Transformative policies could lead to more women in leadership roles in APAC

Concept art generated by Blue Willow to illustrate an office discussion. The genders of the people sitting vs standing in the image were not specified in the prompt.

LinkedIn's latest data for the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) has found that women are significantly under-represented in leadership roles across Australia, India, and Singapore.

Despite constituting 49% of Australia's workforce, only 35% of leadership positions are occupied by women, for instance, a statistic that LinkedIn says has been unchanged since 2020. Similar disparities persist in India (23%) and Singapore (38%).

In addition, the share of women being hired into leadership over the last five years remains low: 38% in 2020 to 41% in 2024 in Australia; 24% in 2020 to 23% in 2024 in India; and 35% in 2020 to 38% in 2024 in Singapore. 

The company recently surveyed hiring managers in the Asia-Pacific region and said that things could be changing. The survey has highlighted that transformative policies such as internal mobility, career progression, and flexible work arrangements could become more common.

The survey found that female leaders are championing these transformative policies more than their male counterparts, though all leaders are moving in the same direction. In the year ahead, 54% of female leaders aim to emphasise career advancement and skill building, against 51% of male leaders. Moreover, 54% of female leaders prioritise internal mobility compared to 45% of male leaders, 50% advocate for flexible working policies (46% of male leaders said the same), and 38% believe that personalised flexible work arrangements are more attractive to employees compared to 31% of male leaders.

More than half of female leaders (51%) are committed to prioritising career progression for employees, compared to 49% of male leaders, and 49% emphasise the importance of flexible work arrangements, compared to 45% of male leaders. In China, 20% of female leaders are more likely to believe that fully remote work arrangements based on personal preferences are more attractive to employees, compared to 5% of male leaders.

“The lack of progress in female representation in leadership positions over the last five years in Australia, India, and Singapore is disappointing. While there has been some improvement in the share of women being hired into leadership roles, there is still much work to be done. 

"However, there is reason for optimism, as female leaders are more likely to advocate for career advancement, internal mobility, and flexible work arrangements, which can benefit other women seeking to progress in their careers or balance professional and personal responsibilities. I believe these initiatives have the potential to shift the needle in terms of female representation in the workforce,” said Feon Ang, LinkedIn's APAC MD.

LinkedIn's research has further found that the top five skills identified by hiring managers in the Asia-Pacific region emphasise not only AI knowhow, but also soft skills - problem-solving abilities (35%), communications skills (27%), critical thinking (25%), AI skills (19%) as well as IT and web skills (17%). 

Over the past eight years, LinkedIn said that both women and men have shown an increase in the share of soft skills listed on their LinkedIn profiles, but women have demonstrated a notably faster pace of growth. This trend has led to a doubling of the gender gap from 1.5 percentage points in 2016 to 3 percentage points in 2024 in favour of women when it comes to soft skills, and holds true across 70 countries.

LinkedIn suggested that shifting towards a model that prioritises skills over traditional experience could significantly increase the appearance of women in roles where they are traditionally under-represented. The company said that doing so could lead to a 24% increase in the talent pool of women compared to men globally.

LinkedIn: Talent development crucial when work is reshaped by AI

With skills needed for a job changing by 68% by 2030 due to the impact of AI, 91% of companies in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) say they plan to enhance their people’s skills and abilities this year. 

Last year, technology took centrestage – LinkedIn saw a 21x surge in global English-language job postings mentioning GPT or ChatGPT; this year, LinkedIn said companies are directing their attention towards talent development. Today, the top five skills that hiring managers in APAC consider the most important in the era of AI are a combination of both hard and soft skills – problem-solving abilities (35%), communications skills (27%), critical thinking (25%), AI skills (19%) and IT & web skills (17%).

Feon Ang, VP, LinkedIn Talent Solutions and MD, APAC said: “In the past year, the narrative was dominated by technological advancements, particularly the integration of AI into business workflows. The resulting surge in demand for AI expertise reflected the challenges many businesses faced in navigating this transformative shift and incorporating cutting-edge technologies into their operations. 

"However, we are now witnessing a pronounced shift towards skills – both technical and soft skills – to thrive in the era of AI. Investing in people’s growth is no longer a perk but a strategic imperative, considering that our workforce is the driving force behind companies’ success in an era shaped by both AI innovation and collaboration with AI.” 

Eighty-eight percent of employers have observed substantial changes in the skills and qualifications they prioritise in job candidates due to the pervasive impact of AI and automation in their industries. Companies are placing emphasis on candidates who possess not only AI expertise, but also soft skills and a capacity for learning.

According to LinkedIn’s latest Workplace Learning Report, 94% of learning and development (L&D) professionals in APAC believe that human skills are increasingly becoming the most competitive in our economy. In particular, ‘communication’ has topped LinkedIn’s most in-demand skills list for 2024 across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines and Singapore. LinkedIn said this is not surprising when AI tools free up time for professionals to excel in jobs only people can do, like build relationships and collaborate with others.

In addition, 40% of APAC hiring managers consider an individual's potential for growth and ability to learn as the most important factor when evaluating internal and external candidates.

Most of the companies in APAC (91%) are also focusing on preparing their employees for the future world of work by enhancing their skills and capabilities, believing that this will lead to increased confidence and job security. In fact, APAC HR professionals are offering online training programmes (44%) and internal learning and development sessions focused on generative AI (43%) to do so.

As companies increasingly invest in learning opportunities, the focus on creating a culture of learning has soared, becoming a top priority for L&D professionals in 2024 across all APAC markets. In fact, 92% of them in APAC say they can show business value by helping employees gain skills to move into different internal roles.

A recent survey of APAC leaders has revealed that internal mobility is becoming an increasingly important factor in attracting and retaining top talent within organisations. The survey found that 48% of APAC leaders identified providing career progression opportunities as their key priority this year.

Nearly four in 10 (37%) hiring managers see career growth opportunities as key to retaining top talent, along with competitive salary and benefits (39%). In addition, 49% of APAC employers believe that highlighting opportunities for career advancement and increasing internal mobility are the top two ways to attract talent. These findings suggest that organisations in the APAC region would do well to focus on internal mobility as a key strategy for attracting and retaining top talent in the years to come.

To assist companies in their pivot towards a skills-centric approach, LinkedIn has introduced tools such as Recruiter 2024, LinkedIn’s AI-assisted recruiting experience. Recruiter enables hirers to quickly access high-quality candidate recommendations by using natural language search prompts and data from millions of professionals and companies, ensuring they are able to shortlist talent based on skills they need. These features will ramp to all APAC customers in English-speaking markets from end February.

To empower companies to build the skills they need for the next decade of work, the company has launched AI-powered coaching in LinkedIn Learning – a chatbot experience that offers real-time advice and tailored content recommendations personalised for learners based on their job title, career goal, and skills they follow. 

This is currently available to APAC customers in English-speaking markets. The company has also been expanding its in-demand skill library, including AI courses. AI courses in particular have seen a 5X uptick in learners.

In early March, we will be launching new career development and internal mobility features within LinkedIn Learning to help guide employees to critical skills, develop skills that matter to grow, and connect to the best-fit opportunity at their organisation. This will be available in English, Hindi, Japanese, Indonesian and Malay, amongst others.

Ang said: "Business leaders recognise that they cannot rely on old talent playbooks in this new era of work that’s being reshaped by AI, and where skills needed for the same job will change by 68% by 2030. Every minute, LinkedIn helps seven people get hired and 140 hours of learning content is consumed. 

Concept art representing a journey generated by Blue Willow.

"Building on this, we’ve supercharged our hiring and learning solutions to help companies recruit and retain the best talent. Take the National Healthcare Group in Singapore, for example, which is on a journey to foster self-directed learning amongst their employees by nurturing a robust culture of continuous learning. They're looking to incorporate LinkedIn's AI-powered coaching into their learning and development programmes, empowering employees to take charge of their professional growth.”

Explore

View insights from LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report for Australia/New Zealand, India and Southeast Asia.

*LinkedIn’s research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 4,323 hiring managers (middle management+) aged 18-77 in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the US, India, Australia, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, China, Netherlands, Sweden, MENA, and Brazil. The data was collected between 15 December 2023 and 4 January 2024.

LinkedIn reveals emerging jobs in Singapore for 2018

Top jobs on LinkedIn in Singapore:

• Data Scientist
• Cybersecurity Specialist
• User Experience Designer
• Head of Digital
• Content Specialist

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, has released the 2018 Emerging Jobs in Singapore Report, which has identified digital competency as being in high demand, together with soft skills. The findings underscore the demand for jobs which require hybrid skills, primarily to help Singapore organisations navigate their digital transformation journey.

LinkedIn analysed* millions of unique, user-input job titles from the last five years, and found that while the top five emerging jobs are all related to technology, many of them require management and communications skills. Their actual roles are varied and diverse, reflecting a labour market that values talent with a hybrid set of complementary skills.

According to LinkedIn, the top five emerging jobs for 2018 are:

• Data Scientist
• Cybersecurity Specialist
• User Experience Designer
• Head of Digital
• Content Specialist

“Our Emerging Jobs Report highlights the reality that new jobs are emerging more rapidly than at any other time in history. Traditional roles have evolved into hybrids that did not exist five years ago. While it’s no surprise that the top emerging jobs for Singapore are all related to technology, many of them require management and communications skills making them hybrids of new and traditional roles – such as user experience designer,” said Feon Ang, VP of Talent and Learning Solutions for APAC at LinkedIn.

The global and local talent shortage has made it necessary for HR and talent acquisition teams to evolve and innovate the way they hire. As skills commonly associated with these emerging jobs evolve, hiring based on a candidate’s title is no longer adequate and accurate in filling these gaps.

Although demand for digital talent is growing, supply is not keeping up around the world. With 'data scientist' being the fastest-emerging job title, and also the one which is the most in demand, skills in machine learning and data analytics are highly sought after. LinkedIn notes that out of the talent that has migrated to Singapore, 21.95% are from India, followed by France at about 14%**.

Source: LinkedIn. Talent migration graph showing the total number of people who have migrated to Singapore since January 2017.

In some sectors, the rising demand for content has also led to job roles such as content specialists, which were not as popular five years ago. This top emerging job is unique to Singapore, home to a number of regional headquarters for various organisations. With most content in English, organisations are looking to locals to fill content specialist roles, but also increasingly at international talent from the UK, Australia and India.

The emergence of user experience designer and head of digital roles in Singapore is also driven, in part, by the financial sector’s investment into establishing a bigger digital footprint. Increasingly, these roles are breaking out of technology companies and spreading across the workforce.

Soft skills like adaptability, collaboration and leadership have emerged to be of increasing importance for professionals, even for roles that are technical. Heads of digital need to know how to communicate and lead effectively as they steward digital transformation projects; content specialists need to be adept at storytelling to ensure their content resonates with their audience; data scientists need to communicate their insights creatively to help consumers make sense of interesting data.

The top skills for the five emerging jobs are:

Data scientist:

• Data science
• Machine learning
• Analytics
• Data mining
• Big data

User experience designer:

• User experience
• Design
• User interface design
• Wireframing
• Banking

Content specialist:

• Content marketing
• Digital production
• Sales enablement
• Content delivery
• Communication

Cybersecurity specialist:

• Computer security
• Consulting
• Management
• Cisco Systems products 
• Research
• Sales 

Head of Digital:

• Digital marketing
• Internet banking
• Management
• Communication
• Leadership

“Digital competence, as we now know, is composed by a blend of hard and soft skills. This competition for talent will only grow fiercer, so organisations need to build an adaptable workforce. Real-time understanding of the demand and supply of skills, talent pools and talent movement is the first step towards building talent intelligence at scale,” added Ang.

Qlik, a data analytics player, agrees with the LinkedIn findings about data literacy. Julian Quinn, Regional Vice President for Qlik Asia Pacific said, “With data and technology presenting opportunities for businesses in Singapore, we believe that data literacy will become an important and common skill – not just to data scientists but for the entire workforce.

"As Singapore is a step ahead in both technology and connectivity, the data literacy skills gap locally is startling. A global research study by Qlik found that 85% of Singaporean employees are not data literate, more than the Asia Pacific (APAC) average. Despite the rising expectations to use data within the workforce, only 15% of employees know how to deal with it. Among graduates, nine out of 10 admitted to not knowing what to do with data.

"Those without the knowledge of data literacy will be limited in what they can accomplish. The responsibility to be data literate falls on everyone’s shoulders - government, employers, and individuals. Governments and organisations can foster this mindset by providing all employees with access to relevant data as well as the tools and encouragement to turn it into insights. On an individual level, people can take simple steps such as asking more questions, and interrogating facts and information given."

Qlik has four tips to enhance data literacy:

- Ask more questions, interrogating the facts and information given. "If you’re shown a graph, be critical and don’t take it at face value – make sure you understand the story it’s really telling," said Quinn.

- Begin pinpointing areas of difficulty where data could be used to support arguments.

- Proactively make the business case for your company to drive a culture of data literacy.

- Start combining data sets to find even deeper insights.

Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has also released labour market figures for 1H18. According to the government, total employment grew, more job vacancies were available, and retrenchments declined. The resident unemployment rate was lower than a year ago, although it rose slightly in Q218 as more people entered the labour force looking for work in line with the pickup in economic activities, MOM said.

Total employment (excluding foreign domestic workers) grew by 6,900 in 1H18, compared with a decline of 17,300 in 1H17, and a growth of 6,700 in 2H17.

Resident unemployment rate rose slightly as more entered the labour force to look for work. The seasonally-adjusted resident unemployment rate rose from 2.8% in March 2018 to 2.9% in June 2018 after a general downtrend since June 2017, but remained slightly lower than the same period a year ago (3.1%). The unemployment data comes from Labour Market Second Quarter 2018, Manpower Research & Statistics Department, MOM.

There were 5,350 retrenchments in 1H18, which was lower than in 1H17 (7,640). At the same time, the six-month re-entry rate into employment of retrenched residents was about two-thirds (63%) in 1H18***, comparable to that in 1H17 (64%). Job vacancies rose to a three-year high of 56,700 in June 2018, an increase from 53,900 in March 2018.

MOM expects labour demand to pick up in 2H18, in line with seasonal hiring as seen in previous years. Hiring is expected to remain cautious in sectors such as Construction and Marine Shipyard, while job opportunities will continue to be available in others such as the Information & Communications, Financial & Insurance Services, Healthcare, Professional Services, Wholesale Trade, and Built Environment sectors.

Explore:

Read the 2018 Emerging Jobs Report for your country

*LinkedIn analysed millions of unique, user-input job titles based on common job roles and counted the frequencies of job titles that were held in 2013 and compared the results to job titles that were held in 2017. The ‘emerging jobs’ are the top five job titles that saw the largest growth in frequency over the five-year period.

**LinkedIn has clarified that the data collected is about the previous locations of talent who have migrated to Singapore, as opposed to the nationalities of that talent. While people moving from India to Singapore might have Indian passports, it is entirely possible that they are from another nationality, were based in India, and later took up a job in Singapore.  

***The 1H 2018 rate is the simple average of Q118 and Q218 rates of re-entry into employment.

Here's why the skills you have are going to help you get one of tomorrow's jobs

Legrand shows how LinkedIn is making breakthroughs connecting present-day skillsets with emerging job requirements.

Olivier Legrand, MD, Asia Pacific, LinkedIn, says that many of us may already be partway towards meeting the requirements for the jobs which are most demand in the industry today, only we don't realise it.

In his keynote Job titles are out, skill sets are in during at the Singapore Computer Society's Tech³ Forum, Legrand said that LinkedIn is not just the platform to matchmake job seekers and employers, but also the company that will put members in touch with the right company, the right jobs and the right skills to acquire in order to stay relevant for the future.

Legrand spoke about LinkedIn's drive to offer more value to the approximately 3.3 billion workers and up to 50 million employers globally. against its 500 million members and 7 million active employers today. Some 30,000 schools are currently on the platform as well.

Legrand explained that there is an opportunity to help all stakeholders through analysing the skillsets that each member has and linking those skillsets with the skillsets actually required for new types of jobs. This is a completely different approach to the traditional focus of match-making members and employers by existing job titles. The company has been asking peers to endorse LinkedIn members for various skillsets for some time, and has amassed some 10 billion of these endorsements so far.

"The 10 billion skills endorsements actually shared by our members...allow us to have a unique view to have a skills taxonomy and what kinds of skills are needed to do the jobs," he said.

As an illustration, Legrand pointed to the crying need for data scientists and how few members currently have related job titles today. An analysis of data scientist-related jobs by skillset on LinkedIn reveals a list of skills that existing members may already possess, or possess to a significant degree, he said. Such insights allow employers to reach out to more people by disregarding their existing job titles, for LinkedIn to suggest new skills for the educational industry to offer, and for members to acquire, he said.

LinkedIn will be there every step of the way to empower members to take control of opportunities, he added. "We are investing in algorithms and machine learning to point you in the right direction," he confirmed.

In the case of data scientists, candidates need to have data knowledge, analytical skills and programming capability. There are 84,000 people on LinkedIn with the right job titles, but 576,000 who have at least five of the skillsets that data scientists are known to require. Casting the net further, Legrand said that 10 million individuals on LinkedIn have one or more of the 10 required skills.

"We're able to massively grow the talent pool about eight times through that exercise," he said. "We identified adjacencies in skills that would allow us to potentially invest in reskilling people who already have (what) it takes to be data scientists."

Legrand also shared the skills which are most in demand in Singapore, and noted that they are generally digital-related.

The skillsets most in demand in Singapore are mostly digital.

Legrand emphasised the importance of lifelong learning in a world where work requirements are continually evolving. "It's a reality," he said. "Your career path is not always a straight line. Stay open-minded, flexible and adaptable. The jobs of tomorrow will be different from those of today."

Legrand profiled Wui Liang Heng, Country Head, Singapore @ BankBazaar International, a fintech company focusing on mobile payments, as a prime example of a person who had undergone a mid-career switch because he believes in the new digital era. Heng made the effort to reach out on LinkedIn to people who were or had been in startups, which eventually led him to where he is today.

Legrand encouraged members in their pursuit of lifelong learning to emulate Heng, researching people on LinkedIn  and contacting them. The platform allows members to see what others are reading, liking and sharing in terms of professional content so that they can reach out in a meaningful way.

Legrand also spoke about best practices for creating a LinkedIn profile, using CEO of PerX Technologies Anna Gong's profile as an example. Some tips include:

- Add a summary with keywords, not buzzwords

- Add a photograph - the profile is is 21x more likely to be viewed by others

- Include your current position - the profile is 18x more likely to be viewed as a result

- List relevant skills – those with five or more skills are 17x more likely to be viewed by others

LinkedIn Asia Pacific has 13 offices in nine markets.

Held annually, the Tech³ Forum features luminary speakers and examines hot topics revolving around technology, talents and trends.

Emirates offers LinkedIn Learning courses inflight

Source: Emirates. Emirates will offer LinkedIn courses inflight.

Emirates has partnered with LinkedIn to provide select LinkedIn Learning courses on ice, its inflight entertainment (IFE) system. Emirates is the first international airline to make these courses available on board.

The new offering on ice is available from November and is part of Emirates’ continued commitment to providing new and diverse IFE content. The free expert-led LinkedIn Learning courses range from 20 minutes to over two hours long and cover topics such as leadership, general management, marketing, and creative lifestyle.

The courses feature high-quality, easily digestible information to cater to varying interests and profiles of customers on board. Among the featured content are courses such as Managing Stress and Learning from Failure by Todd Dewett, a TEDx speaker, writer and coach in the leadership and life skills space. Other courses available include lectures on productivity at the workplace by David Allen, the creator of GTD, the Getting Things Done methodology and Gretchen Rubin, author of Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home. The LinkedIn Learning courses will be regularly updated to include new topics.

The courses complement the current IFE offering of up to 2,600 on-demand entertainment channels including the latest blockbuster movies, award-winning television series, dedicated children’s entertainment, a music library and seatback games.

Currently, 85% of Emirates’ fleet are also equipped with free Wi-Fi on board, including all A380 aircraft. In addition, 108 aircraft are equipped with live TV, which has up to nine channels of live news and sport.


Interested?

Courses available on ice include:

• Learning from Failure by Todd Dewett
• Creating Your Personal Brand by Lida Citroën
• Powerless to Powerful: Taking Control by Fred Kofman
• J.T. O'Donnell on Making Recruiters Come to You by J.T. O'Donnell
• Creating Great Workplace Habits by Gretchen Rubin
• Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Managing Stress by Todd Dewett
• Learning to Be Assertive by Chris Croft

LinkedIn's top skills for 2016 shows cloud, visualisation are hot

The annual LinkedIn Global Top Skills of 2016 list, which shows what skills employers want most from candidates. has unveiled several new trends about the global job market:

Demand for marketers is slowing
While marketing skills like marketing campaign management, search engine optimisation/search engine marketing (SEO/SEM), and channel marketing were in high demand in 2015, things have changed.

Demand for marketing skills is slowing because the supply of people with marketing skills has caught up with employers’ demand for people with marketing skills, says LinkedIn. This year, SEO/SEM dropped five spots from No. 4 to No. 9 and marketing campaign management dropped completely off the list. SEO/SEM is still in the top three for Australia and Singapore nevertheless.

Data and cloud reign supreme
Cloud and distributed computing, No. 1 for the past two years, is the top skill on almost every list — including in India and Singapore, reflecting the complex nature of actually adopting cloud computing. Following closely is the statistical analysis and data mining category, which was No. 2 last year and No. 1 in 2014.

While LinkedIn says that these skills are in high demand because they are at the cutting edge of technology, it is also because both skills are in complex fields, and training and experience is relatively hard to come by.

Show me
Data visualisation has made it to the list for the first time, in No. 8 spot. Basically, people who can organise data so that it looks attractive and is easy for others to understand is now a sought-after skill.

User interface design is the new black
User interface design, design for products that users interact with, has jumped from No. 14 in 2014 to No. 10 last year, and is now No. 5 this year.

These are the top three skills for various countries in Asia Pacific and the Middle East:

Australia

• Statistical analysis and data mining
• SEO/SEM marketing
• Middleware and integration software

China

• Virtualisation
• Network and information security
• Statistical analysis and data mining

India

• Cloud and distributed computing
• User interface design
• Web architecture and development framework

Singapore

• Cloud and distributed computing
• SEO/SEM marketing
• Public policy and international relations

UAE

• Statistical analysis and data mining
• Public policy and international relations
• Algorithm design 

LinkedIn recommends its members to make sure that they list such skills on their LinkedIn profiles. "In addition to showcasing your professional brand, you’ll also show up higher in recruiters’ search results," the company said in a blog post.

Interested?

View the full list of skills wanted by country (Slideshare - The up and down arrows reflect changes in the skill rankings compared to last year’s list)

*LinkedIn grouped similar skill descriptions into several dozen categories. For example, skills like “Android” and “iOS” would fit into the “Mobile Development” category. The company then looked at all of the hiring and recruiting activity that happened on LinkedIn between January 1 and September 1, equaling billions of data points, and identified the skill categories that belonged to members who were more likely to start new jobs and receive interest from recruiters. Skill categories that did not meet a specific threshold for membership were excluded from our analysis. 

posted from Bloggeroid

LinkedIn compiles insights on Millennials into playbook

Source: LinkedIn website. Banner for the Millennial Playbook.

LinkedIn has shared marketing research from Carat Consumer Insights that identifies four broad personas for Millennials:

#TrendNetters are the closest to the media perception of millennials. They live their lives online, and thrive on feedback and peer recognition

#AlterNatives are more quiet, introverted, and concerned with privacy. They’re more tech-savvy than others because they want control of the devices they own

#LYFPreneurs are ambitious, hard-working, hard-playing go-getters looking to find the next transformative business model

#BetaBlazers are intensely knowledgeable, forward-thinking, trailblazing types who are all about quality over quantity

LinkedIn’s research discovered the number one thing Millennials want out of a job is advancement opportunity, narrowly beating out better pay and challenging work. "That makes sense; the days of spending 40 years in one job are long gone. We want to move up the ladder fast. And if we get stalled, we’re not shy about seeking out new opportunities," said Alexandra Rynne, Associate Content Marketing Manager, Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn, in a blog post.

Rynne also noted that Millennials spend time on LinkedIn, too. The 87 million millennials on LinkedIn worldwide, account for under a quarter of members, and yet 30% are long-form publishers on LinkedIn, she said.


Interested?

LinkedIn has compiled its insights on Millennials in the Millennial Playbook. The playbook includes

• The four types of Millennials, according to Carat Research
• Top Millennial occupations on LinkedIn and what Millennials want in a job
• What content Millennials engage with the most on LinkedIn
• The top 26 Millennial influencers to follow

LinkedIn's top Singapore marketers for 2015 share secrets for success

LinkedIn has identified the top Singapore marketers across industries who are leveraging the online professional networking platform to their best advantage, not only for their personal brand, but also as advocates for their organisation.

LinkedIn’s Most Engaged Marketers list for 2015 includes professionals a range of industries from e-commerce and broadcasting to logistics and automotive. Matthieu Vermeulen, Director Marketing & E-Commerce Solutions APAC, DHL eCommerce Singapore, (fifth) commented: “The Asia Pacific (APAC) region accounts for more than half of all social media users worldwide and more than 70% of people land jobs through networking. In other words; you simply have to develop a personal brand in APAC, both online and offline if you want a better working day, no matter what you do. After years of working on your brand, you know it was more than worth it when you walk into a meeting and are greeted by someone, who says: 'I read your articles on LinkedIn, I think we have a lot of good things to discuss here.'”

Miguel Bernas, Director, Digital Marketing APAC at PayPal, who ranked ninth on the list, advises: “LinkedIn is a fantastic platform to build your personal brand, yet too many people just don’t get it right. Too often even some of the best marketers cross the line between building authority and shameless self-promotion. First, a brand must always be authentic. While the quality and frequency of sharing content matters, your audience (yes, your social network is an audience) notices when all you talk about are your own achievements.”

Olivier Legrand, Head of Marketing Solutions for LinkedIn in Asia Pacific* said: “These savvy marketers are masters at building networks that have both reach and relevance, and they understand that their personal brand and thought leadership can add a strong dimension to the brands they represent. With well over a million members in Singapore and growing, we are looking forward to see more marketers harnessing the power of LinkedIn to drive business results on the world's most effective platform for engaging professionals.”

The following are the LinkedIn Most Engaged Marketers 2015: Singapore Rankings

1. Nicholas Kontopoulos – SAP Hybris
2. Mathilda D’silva – MediaCorp
3. Ai-Ling See – EMC
4. Maneesh Sah – Aon Hewitt
5. Mathhieu Vermeulen – DHL eCommerce Singapore
6. Sara Varela – Marina Bay Sands
7. Omer Wilson – Digital Realty
8. Timi Siytangco – Outbrain
9. Miguel Bernas – PayPal
10. Adrian Yeo – General Motors

Hashtag: #LIMostEngaged

*In November 2015, LinkedIn announced Legrand’s added responsibility as Managing Director of LinkedIn in Asia Pacific from 1 January 2016.

Dubai Islamic Bank listed in LinkedIn's Most In-Demand Employers 2015 list for MENA

Source: DIB.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the largest Islamic bank in the UAE, has been recognised as one of the most preferred employers for potential candidates on LinkedIn within the MENA region. DIB was ranked 16th amongst the MENA’s top 20 Most In-Demand Employers 2015, making it one of the top 10 local brands on the list. DIB is also the sole bank in the list.

LinkedIn releases an annual list of the top employers based on billions of interactions from LinkedIn members across the world. The ranking is based on employer brand awareness and the methodology includes reach, engagement and job activity. As such, businesses are ranked according to the number of users who view profiles of their employees, connect with their employees, visit or follow their company pages, and view or apply to job postings by the company.

Cornel Fourie, Head of Human Resources, Dubai Islamic Bank, said: “As the first Islamic bank in the UAE, we are proud of this accomplishment and delighted to be named as one of the premium talent brands in the MENA region for the first time. This recognition underscores our relentless efforts to position the Islamic banking sector as an attractive employer of aspiring talents as well as our commitment to nurture the new generation of UAE banking professionals. As we grow and continue to expand, we are eager to see more talented individuals including UAE nationals leading the future of the banking sector locally and driving the global appeal of Islamic finance.”

Ali Matar, Head of Talent Solutions, LinkedIn MENA, added; “We were very pleased to recognise our top Talent Solutions clients in MENA for 2015 in the inaugural ceremony, held in Dubai, UAE. Local brands have been celebrated based on their outstanding recruitment strategy, engagement and results on our LinkedIn platform. We believe that Dubai Islamic Bank's curated and strategic approach to talent acquisition through social recruiting contributes significantly to their brand strength which in its turn impacts positively their employee retention and engagement.”

Recognising the importance of this platform, DIB has been strengthening its presence on LinkedIn to connect with job seekers who are looking to engage with its talent brand. These receive continuous updates on job openings and ongoing initiatives such as participation in career exhibitions. Currently, DIB has more than 116,000 followers including employee members, an increase of 97% from the same period in 2014.

DIB has created a range of training programmes across different levels of the bank while it actively participates at various career fairs across the country to engage job seekers. It also runs awareness programmes of its services. 

UAE well-represented in LinkedIn's 100 Most InDemand employers for EMEA 2015

Source: LinkedIn blog.

LinkedIn has unveiled the 100 Most InDemand Employers for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in 2015*. The rankings reflect the most sought-after organisations across the region and are calculated based on analysing billions of interactions between professionals and companies on LinkedIn, the company said in a blog post.

Nine of the top 100 hail from the UAE, the only Middle Eastern country to be mentioned. At No. 6 is Emirates, No. 15 Saudi Aramco, No. 20 is Etihad, Emaar is No. 27, and Etisalat at No. 30. Qatar Airways is No. 54, while the Jumeirah Group is No. 68. At No. 73 and 74 are the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Mashreq Bank respectively. Dubai Islamic Bank is No. 79, and the luxury firm Chalhoub is ranked No. 98.

More than a quarter of the list (27%) are retail and consumer goods firms, with the next-most popular industry being oil and gas (18%). Technology firms were in third place, accounting for 15% of the list, but were well-represented in the top five with Apple, Google and Facebook at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 positions respectively.

Microsoft is at No. 14, Huawei Technologies is at No. 33, while Twitter comes in at No. 39. In 43rd place is Oracle, while Amazon and Yahoo are 55th and 56th respectively. Dell is No. 62, followed by Cisco at No. 63, Asos at No. 64, Airbnb at No. 71, Honeywell at No. 75, and Uber at No. 84. Adobe is No. 93, HP is No. 94, while EMC is at No. 95.

*The InDemand list takes into consideration:

• Member awareness of a company on LinkedIn (for example, how many members have viewed your employees’ profiles, or connected with them, in the past year)
•  Member engagement with a company on LinkedIn (for example, how many members follow your company’s Company Page or have viewed your Company Page or Career Page in the past year)
• Member interest in Jobs on LinkedIn (for example, how many members have viewed or applied for your jobs in the past year). This year LinkedIn added a new measurement: views or applications to a company’s jobs posted on LinkedIn, including limited listings.

Social professional networks figure highly in Singapore job searches

Professionals in Singapore rely most on social professional networks to find their next job compared with their peers in Asia-Pacific, according to the 2015 Talent Trends study* conducted by LinkedIn, the online professional network.

Nearly two thirds (63%) of them cited social professional networks such as LinkedIn as the main avenue to access job opportunities, ranking no. 1 amongst the nine Asia-Pacific countries surveyed. Malaysia came in second, at 59%, followed by India at 57%. Indonesia, the third Southeast Asian country in this survey, ranked fourth in Asia-Pacific at 56%. Globally, Singapore professionals share the third place with Brazil in this regard, and are behind Spain (70%) and Chile (68%).

Given that Singapore has one of the world’s highest mobile penetration rates, the second most-popular channel for new job opportunities is online job boards (60%). Companies should not discount the influence of friends and colleagues either, as 55% of Singapore professionals rely on word-of-mouth for information.

“With the sheer talent in the workforce and a robust job market in Singapore, companies may not have trouble in hiring. The bigger question is how companies can attract the best talent and hire the right person for the job,” said Feon Ang, Head of Talent Solutions, Asia Pacific and Japan at LinkedIn.

“Our research shows there is a wide talent pool to be tapped. Not only is active talent on the rise in Singapore, passive talent – comprising 65% of the pool - is also open to opportunities. A strong employer brand is more critical than ever for companies in the war for talent. One way for companies to stand out is to marry social professional networks and word-of-mouth recommendation by encouraging their employees to be their ambassadors in today’s digital age.”

Singapore professionals are also more open to new job opportunities, with 35% actively exploring new jobs, against the global average of 30%. In Asia-Pacific, they rank third, behind India (at 45%) and Malaysia (36%). This year’s figure in Singapore is also higher than the 27% in 2014, when the survey was first conducted. Whether passive or active talent, 86% in Singapore are open to hearing from a recruiter or headhunter, compared with 78% globally.

While many workplaces recognise the increased demand for work-life balance, talent in Singapore still rated compensation as the key factor in evaluating a job opportunity. Money matters, and professionals surveyed in Singapore say that it tops the list of other factors that they will consider in a job, increasing from 29% in 2014 to 51% in 2015. This year’s figure is the same in Indonesia, and in line with Malaysia, at 52%.

Coming in a distant second is work-life balance, with only 32% in Singapore considering it a top priority. It should be highlighted however that the importance of work-life balance has increased from 22% in 2014. Still, the 2015 figure is the lowest in Southeast Asia, as 45% of professionals in Malaysia and 35% in Indonesia cite this as an important factor in deciding whether to accept a new job.

LinkedIn’s research also shows that organisations and employers should place more value on the interview process. While it is used to assess the suitability of a candidate, potential employees also form their perceptions of the company through their interview experience. Globally, 87% of professionals say that a positive interview experience can change their mind about a role or company they doubted, and likewise, a negative experience can reverse that perception (83%).

During an interview, almost three quarters (74%) of professionals in Singapore would like to meet their prospective managers, compared with 62% in Malaysia and 44% in Indonesia. At a distant second, 10% of Singapore professionals would most like to meet a team member during an interview.

The 2015 Talent Trends report includes new ideas that recruiters and organisations can incorporate into their recruiting strategy to ensure that they find the best possible candidate for the job, and vice versa. It concludes that the best way to discover what the talent wants, is to simply ask.

Interested?

More information on the study can be found on LinkedIn’s Talent Trends page and Talent blog

*The study is LinkedIn’s second annual Talent Trends report. Over 20,000 professionals in 29 countries were surveyed to better understand their attitudes and behaviours at each stage of the job search. With this data, the report hopes to provide a blueprint for organisations, employers and recruiters to successfully attract, engage and hire talent.

posted from Bloggeroid

LinkedIn explores the new norms @Work around the world in new study

Source: LinkedIn.

Professionals in Singapore have become more confident about speaking up and are becoming more assertive at work, according to new research by LinkedIn, the professional network. LinkedIn’s New Norms @Work study* shows that 58% of professionals would now challenge their colleagues by voicing their opinions compared to when they first started their career. 

One in every two professionals surveyed also disagree that they are “yes employees” — someone who does as he/she is told and is not likely to question authority. Compared with their peers in Malaysia – where 64% of those surveyed said they are “yes employees,” Singaporean professionals are more vocal but trail behind those in Indonesia (37% are “yes employees”).

In Singapore, professionals aged 25-34 – or the millennials – appear to be the most eager to please. Over half or 55% say they consider themselves as “yes employees”, compared to 43% of professionals in the 55-65 age group, suggesting that the confidence to speak up come with more work experience.

“The diversity of opinions in any organisation, if harnessed effectively, goes a long way towards strengthening the quality of decision-making. It will also help to enhance Singapore’s attractiveness as a key regional business hub,” said Cliff Rosenberg, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand at LinkedIn. “Employers need to create an even more conducive environment for employees to feel comfortable about speaking up. Professionals can also share their wealth of expertise on platforms like LinkedIn to benefit a broader group, and to build their professional brands at the same time.”

Some other interesting findings include:

Dressing

While many workplaces have implemented more liberal and casual dress codes, professionals still dress to impress. First impressions do count and close to half (48%) of professionals surveyed in Singapore say that they will dress up more for meetings held during the workday,

Women feel most pressured to impress in the workplace, with 37% believing they get judged more for what they wear at work (the global average is 25%), while men believe they will appear more professional by dressing smartly (46%). Men, however, tend to look for a more prescriptive approach than their female counterparts and prefer an environment that has clear norms of work attire. Overall, there is a clear idea of what constitutes appropriate work wear with 39% of males and 47% of females maintaining separate work and home wardrobes.

Reputation

LinkedIn’s study also suggests that a blemish-free professional brand is extremely important to professionals in Singapore, with some indicating they will go to great lengths to protect their reputations, even if it means being dishonest. One-third (34%) of professionals in Singapore reported that if they were fired from a job, they would make it look like they left of their own accord; 24% wouldn’t mention it at any cost while 1% would even lie about it. Between the sexes, males (34%) are more likely to be upfront and completely honest about the situation, compared to females (27%).

Online profiles

Reflecting the digital savvy of professionals in the country, the online profile photo is now an opportunity to make a good first impression. This is especially so for professional networking sites; 35% of those surveyed in Singapore say they think more carefully about their profile pictures on LinkedIn compared to other social networking sites. Conscious of the need to establish and protect their professional brands, 43% of Singaporean professionals say it is “very important” for them to keep their professional and personal social media profiles separate.

A global comparison of the 19 countries that participated in the study finds that the value placed on one’s professional brand is similar from country to country with some differences across markets:

· Across markets, one quarter of all respondents agreed that women get judged more for what they wear at work.

· In India, one quarter of full-time working professionals reported wearing a suit or formal dress to work the most frequently, compared to only 3% of their counterparts in Sweden.

· Indonesia professionals are the most image-conscious, with the highest number (51%) of professionals there saying they think most carefully about their professional profile picture, compared to only 4% in Japan.

· Professionals are speaking up globally. When asked the one thing they would do now compared to when they started their careers, over half of professionals worldwide reported that they would challenge their boss by voicing their opinion, challenging ideas, etc.

Next steps?

LinkedIn encourages professionals to join the New Norms @Work conversation by sharing their #WorkSelfie on LinkedIn and across social media channels. Visit a blog post for tips on how to take a great work selfie and to learn more about the New Norms @Work global study.

*In April 2015 LinkedIn partnered with Censuswide to survey more than 15,000 full-time professionals around the world. Respondents between the ages of 18-66+ were surveyed in 19 countries including theUS, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and the UK to unearth mainstays in office culture and gain a better understanding of how full-time working professionals view themselves and are reshaping their professional brand for the modern workplace.

LinkedIn makes site easier to use

LinkedIn has redesigned its homepage to create a more personalised experience.

Source: LinkedIn.

New features include:

My dashboard: At the top of the homepage, a new dashboard gives instant feedback on how the user is faring.

Staying connected: The Keep in Touch box on the right allows users to share comments, send congratulations and like updates quickly.

Separation of network and dashboard: This feature highlights professional insights to read on LinkedIn.

posted from Bloggeroid

LinkedIn shares top 10 buzzwords for Singapore profiles in 2014

LinkedIn has announced its annual list of the most underwhelming words and phrases in LinkedIn profiles for 2014 in Singapore.

Being "motivated", "passionate" and "creative" are now so overused that they have become meaningless, the company said.

The top 10 words to avoid in Singapore are: 

Source: LinkedIn infographic. View the global infographic here.

Other tips LinkedIn provided to get people discovered include:

• Profiles with photographs get viewed 14 times more often.
• Summaries of 40 words or more turn up more often in searches.
• Focus on accomplishments.
• Ask others to vouch for you.

For tips on how to refresh your LinkedIn profile for a 'brand you year', read the LinkedIn Blog post here.

LinkedIn offers advice on minimising talent mismatch

A global study by PwC commissioned by LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network on the Internet, has included recommendations for professionals, employers, educators and government on poor talent adaptability – the inability for people to retrain for new skills or switch industries.

The study, Adapt to Survive, analyses interactions from LinkedIn’s network of 277 million professionals and information on 2,600 employers from PwC’s Saratoga database, a resource for people and performance metrics, to establish how 11 markets align talent with opportunity.

According to LinkedIn, professionals, employers, educators and governments can position themselves to minimise the possibility of talent mismatches. 
 
Professionals

The rise of social media and an increasingly connected global workforce means it’s never been easier for people to identify new opportunities, plan to develop the skills, and create a network that will allow them to transition into new roles. This could be as simple as staying up-to-speed with companies that might be hiring in your area, or identifying emerging sectors around the world that could present an opportunity for a dramatic career change.

Employers

Talent is the number one factor in competitive success for business, and businesses need to move faster to adapt to new market forces. An existing mismatch of talent in the wrong roles creates a window of opportunity for employers able to identify and attract the right talent to their organisation. 

Social media has made it possible to identify all the relevant candidates – both active and passive – many of whom may not be doing the jobs they want. Employers should use talent analytics to identify the hard and soft skills that are central to the business strategy today and in the future, allowing them to hire strategically.

Educators

Education never stops, and educators should be looking at what skills are in growing demand and which jobs are emerging in the global workforce. They should then adapt curricula so students are equipped with relevant skills when they leave formal education.

Governments

Governments should play an active role in shaping a national mindset that values, nurtures and rewards adaptability. They need to use the levers at their disposal such as employment and immigration laws, as well as proactively shaping education and training systems.

More than a million LinkedIn members in some Asia Pacific, Middle East countries

LinkedIn has reported that its membership has crossed 300 million in more than 200 countries and territories, 67% of whom are located outside the US. The company has added more than 23 million members since December 31, 2013.
 

A map on the company's website shows that there are more than 1 million LinkedIn users in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and the UAE. Indonesia and the Philippines boast more than 2 million users, and there are over 4 million users in China, over 5 million in Australia, as well as 24 million-plus in India.

In a blog post about the milestones, LinkedIn’s SVP of Product & User Experience, Deep Nishar, discusses the company’s vision of connecting all of the world’s professionals and its plans for continued growth.

"To give our members access to all business knowledge they need to be great at what they do, we have brought together content from millions of publishers through Pulse, Influencer posts from approximately 500 of the leading minds in business, and most recently, our millions of members, as we continue to roll out our publishing platform and expand LinkedIn Groups and SlideShare," Nishar said.

Nishar also noted that members in locations like Malaysia, Singapore and UAE prefer to check LinkedIn on their mobile devices than on their desktop computers. "Every day we see an average of 15 million profile views, 1.45 million job views and 44,000 job applications in over 200 countries through mobile," Nishar said.

In the UAE, Zakat Fund leverages social media to educate, communicate

In the UAE, the Zakat Fund is reaching out to the public through social media in a bid to increase public awareness of zakat and transparency on the dealings of the Fund.

The authority specialising in collecting money for zakat and charity and spending it on the eight legal channels of zakat deploys Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and Google+ to enable the public to follow on-going activities and initiatives and to act as a conduit for queries, notices and complaints, said H.H Abdullah ibn Aqeedah Al Muhairy, Secretary-General of the Zakat Fund.

H.H. disclosed that January statistics from the Arab IT News Portal stated that about 81% of UAE users use the Internet to log into social networking websites, representing 3 hours and 17 minutes of daily use each. 

Facebook is the most popular social networking platform used in the UAE, followed by Google+, then Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram respectively. The study stated that 74% of UAE users have smartphones, which 38% use for e-shopping and 90% use for searching for local services. 

*Pictures from the Zakat Fund website

Talent mismatch costs global economy US$150 billion

A global study by PwC commissioned by LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network on the Internet, reveals that poor talent adaptability – the inability for people to retrain for new skills or switch industries – is costing the global economy billions of dollars in lost productivity and leads to businesses wasting huge sums on avoidable recruitment costs.

The study, Adapt to Survive, analyses interactions from LinkedIn’s network of 277 million professionals and information on 2,600 employers from PwC’s Saratoga database, a resource for people and performance metrics, to understand which of 11 markets are better at aligning talent with opportunity.

The research found a strong correlation between the adaptability of the talent in a particular country and the performance of its companies. If markets were better at matching talent with the right opportunities, this could unlock as much as US$130 billion* of productivity in the markets studied, including US$65.6 billion in China. 

This lack of access to the right talent is driving up the cost of recruitment for employers today. The extended time taken to find the right candidates, and the increased likelihood of mismatched talent leaving prematurely are costing companies a further US$19.8 billion** in avoidable recruitment costs.
 
Each market is assigned a Talent Adaptability Score*** based on five key behavioural factors, and provides an indicator of a market’s ability to respond to future shifts in demand, rather than being a snapshot of current economic performance. Scores vary significantly by country (see table), with the Netherlands’ multilingual workforce and international business base placing it first in the ranking.

Emerging markets India and China have lower scores due to the existence of fewer mature sectors and their geographic size, which limits talent mobility.

Commenting on the findings, Michael Rendell, Partner, Global Head of HR Services practice at PwC, said: “Worldwide unemployment continues to rise while jobs remain unfilled, and CEOs are worried about a growing skills gap. The better employers and employees are at adapting to changing circumstances and aligning their skills with the available opportunities, the more productive organisations will become."

David Cohen, Senior Director of Sales, EMEA, added: “Countries increasingly differentiate themselves in the global marketplace via their human capital. Up until now, it’s been challenging for them to assess the skills, knowledge and experience of their workforces due to the dearth of professional data. We’re hopeful that countries will leverage the insights uncovered in Adapt to Survive to maximise the efficacy of their human capital and create more opportunities for their workforces.”


Country by country findings

Rank	Country	Talent Adaptability Score**	Lost Productivity Opportunity*	Avoidable Recruitment Costs*	Size of the prize*
1	Netherlands	85	-	-	-
2	UK	67	1.44 billion	0.43 billion	1.87
3	Canada	61	1.86 billion	0.11 billion	1.98
4	Singapore	57	0.22 billion	0.06 billion	0.29
5	US	57	29.34 billion	2.37 billion	31.71
6	Australia	52	3.65 billion	0.37 billion	4.02
7	France	41	3.23 billion	n/a billion	3.23
8	Germany	39	4.92 billion	n/a billion	4.92
9	Brazil	36	11.71 billion	0.07 billion	11.77
10	India	34	8.61 billion	0.38 billion	8.99
11	China	23	65.58 billion	16.02 billion	81.61
	TOTAL	-	130.56	19.81	150.38

*all figures US$
**scores are relative (a score of 100 would mean a #1 rank in each of five variables)

Read the full report here.

 *PwC first created a benchmark for adaptability based on five key variables - the Talent Adaptability Score - and then cross-referenced this score with the stated productivity of employers in each of the 11 markets through PwC’s Saratoga database of 2,600 employers. This allowed PwC to equate improvements in adaptability of each market’s workforce with increases in productivity. PwC have taken a conservative approach by asking “what productivity could be unlocked if everyone was as adaptable as the Netherlands? If you apply their adaptability to each of the 11 markets in this study, there is approximately US$130 billion of potential productivity to be gained.

**PwC's Saratoga database captures information on the amount of resignations that occur for people with less than one year of service. This is widely regarded as unwanted, and often avoidable turnover, indicative of a mistake during the recruiting process resulting in a poorly matched employee. Through the Saratoga database, PwC were able to estimate the number of new hires made in a country in one year, and then determine how many of these resigned within 12 months. PwC were also able to estimate how many hires would have resigned in the first year if they were performing as well as the Netherlands (4.8% first year resignation rate). By taking the difference between the actual number currently happening, and the better performing number, then PwC could calculate the number of 'excess' hires in a given year. Combining this with the cost per hire allows PwC to calculate the savings potential in the 11 markets analysed of US$19.8 billion.

***The Talent Adaptability Score used LinkedIn profiles and metrics from PwC Saratoga to assess each country in five areas:

1. The promotion rate (scaled to take account of growth in the home market) – which indicates the reward offered by employers as the value of talent increases
2. The market vacancy rate – the lower the vacancy rate, the better the fit of talent to available jobs
3. Average number of profile positions – the number of positions that professionals list on their LinkedIn profile, which is an indication of the liquidity within the given market
4. Average number of employers – the average number of employers each individual has had, in any sector, which is a proxy for liquidity of opportunity
5. The industry switching rate – the rate at which professionals switch between different sectors, which shows their willingness to apply their skills to different areas.