full-time employees,” Abhijeet said.

“In this supply-constrained market for tech talent, hiring managers from both start-ups and established companies needs to rethink and strategise their recruitment processes and offerings, even working on their employer brand, to attract top talent who may be considering multiple job opportunities at the same time.”