Singapore remains an attractive regional hub for many of the world’s leading technology organisations and continues to lead the way in new innovation, research and development.

Hiring activity in the end space environment has been strong over the last year. Confidence to invest in upgrading or implementing new technologies has been buoyed by improved trading conditions in 2011. The need for organisations to become more financially efficient has also been a major driver for investment in new technologies in the short and medium term.

There has been strong demand for good mid to senior level professionals with experience in project management, enterprise / data / applications and solutions architecture, and specialist ERP skills and IT governance. The number of available sales and pre-sales roles has also been buoyant and senior IT leadership positions have seen a steady increase.

Although there is lack of visibility regarding financial markets going into 2012, the general outlook is positive. We anticipate continued growth in the ‘cloud’ technologies, digital media and social media. Demand for strong ERP consultants will continue to be high as well as post sales integration positions

For more information regarding the recruitment market, please view the Morgan McKinley Singapore Salary Guide 2012. This salary guide provides market intelligence on hiring and remuneration trends across financial services and commerce & industry in Singapore.

cloud technology, digital media, ERP, IT jobs in Singapore, Singapore hiring, Social Media, technology

IT recruitment within financial services in Singapore has remained comparatively strong in the wake of the latest economic slowdown. Let’s take a look at some of the recent and predicted trends in this busy jobs market.

Singapore trading up
There is healthy demand for IT trading support professionals, due in part to a new wave of trading houses setting up in Singapore. Historically, global banks focused their front office functions for Asia Pacific in Hong Kong. We are now seeing these banks increase their emphasis on front office functions in Singapore. The increased business focus has created demand for IT professionals that have good domain knowledge, leadership skills and above all good communication skills.

Off-shoring
Cost awareness has made way for continued off-shoring of more technically ‘hands on’ functions to lower cost countries. India has dominated here over recent years; however a shift in cost benefits is seeing a rise in off-shoring to countries such as Malaysia and the Philippines.

Conservative salary increases
After witnessing salary increases of around 6% in 2011, it is predicted that increases will be more conservative this year due to ongoing economic uncertainty. However hiring levels are expected to remain sturdy in response to restructuring and new start-ups.

Have you considered contracting?
Another trend that should continue into 2012 is the upsurge in contract openings within banks in Singapore. This follows more mature hiring trends in the West and is likely to affect most business functions. Contracting provides banks and other companies with increased autonomy and flexibility in their hiring, as approval processes for permanent roles have become stringent and more difficult for hiring managers to justify. Some professionals are wary that contract roles are less stable and this is an attitude that will take time to shift. It may be comforting to know however that over 65% of contractors we place in Singapore have their contracts extended or converted to permanent roles.

contract jobs in Singapore, Financial Services, IT jobs in Singapore, IT trading support

The question that never goes away.

The consistent and persistent arguments on either side of the debate are valid and have to be evaluated carefully. Some people believe that adding a photograph adds ‘memory value’ for the recruiter/interviewer. The contrarians however claim that a picture should not be included as it lends itself to instant judgement and whether that judgement is positive or negative, it will inevitably be biased.

While, I accept the validity of the arguments made on either side wholeheartedly it is a double edged sword. As a recruiter, I would have to admit that a picture on a resume does help me remember the job seeker easily. I am able to connect with the job seeker as it puts a face to the name. It also creates more familiarity,  helping you to become better acquainted with him or her even if you have not met them in person. A photo resume does personalise the resume and could help you stand out from the crowd. But keep in mind, you may be exposing yourself to instant judgement! You want employers to hire you because of your accomplishments and abilities, not because of your outer appearance.

What are your thoughts on adding a photo on your resume?

adding a photo on resume, cv advice, cv tips, photo resume, resume advice, resume guide, resume tips

I am often asked if dealing with Generation Y job seekers is as difficult as is the perception. This stems from the fact that the characteristics associated with those of us who belong to the Gen X and even Baby Boomers generations range from independent to ambitious and ’family-centric’ (just to clarify I am Gen X!), whereas Gen Y are often nicknamed ’Generation Me’. Several personality surveys have shown increasing levels of narcissism among this generation compared to their predecessors when they were in their twenties.

Gen Ys are also sometimes referred to as the ‘Peter Pan Generation’ because many of them tend to delay some rites of passage into adulthood for longer periods than previous generations, for example living with their parents.

So is there a pattern in the behaviour of job seekers who were born anytime after Wham broke up and tragically the A-Team was cancelled? In my experience firstly, some appear to move around a lot more and in a much shorter period. Secondly, most Gen Ys tend to have more confidence in asking for a jump in salary outside of the ’traditional’ 10-15% range. Thirdly, a trend I have noticed is that the more senior the professional is, the easier they are to manage, which may seem surprising.

As an example, I have been dealing with a few Gen Y job seekers who are looking to return to or enter the market. Amazingly when employers have asked to meet with them during lunch time, after work or shock horror, before work, several of these unemployed job seekers have literally baulked at such a suggestion. Clearly finding a job might not be their top priority, or if it is, they don’t fully understand what a priority is! Making yourself available for interviews demonstrates your commitment to your potential employer as well as your recruitment consultant. We tend to remember those who are always unavailable in a negative light!

I have tried calling these same available job seekers before the ungodly hour of 10am only to be told they are too tired to talk. And then there are those who ignore the early morning call completely which whilst this may be their prerogative, can seriously harm their chances of making shortlist since they never have voicemail.

So to summarise, all job seekers have their quirks but if you don’t want to seem ’generationally challenged’ I would advise not to give the impression of being hard to manage when looking for a new role.

A-Team, baby boomers, Career advice, Generation X, Generation Y, interviews, job seeker, Wham

So, the “second biggest” football club in Manchester is looking to Asia to help ease the debt its American owners have burdened it with.

The proposed partial flotation of Manchester United on Singapore’s stock exchange (SGX) is expected to raise somewhere in the region of $1bn USD – valuing the club in excess of $3bn USD (Reuters)

As a lifelong Man City fan, Singapore based expat and a recruitment manager specialising in the investment banking sector I am delighted to be able to have my say as whether your allegiance is ‘red’ or ‘blue’ there are many interesting issues here.

Many Man United fans were passionately against the Glazers’ takeover and the funding of the purchase of their club with debt.

…..However, the Glazers’ injection of cash (albeit borrowed) has allowed Manchester United to fund the purchase of players like Rooney and Ronaldo as well as developing the brand worldwide.

Since the takeover in 2005 the team has managed to win four Premier League titles and the Champions League – something Man City fans can only now even dare to start dreaming about (since the takeover of the club by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi).

Not a bad return for six years in charge?

The flotation of Manchester United will continue to allow the Club to compete financially with the biggest on the world stage now and for many years to come.

Will the deal render the club debt free – or should all businesses carry debt?  Is ‘business’ the price that the sport of football has paid for its success?

Football is now a truly global business and the English Premier League is huge in Singapore.  It pains me to say no team is bigger than Man U.

Whether you are an institutional investor, speculative amateur or passionate fan who wants to own a piece of this historic club / successful business, this IPO will probably attract more column inches than any other in 2011.

It will certainly make Man United a very stable business and allow the team to continue to fight for the top honours for some time to come.

Whether it’s a good investment, only time will tell.  All I do know is that Sheikh Monsour (the owner of Manchester City) will need to dig his hand even deeper into his pocket if we are ever to overtake our fiercest rivals…………

Alex Ferguson, Champions League, Glazer, IPO, Man U, Man United, Manchester United, Premier League, Ronaldo, Rooney, Singapore's stock exchange

That’s it, you got your dream job – it’s your first day! Now it’s time to really show your new employer that they were right in hiring you for the role. What to do?

One word: Communication!

Why? Unless you build relationships with your manager, your manager’s manager, the team, stakeholders, colleagues and peers, you will not be able to get the job done effectively.

Your manager: Sit down with your manager to understand the short term goals that you can work towards in your first 100 days in order to make a significant difference. Understand the long term goals your manager and manager’s boss have for your role too. Pinpoint the key people who will help you achieve these goals; the influencers, the movers and the shakers.

Your peers and colleagues: Having lunch, coffee or even a joke at the water cooler will be time well spent to not only get to know your colleagues but more about the company’s informal culture. Ask questions, show interest and empathy.

Your stakeholders: Do the same if located in same place or phone, Skype or travel if based abroad.

My tip is to take notes from these types of interactions to revisit later. It will go a long way to show that you care and people will help you get your job done. Ask for feedback, share your experiences and think about what you want your new colleagues to know of you and how your message will come across.

These informal meetings will go along way to help you succeed and be viewed as a great new hire with great emotional intelligence.

Remember: Communicate, communicate, communicate!

building relationships, Career advice, communication, emotional intelligence, EQ, first day at work, new hire, new job advice

Singapore has an enviable position among nations as the regional hub for IT in Asia Pacific. Large multinational corporations, investors and medium sized firms continue to set up and expand their operations in Singapore.

The nation’s competitive edge as a regional hub has been attributed to its access to a global talent pool particularly in sectors like information technology, financial services, and biomedical science amongst others. Recently, the former Prime Minister and founding father of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew reasserted the need to remain open to foreign talent for the economy “to be able to punch above its weight”.

Is this a valid sentiment? Does the republic’s open approach to foreign talent demonstrated by a liberal immigration policy play such an important role in its success and growth?

In one of my previous blogs, I mentioned the positive hiring outlook in 2011 for the IT sector. Would these hiring needs be effectively met if companies were restricted to a local talent pool only?

There are a number of reasons why the Singapore IT hiring market needs to look both at home and abroad:

1.  Firstly, in the Singapore IT sector context, we need to move away from the concept of foreign vs. local talent to the concept of GLOBAL TALENT. This global talent pool comprises local and overseas professionals bringing a global outlook, specialist skills and diverse knowledge to the table.

2. Technology is the global driver and market leading industry for innovation and growth. Hence, it needs global talent to develop, innovate and take the products and services to a global market.

3. The IT industry is global – its suppliers are global, customers are global, the entire ecosystem is…you guessed it – global.  In fact, look at Facebook or Apple’s iPhone or even the World Wide Web! These products and platforms would not have been developed if not for global and diverse talent.

Would we like to lose the opportunity provided by this industry for Singapore to go global with its offerings? Singapore’s key differentiator is its GLOBAL OUTLOOK and its diverse, mosaic workforce and where else do we see it better leveraged than in information technology!

global talent, hiring market, it jobs, IT sector, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore

As a recruiter, there are days when I sift through literally hundreds of CVs in order to pick out the relevant candidates that fulfill specific requirements. This has certainly given me insight into what makes an attention-grabbing, first class CV, so I thought I would share some tips with you via this blog.

How your CV is read
The first thing to understand is that your CV will not be read like a short story (i.e. starting from the top and working down to the bottom). Unfortunately, recruiters and hiring managers often don’t have enough time to absorb every word. Rather, your CV will be looked at like an advertisement or diagram. Therefore you should format your CV to ensure the most important parts will capture the reader’s attention first. The sections, whether projects or places of work should be clearly separated and defined, and follow the same format so that the reader can identify a pattern quickly.

Personal summary
Keep this concise and factual. This section is an opportunity to summarise your key strengths in terms of technical skills, ‘soft skills’, aspirations and achievements. Avoid philosophical quotes and emotional jargon. This should be no more than 200 words

Places of work
These titles should stand out well and serve as clear section dividers. Always state the months and years of employment duration, and the country location. Be honest and do not leave out employers. If you have gaps in employment, explain why.

Project or systems description
Paragraphs should be used – no more than 100 words. Avoid using sales text copied from a brochure or the company’s website. Instead, talk about the purpose and outcomes of the projects / systems you worked on.

Responsibilities
Bullet points should be used. If these stretch out for over half a page, they should be further titled and categorised into smaller chunks. Avoid long paragraphs here as the information will not command attention quickly enough and these are important sections that the reader will be likely be drawn to early on.

Career advice, cv writing tips, first class cv, HR, perfect cv, recruitment process

A notable trend in the middle to back office of financial institutions across Singapore is starting to appear; if you haven’t already heard, Changi Business Park is the new hot zone for technology and operations. While the banks are belt tightening and restructuring globally,  a uniform trend on the island has been to shift operations and support services out of the Central Business District.  The result?  A new and emerging technology and operations hub in the East.

Canary Wharf - home to a growing number of financial institutions in London

You could be forgiven for missing the strategic importance, when you walk along Changi’s gentrified paths and absorb the eerie quiet. Yet it plays host to a number of prime data centres and back office processes that underpin mission critical day-to-day operations of the banking sector worldwide. Citibank, Standard Chartered and DBS boast prime real estate in the hub presently with an increasing number of employees being relocated from the centre. Credit Suisse recently announced a back office centre-of-excellence to join them in 2013.

An ex-Londoner now settled in Singapore, my thoughts are naturally drawn to Canary Wharf, a banking hub outside of the City of London on the site of a 19^th century port. Redeveloped in the 1980’s, the old docklands became an attractive place for banks to shift their operations outside of the relatively expensive central business district – often referred to as the Square Mile. It is now host to the headquarters of many of the world’s top tier financial institutions.

Changhi Business Park in Singapore

So, watch this space Singapore. As capital inflows to the East continue to rise and the regulatory landscape in the West looks somewhat uncertain, who knows how Changi will transform in the not-so-distant future.  Are we looking at the Canary Wharf of the East…..?

banking sector, Canary Wharf, Central Business District, Changi Business Park, Financial Services, IT, Square Mile, technolgy jobs

“I’m only looking for a permanent position.” As an IT finance recruiter, this is a common reaction from candidates I approach with fixed term contract opportunities. I understand their reasoning. Coming out of the back end of the financial crisis, with mixed opinions about the sustainability of growth, people are still prioritising the safety and stability a permanent role offers above all other factors.

A fixed term contract has a potential end in sight but consider this; if downsizing, bad performance reviews, off-shoring or restructuring occur then you are all pretty much in the same boat. In parallel, it makes little sense for companies to wave goodbye to outperforming professionals just because their contracts are expiring. The survival factor for all employees in these cases will be their ability and willingness to adapt to change. It may be comforting to know that over 65% of candidates we place on contracts in Singapore go on to have their contracts extended or converted to permanent roles.

Following on from more mature hiring trends in the West, we are anticipating a surge in contract openings from the financial services sector in Singapore, which is likely to affect most business functions. There are a number of reasons why demand for contractors is increasing:

Recruitment Views: A contract recruitment solution is great for business

As the contract market in Singapore gains traction, I feel that companies will need to adopt incentives to make fixed term employment more appealing and competitive, in order to attract the best talent. When weighing up the opportunity of a contract role in Singapore, here are some factors you should consider:

eFinancialCareers: News and Views

Contract, IT, job search, permanent, Singapore, technolgy jobs