Positive outlook for Singapore employment in 2025

Source: Randstad Singapore's 2025 Job Market Outlook and Salary Guide. Hiring managers are prioritising those with sales and business development skills.

Singapore’s job economy is set to see improvements in 2025, with services sectors leading growth, said Randstad. The trend is supported by AI adoption and a strong focus on revenue and cost management, the company said.

Randstad Singapore's 2025 Job Market Outlook and Salary Guide highlights the demand for skilled professionals across finance, technology, and professional services as companies navigate digital transformation and growing skills gaps in the workforce.

David Blasco, Country Director at Randstad Singapore said: “Singapore's digital transformation journey is creating unprecedented opportunities and challenges across sectors. As employers grapple with talent scarcity, we're witnessing greater demand for professionals skilled in AI, data analytics and digital infrastructure, alongside a strong focus on revenue generation and business development capabilities.

“The evolution is reshaping traditional corporate roles, with functions from banking and finance to human resources now expected to contribute to business growth and adapt to new technologies. The dual pressures of technical advancement and commercial expectations are elevating hiring requirements for both technical expertise and business acumen, presenting new challenges in talent acquisition and development.”

A recent survey by Randstad Singapore revealed that 49% of employers plan to increase their headcount in 2025, while 40% aim to maintain their current workforce. In addition, 43% of companies are projecting average salary increases of 3% to 5% in 2025. These findings signal positive business sentiment, with organisations regaining their confidence to expand their teams in 2025. 

The results also indicate that revenue generation is a key priority for businesses, with 45% of employers expecting the highest hiring activity in sales and business development. Technology remains a crucial focus, with 23% of employers prioritising tech talent acquisition, followed by 13% planning to invest in digital transformation and AI professionals.

Despite optimistic growth plans, employers face significant challenges. Two thirds cite a shortage of candidates with required skills as their primary hiring challenge, while 38% report intense market competition for talent. In response, 38% of organisations plan to increase their budgets for technical roles, while 30% will focus on internal promotions.

Blasco said: "The convergence of AI adoption, sustainable finance and digital transformation is fundamentally reshaping Singapore's business landscape. Success will hinge on organisations' ability to bridge the skills gap, particularly in high-demand areas like AI, sustainability and digital transformation where competition for talent is most intense. As we enter 2025, more companies will seek support from industry experts to secure top professionals while building inclusive, driven and flexible work cultures that attract and retain exceptional talent.”

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Randstad Singapore's 2025 Job Market Outlook and Salary Guide serves as a strategic resource for employers navigating talent acquisition in high-competition areas, providing insights into in-demand skills, talent expectations and salary data for 2025. This year's report features detailed salary benchmarks across nine key industries in Singapore. The report is available on https://www.randstad.com.sg

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.”

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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.

JAC Recruitment India opens second office in Bengaluru

JAC Recruitment India has established its second office in Bengaluru to provide greater assistance to companies with Japanese operations in the southern region of India.

“We’re always looking at ways we can support our clients with their business and expansion plans,” said Adil Driouech, Group MD, JAC Group (Ex-Japan).

JAC Recruitment India is a specialist recruitment firm that supports clients through permanent hiring and client advisory across a range of industries, including chemicals, manufacturing, industrial, textiles, consumer goods, engineering, construction, logistics, IT supply chain, trading, and healthcare.

Its first office was established in Gurgaon in March 2014 and is managed by Kazuo Komaki, MD of JAC’s operations in India. Komaki will also manage the Bengaluru operation.

Digitalisation to drive Singapore recruitment in 2021

Randstad Singapore has released its 2021 Market Outlook Report, which discusses the economic climate and recruitment landscape 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.”

Randstad expects most firms in Singapore to further tighten budgets and re-allocate their resources accordingly, with the majority going to digital initiatives. These areas of focus will also be where there will be more hiring, the company said.

Companies in industries that are driven by growth and consumption, like banking and financial services, e-commerce, healthcare, logistics and technology are likely to remain robust in Singapore, with some even looking to expand. The growth in these industries is largely driven by the increasing use of digital technology by both businesses and consumers.

As organisations strengthen their capabilities to capitalise on the growing digital economy, the talent demand for technologists and digitally-adept professionals will increase exponentially in 2021.

However, companies in industries such as aviation, hospitality, tourism and construction are expected to undergo further business restructuring in the near future. They should remain conservative when it comes to hiring, and will likely re-engineer some roles within the organisation to meet new or additional demands, Randstad said.

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Download the report

Singapore employees welcome automation, AI

- Four in 10 (41%) Singapore-based employees anticipate that their companies will increase investment in automation or artificial intelligence (AI) within the next two years

- They believe that these investments will be focused on IT (61%) and operations (49%)  

- Over one-third (38%) of respondents believe that their jobs will eventually be taken over by automation and AI

Source: Kelly Services infographic. APAC workforces expect more automation and AI initiatives at the workplace.

Singapore-based employees anticipate that their companies will be increasing investment in automation or artificial intelligence (AI) over the next two years, but are not too concerned that these new technologies will take over their jobs anytime soon, according to the PERSOLKELLY 2019 Q4 APAC Workforce Insights.

Singapore-based employees think automation and AI will become more common in the workplace. Two-fifths (41%) believe their companies will continue to invest in automation or AI within the next two years, and that it will be directed towards IT (61%) and operations (49%). They welcome these new technologies, with more than half (57%) agreeing that automation and AI are needed in their companies.

Overall, most employees are satisfied with the automated processes (71%) and AI programmes (66%) that are currently present in their workplace.

“Organisations in Singapore are embracing automation and artificial intelligence, with support from the government through the Smart Nation initiative. According to our report, organisations are implementing more of these new technologies across their businesses – from internal engagement to supply chain, resulting in a positive uplift in their businesses,” said Foo See Yang, MD and Country Head, Singapore at Kelly Services.

A majority (62%) of employees do not think that they will be displaced by these new technologies. Two-thirds (67%) believe that less than 25% of the workforce will be displaced by automation or AI. While 62% say these new technologies are better than humans at simple tasks, only 35% say they are better at complex decisions, giving humans the advantage.

“Despite this integration with the workforce, Singapore-based employees are not too worried that it will replace their jobs as they see how these technologies can help them perform better at work. Rather, they are concerned about having to learn new skills to keep up in this digital economy. Therefore, not only do companies need to better integrate these technologies to realise its benefits, they need to ensure employees are exposed to and able to adopt new skills,” Foo added.

Employers can also benefit from these overall positive sentiments. According to the report, employees who have access to automation or AI are more likely to be satisfied with their companies, as compared to those with no access to these technologies:

-  More than half (57%) of respondents believe that automation and AI are needed in their companies.

- A similar proportion (55%) of employees feel that it is worthwhile to be spending on automation and AI.

- Close to half of Singapore-based respondents (46%) and more than a third (35%) have indicated that the availability of automated processes and AI is important in their choice of company.

The presence of automation and AI in a company will result in increased employee satisfaction, but to ensure that employees remain happy, employers need to address any concerns that their workers may have, Kelly Services advises. More than one-third (38%) say automation and AI can perform their current jobs better than them and will take over their jobs in the future. Employers can alleviate these concerns and ensure higher levels of employee satisfaction through properly integrating their employees with automation and AI, the company said.

Details:

PERSOLKELLY outlines a Total Integration Framework to promote the integration of workers with automation and AI in the workplace. The framework outlines tangible measures for companies to introduce and familiarise their employees to automation and AI. View the PERSOLKELLY 2019 Q4 APAC Workforce Insights infographic here (PDF)

Hire for potential for long-term success: Robert Walters

When recruiters hire for potential in Southeast Asia, 94% of their hires are retained in their jobs. Yet nearly half (42%) of all hiring managers in the region remain reluctant to evolve their recruitment strategies beyond hiring based solely on experience, despite the resources required to recruit, evaluate and subsequently manage employees who are not a good fit.

These findings are based on Grow your Talent, Hire Based on Potential, a guide released by Robert Walters in October 2019. The guide offers insights on the motivations and results behind hiring for potential as a long-term strategy towards talent growth. Over 3,000 respondents, including hiring managers and professionals from six countries, shared their views.

Across the region, respondents cited a preference for candidates who can pick up work immediately, the technical nature of the role, and the lack of knowhow to evaluate the person’s potential as key reasons for not hiring high-potential professionals. The research has found that a significant number (42%) of hiring managers have never hired a high-potential candidate because they lack the 'right' experience. Further, about one in three (30%) respondents believe that a candidate with the right qualifications and experience will eventually show up.

While relevant experience is perceived to be of top priority during recruitment, the ability to deliver satisfactory work, display a good work attitude, and adapt to company culture are valued more highly in the workplace, according to Robert Walters.

“Vying for top talent will be an everyday occurrence as companies accelerate in their digital transformation journeys. This includes a sustained demand for professionals with skillsets such as in tech-related areas that may not have existed in as little as a decade ago. As companies become more competitive about attract the right talent, they are moving beyond adjusting compensation packages to consider longer term and sustainable strategies,” said Ling Xiang Lee, Manager of Sales and Marketing, Robert Walters.

In Singapore, over 65% of companies took at least two months to fill a position. Yet one in three of those hired did not work out, with 47% taking three months to over a year to reach a mutual decision that the employee was not the right fit. For those who hired high-potential candidates, 96% proved to be quality hires. On the other hand, hiring managers who had not hired a candidate based on potential were mostly unable to find the right opportunity (38%), although nearly one in 10 (8%) were not keen to consider the option at all.

Successful respondents said that top traits that hiring managers look out for are the willingness to learn, the motivation to take up the job and succeed in the role, and engagement (a perceived level of enthusiasm and dedication towards the job).

Faced with a shrinking pool of talent who have in-demand skillsets, hiring managers continue to place having relevant experience (64%) as the most important criteria. This is followed by the candidate’s ability to learn quickly (57%), soft skills exhibited (48%) and if they seemed aligned with the company’s culture (44%).

Having relevant experience, while commonly viewed as important at the recruitment stage, however proved to be less of a deciding factor in measuring the quality of hire. Top reasons cited for determining a bad hire include the failure to deliver satisfactory work (31%), a less-than-desired work attitude (23%), and the inability to adapt to the company’s culture (20%). Only 8% of respondents attributed the lack of relevant skills, knowledge or expertise as a reason for a hire that did not work out.

“Candidates who show strong potential may lack some of the job requirements, skillsets, industry knowledge or experience within a role, but demonstrate a positive learning attitude and aptitude, and fits well with your team. By hiring by potential and providing them with the support and training to grow, businesses will find that in the long run, they gain employees who are not only skilled, but also loyal, resourceful and motivated,” added Ling.

The guide suggests that companies can identify what is crucial or secondary requirements to the role, ensure a realistic job description, look out for signs of opportunities or progress in the candidate’s job experience, and engage the expertise of recruitment consultants, especially in hiring talent with niche skillsets.

Demand for HR and admin professionals sees upturn in Malaysia

HR and administrative (admin) job roles in Malaysia have entered positive territory for the first time since March 2018, with numbers up 2% year-on-year in December.

In the short- term, this job-role category also saw an improved growth rate, exhibiting 4% growth month-on-month and 2% growth on a three-month basis. The positive sentiment was echoed in the Philippines as online hiring demand for HR and admin professionals in the country continues to soar, to the tune of 22% year-on-year.

Demand for HR and admin interns in Malaysia and Philippines continued to be the highest of all occupations surveyed, at 13% and 5%, respectively. These findings are from the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI), a monthly gauge of online hiring activity across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines tracked by Monster.com. The MEI comprises data of overall hiring activity in each country, as well as specific data in the HR and admin sector.

The job role however is one of the lowest-growth occupations in Singapore. It registered an overall decline of 2% year-on-year.

“As the year ended, the online demand for HR and admin professionals in Malaysia swung upward to clock in a positive year-on-year growth after nine months of decline. It was also one of the three job roles that exhibited positive growth among the nine monitored by the index,” said Abhijeet Mukherjee, CEO of Monster.com – APAC & Middle East.

“Careers are no longer simply defined by jobs and skills but through learning agility and experiences. The ongoing transformation of work, the need for people and organisations to constantly upgrade capabilities and evolve, and shifts in employee preferences demand new approaches to performance management, job design and career development.

"As rapidly advancing technologies and team-centred business models drive organisations to redesign themselves, leaders must keep up to create new career models and build a culture of learning.”

The MEI 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, Malaysia and the Philippines. 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.

Source: Monster. Demand for HR and admin jobs.

Stars facilitate innovation: INSEAD

Good mentors are worth their weight in gold, according to new research from INSEAD.

In Where Do Stars Come From? The Role of Star vs. Nonstar Collaborators in Creative Settings, published in Organization Science, Manuel Sosa, INSEAD Associate Professor of Technology and Operations Management, Jürgen Mihm, INSEAD Professor of Technology and Operations Management and Haibo Liu, Assistant Professor of Management, University of California Riverside, discuss the skills required to integrate, or synthesise, various raw materials in a way that will maximise creativity, and create innovations that help organisations outperform their competitors.

Specifically, the research zeroes in on the creative aspects of interpersonal collaboration from a new perspective: the quality of the collaborator, both stars - people able to generate a disproportionate amount of influential output - and non-stars.

“We wanted to understand, if by working with a star, you would be more likely to become a star; we found that indeed you would,” Sosa said. “The interesting question is how does this happen and why does this happen? What happens when you work with a star that is different from when you work with other people?”

By examining the creative performance of designers who have been granted design patents by the US Patent and Trademark Office over a 35-year period, the authors found that collaborating with star designers indeed significantly increases the chances of becoming a star. Interestingly, they found evidence that creative stars are more likely to possess creative synthesis skills required for creating breakthrough innovations and that they transfer such skill to their collaborators.

Such skills include the ability to understand existing innovation paradigms and create a new one by reconciling distant and often seemingly contradictory viewpoints and then continue to iterate and refine such a new paradigm until it leads to an outstanding innovation output.

All of these creative skills are highly tacit and unlikely to be learnt through a book or in a classroom, the researchers say. While some creative stars may pick them up intuitively or through years of trial-and-error experience, the likelihood of someone absorbing these skills is much higher if they work in close proximity with someone who already possesses them. This allows innovators to observe, learn and practice synthesis skills from the star.

“It is important to note that collaborating with stars doesn’t preclude collaborating with others who are non-stars,” Sosa noted. “Both types of collaborators benefit the innovator’s creative performance and increase the likelihood of creating a breakthrough innovation.”

In fact, some companies today avoid the idea of having a design team with a dominant star, and instead focus on the proven premise that diversity – having a wide-ranging pool of potentially innovative ideas – is key to creativity.

Sosa added, “What we found is that as well as bringing with them new data and experience like a non-star, stars contribute a set of creative skills, rarely found anywhere else, that can have a lasting transformation of the innovator’s creative abilities.”

The paper expands on this to assess the conditions required to maximise the chance of rising to stardom, and noted that this varies greatly depending on whether a star is part of the collaboration team.

When non-stars collaborate, shared expertise or a cohesive social network can limit diversity and steer the team towards “group think” - a phenomenon where everyone agrees with each other, even if the conclusion is wrong. This can negatively impact creative output.

However, when non-stars work with stars, greater shared social network connections and closer similarities in expertise facilitate the exploitation of creative synthesis skills. That is, the circumstances help to build a common insightful understanding of the problem at hand; it encourages collaborators to see similarities among their different perspectives and iteratively refine the most promising ideas, increasing the likelihood of breakthrough innovations.

Most importantly, such cohesive collaborative conditions facilitate the transfer of tacit creative skills from stars to his/her collaborators which in turn increases the chances of them becoming stars in the future.

Singaporean IT leaders say skills shortage could hinder Smart Nation

- Ninety-three percent of Singaporean CIOs are concerned IT talent in Singapore is insufficient for the successful implementation of Smart Nation initiatives.

- Six in 10 believe Smart Nation initiatives will increase job opportunities for IT professionals, 53% say it will increase average IT salaries.

New independent research* commissioned by specialised recruiter Robert Half has found that more than nine in 10 (93%) Singaporean IT leaders are concerned Singapore does not have the IT talent readily available for the building of a Smart Nation-ready workforce. Following the government's launch of Smart Nation initiatives in 2014, businesses have been increasingly involved in the strategic deployment of technology across the nation for improved living, economic growth and national progress - which inevitably requires highly skilled IT professionals to manage.

Compared to five years ago, almost nine in 10 (87%) CIOs find it more challenging to source qualified IT professionals. A similar proportion (83%) say that it is more challenging to attract qualified IT professionals to their organisation.

Employers are struggling to find skilled job candidates in specific functional areas, namely IT security (59%), cloud technology (36%), business intelligence (28%), IT management (27%) and business analysis (25%).

The research has also found IT leaders are optimistic as the clear majority (92%) of CIOs believe that the government’s Smart Nation initiatives will positively impact the local IT employment market. Additionally, more than half (60%) expect an increase in IT job opportunities and 53% predict an increase in average salaries.

Just under half are expecting increased competition to top IT talent, and 29% feel the initiatives will increase the number of locally-trained IT talent. Only 8% of CIOs believe the Smart Nation initiatives will not impact the local IT employment market.

Matthieu Imbert-Bouchard, MD of Robert Half Singapore said: “There is no doubt the government’s Smart Nation initiative will propel Singapore into a prosperous future. However, for Smart Nation to become a reality and result in nationwide success, a stronger supply of highly-skilled local IT talent will be required. Many companies are currently experiencing challenges sourcing and attracting qualified IT professionals – these crucial skills gaps will need to be filled quickly in order for Smart Nation to be a success.”

“As the demand for top IT skills continues to increase in Singapore, a more comprehensive approach will be required to close the current and future technology skills gap. Educational institutions should be encouraged to work with the business community and government to build a more robust business and technology ecosystem that develops and nurtures more talented IT professionals within the local talent pool.”

Imbert-Bouchard also suggested that employers create awareness around the benefits and opportunities available with a career in IT and technology in Singapore, both on a company as well as industry-wide level.

*The annual study is developed by Robert Half and was conducted in June 2018 by an independent research firm, surveying 75 CIOs/CTOs in Singapore. This survey is part of an international workplace survey, a questionnaire about job trends, talent management and trends in the workplace.

AI-backed recruitment services promise more accurate match-making

AnyMind Group, which aims to transform industries through artificial intelligence (AI), has launched TalentMind, a new business unit with proprietary AI-driven recruitment software.

TalentMind will offer an integrated platform that taps on natural language processing (NLP), profile analysis and machine learning to screen, analyse and match prospects to businesses. The platform will be launched in four phases:

● TalentMind screening - leverage social media and résumé data to determine a prospect’s cultural fit and personality through candidate profiles. The person’s behavioural and personality traits, role competency and skills will be studied.

● TalentMind analytics - analyse the abilities and personalities of top performers across an organisation and develop custom hiring models that evolve in real-time. These hiring models will also be used to match candidates to different organisations.

● TalentMind sourcing - Engage with candidates directly on the platform

● TalentMind matching - Candidate-to-company matching based on organisational hiring and talent models

Source: TalentMind. Screen captures of the AI-powered recruitment platform.

Leveraging on learning algorithms, a human resource professional can develop customised hiring models that are optimised in real-time, based on candidate pick up and acceptance rate, existing company culture and core competencies of high-performing staff within the organisation. The AI engine will be further enhanced under the supervision of newly-appointed advisor to AnyMind Group, Masayasu Morita, CEO, Founder and President of Hitomedia.

Kosuke Sogo, CEO and co-founder of AnyMind Group said: “We scaled our headcount very quickly the past 20 months and found areas in the hiring process that could have been optimised. Our human resource team has now integrated TalentMind into their workflow and have used the platform to bring in an additional team for this expanded vertical.”

The TalentMind Platform is powered an AI-driven matching engine similar to that being used by sister company CastingAsia, for influencer marketing.

“We are already utilising our AI engines to drive the matching of social media influencers to brands and are now scaling it into the human resource industry. Ultimately, we want to enable professionals to make smarter decisions with a suite of AI-driven solutions across business lines,” said Sogo.

Since starting operations in April 2016 as AdAsia Holdings, the now 21-month-old AnyMind Group has expanded into 10 offices in nine countries and territories with over 250 staff, and is aiming to expand into 15 offices across 14 countries with a headcount of 400 by the end of 2018.

Explore:

Read the TechTrade Asia blog post about the formation of AnyMind Group

Singapore employees want career prospects and a good work environment

Source: CareerBuilder Singapore. The attributes of an Employer of Choice.

According to the Employer of Choice Survey* 2017 by CareerBuilder Singapore, it takes more than the common strategy of offering a good salary to attract and retain talent. The survey found that employees in Singapore rank good career growth and a non-discriminatory work environment above monetary compensation as top deciding factors for their ideal employer. 

Source: CareerBuilder Singapore. What an ideal job looks like.

Respondents valued the ability to learn and grow in a job and a conducive and pleasant environment, with attractive pay, bonuses and monetary compensation only coming in as the third most important factor. Other key factors being considered include job security, a comfortable physical work environment, and good employee benefits.

Source: CareerBuilder Singapore. Why people switch jobs.

When it comes to switching jobs, almost two in three respondents cited a “lack of career growth opportunities” as the top reason to do so. This is significantly higher than other reasons such as an unfriendly work culture and unhappiness with their bosses.

Pull factors that encourage potential employees to view a job as ideal are likewise rarely related to money alone. Good relationships with colleagues and bosses, as well as a respectful work culture that offers work-life balance and advancement opportunities are other important attributes in an ideal job.

While employees generally prefer working in the public sector over the private sector, there is a growing trend for startups to be seen as highly attractive employers. The survey this year showed close to 59% (an almost 10% rise compared to last year) in those stating that they would be interested and willing to work in a startup. The top reasons cited were that startups provide “lots of learning opportunities” (84.8%), opportunities to work closely with a group of passionate and enthusiastic colleagues” (66.4%), along with an “exposure to a wide spectrum of job roles” that employees might not necessarily be exposed to in larger or more established companies.

The top five startup employers of choice were Carousell, then Redmart, Uber, Honestbee and Ninja Van.

“The Employer of Choice Survey 2017 results offer interesting insights to how any company, big or small, can stand out, draw and retain talent. Contrary to the common belief that job-seekers only want money, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups too can have a fair chance at securing good employees with an informed understanding of what matters most to job-seekers,” said Sam Ng, MD, CareerBuilder Singapore.

Other survey findings include:

· Tech companies are seen as highly preferred employers. Out of the top 10 employers listed in the private sector Employers of Choice category, five were tech companies. For three consecutive years, tech giant Google has been seen as the most preferred Employer of Choice in the private sector. Apple ranks No. 2, followed by Singapore Airlines, the Changi Airport Group and 3M for private employers of choice. Other tech companies which were ranked favourably include Microsoft and Facebook.

In the public sector, the top five Employers of Choice were, in order of preference, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Singapore Tourism Board, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Central Provident Fund Board and the Ministry of Education.

The SME list included music, lifestyle and experience specialist Timbre Group in first place, followed by Zouk Management, WTS Travel & Tours, Garena Online and Jumbo Seafood.

· Passion is top priority: the majority of job-seekers chose to enter a specific industry due to their keen interest in the line of work, followed by the industry’s relevance to what they studied in school. Among the various industries, the banking/finance/investment industry (21%), as well as the government/civil service/military industry (19.6%) and the healthcare/medical industry (17.9%) were the most preferred industries to work in. The results show that job-seekers seem to follow their passion when it comes to choosing a job.

· Fresh graduates expect promotions fast, along with work-life balance. Among fresh graduates who were polled, one in two (53%) expect their first promotion within two years of being employed in a company. Close to one in three fresh graduates also expect to be promoted to a managerial role by the third year of their employment. However, the survey also found that despite the huge desire to climb the corporate ladder, most of the fresh graduates polled (68.5%) were only willing to put in the standard hours at work, which suggests that they value work-life balance quite significantly.

· Employees seek jobs online, as opposed to the traditional newspaper classified advertisements. Respondents continue to rely heavily on online resources and word of mouth to find jobs. Online job portals (45.5%) were the most commonly used channel, followed by ads, banners, emails, features and news on the Internet (33.5%), connections through family and friends (26.7%), and social media (25.3%).

*The Employer of Choice Survey 2017 was conducted between May to September 2017 among close to 3,000 working adults as well as tertiary undergraduates, aged 16 years and above.

New career development platform to address ICM manpower shortage in Singapore

SiTF, together with the support of SPRING Singapore, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the e2i (Employment and Employability Institute), has launched talentguru, a skills-focused career development platform, powered by analytics to help address the skills gap and manpower shortage challenges in Singapore’s infocomm media (ICM) industry.

“Infocomm media is one of the fastest growing industries and an important enabler in Singapore’s ambitions to be a leading Digital Economy and Smart Nation. There are many exciting job opportunities in this sector, ranging from deep technical roles such as Data Scientists and Cybersecurity Forensic Analysts, to business-strategy roles such as Chief Digital Officers and Enterprise Architects, and more. Recognising that people are at the heart of our digital transformation efforts, we are pleased to support the talentguru portal and its efforts to bridge the skills and jobs gap, so as to build up a more vibrant ICM ecosystem,” said Tan Kiat How, Chief Executive, IMDA at the launch last month.

Talentguru is focused on building capacity in the industry by enhancing the pipeline of ICM talent and deepening the pool of local skills. This initiative is backed by a suite of programmes and a strong community of support from the industry as well as SiTF’s network of partners including government agencies, institutes of higher learning (IHLs), trade associations and training providers.

Talentguru intends to grow the local pool of ICM skills and talent, by helping four groups of people:

· Students – prepares them to launch their careers with confidence by using insights from data to understand skills requirements for jobs and their desired careers pathways;

· Career switchers – empowers and motivates them to re-skill and reach new career peaks in the ICM industry;

· ICM professionals – enables them to stay competitive and relevant by acquiring new skills, widening professional networks and keeping up to date with industry trends;

· Employers – facilitates more effective hiring processes with a focus on objective assessments based primarily on skills.

“Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups will now have a dedicated platform that links employers with fresh graduates and job seekers – a resource that many did not have in the past. Talentguru will also drive industry-wide cooperation by bridging technologists, entrepreneurs, multinationals and Singapore companies with IHLs and government agencies to uncover new science, business and technology talents,” said Benjamin Mah, Co-Chairman SiTF Talent & Capabilities Committee.

Powered by JobKred’s proprietary data analytics technology, talentguru allows users to create their own profile of skills and compare themselves against what the industry needs at any given point in time. This allows users to glean useful insights on skills requirements and explore possible career pathways, which is particularly useful for anyone interested in entering the ICM industry for the first time, such as students and career switchers.

Lim Kang Song, Co-Chairman SiTF Talent & Capabilities Committee, said that the rapid pace of change in the ICM industry can result in job seekers feeling lost and insecure. "Many ICM students also choose not to pursue a career in the industry after graduation because they feel unprepared," he said. "Through some early testing with IHLs, students said that talentguru helped to alleviate some of these concerns by providing a clear picture of the skills they needed to get the jobs they wanted. This is an outcome we hope to replicate with career switchers as well.”

As part of the ecosystem of initiatives supporting the talentguru platform, SiTF is making extra effort to help SMEs and startups attract and retain talent. SiTF is working with SPRING to run a structured internship programme to train internship mentors and facilitate the matching of ICM students with quality internships. In recognition of its efforts, SPRING has appointed SiTF as a Partner for SME Talent Programme (STP), to help strengthen the ICM talent pipeline for SMEs and provide meaningful internship opportunities for local students.

“People are strategic assets to businesses and it is important for SMEs to invest in resources to attract and develop talent. With support from SPRING’s Local Enterprise and Association Development (LEAD) programme, SiTF aims to improve the way job and skills matching is done for the ICT sector, benefitting both job seekers and employers. SiTF is also working on other industry projects such as technology adoption and building up their research capabilities in ICT to strengthen their competency,” said Chew Mok Lee, Assistant Chief Executive, Capabilities & Partnership, SPRING Singapore.

Source: talentguru website. The talentguru initiative will help job seekers tailor their skillsets to market demand.

SiTF is also partnering Proxor, a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff, to administer a rigorous and certifiable skills assessment for Java programming. Proxor’s solution will help test a candidate’s ability to solve real world problems and provide an assessment benchmarked against a global cohort. SiTF hopes that such assessments would gain more industry recognition and help ease the transition for career switchers who have re-skilled to join the ICM industry.

Finally, talentguru will be complemented by a suite of offline events to help build a vibrant and mutually supportive community. Apart from networking sessions, industry talks, and outreach to schools, SiTF and e2i have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to mark a shared commitment to empower local career switchers and displaced professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) transition smoothly into the ICM industry by collaborating on a series of career fairs and seminars over the next two years.

“The ICT sector offers many opportunities and growth potential, and faces a rising demand for tech professionals. To support the demand to attract and groom Singaporeans in this sector, e2i has collaborated with industry partners to recruit manpower through career fairs and professional conversion programmes, as well as bridge skill gap through masterclasses. Talentguru is a platform where Singaporeans interested in joining the sector can identify their training needs, get matched to a suitable job and be part of a vibrant ICT ecosystem,” said Gilbert Tan, CEO, e2i.

Over the next three years, talentguru seeks to engage 500 companies and 10,000 users, facilitating the placement of 3,000 ICM professionals and 1,000 students. It also hopes to train 300 internship mentors in SMEs.

Interested?

View the video introducing talentguru

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.

Diversify incentives to retain talent, Robert Half says

§ Forty-three percent of Singaporean employees say they would be willing to receive lower pay in exchange for flexible working hours, 37% in return for the option to work from home and 28% for medical benefits.

§ Sixty-nine percent of Singaporeans are motivated by more than just pay.

Independent research* commissioned by specialised recruiter Robert Half shows many Singaporeans may value work-life balance more than higher pay.

With 69% of Singaporeans saying they are motivated by more than just pay, the Robert Half 2017 Salary Guide has found many Singaporean employees consider work-life balance options to be more attractive than higher pay. Almost half (43%) of Singaporeans would accept less pay in exchange for flexible working hours, and more than one in three (37%) would prefer the option to work from home over a salary increase.

Non-financial benefits are a clear motivator for Singaporeans, Robert Half said, as more than one in four (28%) would accept a lower wage in return for more medical benefits, and one in five (20%) would prefer an increased holiday allowance.

Matthieu Imbert-Bouchard, MD, Robert Half Singapore said: “While salary is still the most vital element of a remuneration package, flexibility has become increasingly important, with many Singaporeans starting to prioritise other benefits that positively impact their work-life balance.”

“In an indication that non-monetary benefits can be a prime motivator in the workplace, flexible working hours, additional holidays and the option to work from home are highly sought-after, contributing to a satisfied, motivated, productive and loyal workforce.

“In a fast-paced working environment where employers are confronted with a continuous war for talent, employers need to diversify their incentives offerings – and look beyond the financial aspect - in order to attract and retain their best talent.” 

The 2017 Robert Half Salary Guide is a resource on starting salaries and recruitment trends in finance and accounting, financial services and information technology. It offers a comprehensive overview of the current salary ranges, industry trends and specific job trends for finance and accounting professionals, finance professionals in the financial services sector and information technology professionals. The results and insights of the 2017Robert Half Salary Guide are based on comprehensive analyses, local job placements, local expertise and independent research of executives and office workers. For the first time Robert Half has also aggregated its data with Broadbean job posting data (a digital tool that captures job advertisement analytics and talent acquisition behaviour).

Robert Half a specialised recruitment consultancy. Founded in 1948, the company has over 325 offices worldwide providing interim management, temporary and permanent recruitment solutions for accounting and finance, financial services and technology professionals.

Interested?

Download the 2017 Robert Half Salary Guide

*The research is developed by Robert Half and was conducted in February 2017 by an independent research firm, surveying 100 finance and accounting, 100 technology and 100 financial services employees in Hong Kong.

posted from Bloggeroid

Zhaopin shows shifts in entry-level job market in China

Zhaopin, a career platform in China focused on connecting users with relevant job opportunities throughout their career lifecycle, has discovered shifting trends in its 2017 career survey* of college graduates in China. The research has found that Chinese college graduates are facing a more challenging labour market and declining average monthly salary, a dismal combination for the record 7.95 million graduating students joining the labour force this year.

2017 labour market for college graduates
Difficult and very challenging	40.8%
Difficult, but acceptable	47.0%
The market was OK	9.4%
Not difficult at all	0.8%
Not clear	2.0%

The good news is that the overall labour is showing signs of strengthening in line with overall economy gaining momentum. This has been shown by the CIER index compiled by Zhaopin and China Institute for Employment Research (CIER) at Renmin University, which tracks the ratio of job vacancies to job seekers in a variety of industries and cities across the country, rose to 1.91 in Q117, compared to 1.71 in Q116. The rising index is an indication the labour market had improved with the economy.

However, the labour market is strengthening unevenly. The record size of this year's graduating class is posing unique challenges for graduates. With such a large graduating class this year, new job seekers still face a daunting challenge, especially those from less well-known universities outside the top tier.

In trying to secure a job, 41.3% of graduates submitted 11 to 30 resumes this year, and 11.7% even sent more than 51 resumes to potential employers. It was also more difficult to get interview opportunities this year. Zhaopin found that 31.9% of college graduates landed one to three interviews, and 27.1% had four to five interviews. About 8.3% of graduates did not get any interviews this year, up from 3% last year.

By the end of April this year, 27.7% of college graduates had not received a job offer, higher than the 24.8% seen last year. Meanwhile, just over half of the graduates (50.2%) had received one to three job offers, lower than the 55.4% last year. For graduates who had job offers but declined to sign contracts, the top reasons were "salary/welfare did not meet expectation" (35.5%), "did not like position/work" (32.4%), and "not satisfied with work  location" (27.7%). To help address some of these challenges, Zhaopin has developed the National Employability Test to both help graduates and employers identify suitable talents.

Job offers for college graduates
No offer	27.7%
One offer	15.5%
Two offers	18.9%
Three offers	15.8%
Four offers	9.1%
Five offers	6.0%
Six offers	4.9%
Seven or more offers	2.0%

Highlights of Zhaopin's research:

• About 40.8% of graduates believe the labour market has been "very challenging" this year, up from 36.5% last year. A further 47% of graduates thought the job market was acceptable, even though difficult.
• A quarter of college graduates (26.7%) signed employment contracts this year, down from 35.4% last year.
• The average monthly salary for college graduates declined by 16% this year to RMB4,014.
• The average monthly salary for male graduates was RMB4,374, higher than RMB3,624 for female graduates.
• The IT/telecom/electronics/Internet sector offered the highest monthly salary of RMB4,867, followed by RMB4,692 in the financial sector and RMB4,457 for the traffic/transportation/logistics/warehousing sector.
• For the first time since Zhaopin started the survey in 2014, "opportunities to learn and grow" overtook "good salary and welfare" as the most important factor for college graduates in assessing jobs.

Reasons for not accepting job offers
Salary/welfare did not meet expectation	35.5%
Did not like position/work	32.4%
Not satisfied with work location	27.7%
Waiting for better offers	22.2%
Poor outlook for career development	21.2%
Work environment did not meet expectation	19.6%
Poor industry outlook	11.1%
Choosing among multiple offers	10.1%
Company reputation did not meet expectation	6.7%
Ready to sign contract	6.4%
Startup company with high risk	5.7%

Both the expected and actual monthly salary for college graduates declined this year, Zhaopin survey found. The average expected monthly salary was RMB4,875 this year, a drop of RMB110 from last year. The average actual monthly salary for college graduates declined by RMB751 to reach RMB4,014 this year.

Average monthly salary for college graduates
	Expected (RMB)	Actual (RMB)
2014	4,357	3,945
2015	5,265	4,793
2016	4,985	4,765
2017	4,875	4,014

The average actual monthly salary for male graduates was RMB4,374, higher than RMB3,624 for female graduates. The IT/telecom/electronics/internet sector offered the highest monthly salary of RMB4,867, followed by RMB4,692 from the financial sector and RMB4,457 from the traffic/transportation/logistics/warehousing sector.

Sectors with highest average monthly salaries for    college graduates (RMB)
IT/telecom/electronics/Internet	4,867
Financial	4,692
Traffic/transportation/logistics/warehousing	4,457

Among graduates who already signed employment contracts, 33.5% choose to work in first-tier cities and 33.1% would go to emerging first-tier cities. Emerging first-tier cities were actually more attractive to college graduates as 37.5% of them wanted jobs there.

Cities selected by college graduates
	Preferred	Actual
First-tier cities	29.9%	33.5%
Emerging first-tier cities	37.5%	33.1%
Second-tier cities	21.3%	19.0%
Third-tier cities and  below	11.3%	14.4%

The IT/telecom/electronics/Internet sector was the most attractive sector with 19.4% of college graduates preferred to work in this field. One in five (20.3%) found related jobs.

Sectors selected by Chinese college graduates
	Preferred	Actual
IT/telecom/electronics/Internet	19.4%	20.3%
Culture/media/entertainment/sports	9.6%	3.3%
Financial	9.3%	7.8%
Professional service (consulting/finance and accounting/legal, advertising/PR,  authentication/outsourcing)	9.1%	5.6%
Real estate/construction	8.0%	11.2%
Services (healthcare/nursing, beauty, hotel/restaurant, travel/vacation)	6.9%	8.6%
Automobile/manufacturing/processing	6.7%	15.3%
Trade/wholesale/retail/leasing, FMCG/durable consumer goods	6.2%	7.5%
Education/arts and crafts	5.7%	4.3%
Government/non-profit organisation	5.0%	0.7%
Energy/mineral/environmental protection	3.4%	3.6%
Traffic/transportation/logistics/warehousing	2.9%	4.2%
Farming/forestry/animal husbandry/fishery	0.9%	1.2%
Others	7.0%	6.5%

Students planning to go on to further education in China dropped to 6.3% this year, from 16.5% last year. Students planning for further education overseas also declined to 3.4% this year, from 4.8% last year. Nearly 10% of graduates said they do not intend to work immediately after graduation. They would like to take some time off to travel, volunteer, or spend time with parents.

Intentions after graduation
Looking for a job	73.5%
Further education in China	6.3%
Further education overseas	3.4%
Start own business	6.3%
Take some time off	9.8%
Others	0.7%

About 55.9% of graduates preferred jobs with "opportunities to learn and grow", while 52.2% chose "good salary and welfare". It was the first time since Zhaopin started the survey in 2014 that "opportunities to learn and grow" has overtaken "good salary and welfare" as the most important factor for assessing a job.

Job aspirations for Chinese college graduates
Opportunities to learn and grow	55.9%
Good salary and welfare	52.2%
Growth potential of industry/company	34.9%
Harmonious company environment	25.2%
Fit with personal interests	22.8%
Room to perform with abilities	20.5%
Suitable position	19.1%
Clear career development path	17.8%
Balance of work and life	16.2%
Freedom in workstyle	13.5%
Others	0.3%

College graduates also said they would work overtime when necessary to complete urgent projects, finish their own work, or improve their skills. About 40.3% of graduates would accept two to five hours of overtime a week, and 23.1% could work overtime five to eight hours a week.

Acceptable amount of overtime for Chinese college  graduates
Under two hours a week	24.5%
Two to five hours a week	40.3%
Five to eight hours a week	23.1%
Eight to 10 hours a week	8.6%
No overtime	3.5%

Zhaopin has over 135 million registered users** at various stages of their careers. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016, approximately 36.9 million job postings*** were placed on Zhaopin's platform by 509,813 unique customers.

*Zhaopin's survey analyses the employability of college graduates based on their perceptions of the labour market, job-hunting efforts and results. About 93,420 college graduates participated in the survey this year, including junior college graduates, undergraduates and graduate students.

**A "unique customer" refers to a customer that purchases the company's online recruitment services during a specified period. Zhaopin makes adjustments for multiple purchases by the same customer to avoid double-counting. Each customer is assigned a unique identification number in the company's information management system. Affiliates and branches of a given customer may, under certain circumstances, be counted as separate unique customers.

***Zhaopin calculates the number of job postings by counting the number of newly placed job postings during each respective period. Job postings that were placed prior to a specified period - even if available during such period - are not counted as job postings for such period. Any particular job posting placed on the company's website may include more than one job opening or position.