HRD Asia 5 Star Recruiters

SPECIAL REPORT

2021

BEST RECRUITERS IN ASIA 2021

HRD celebrates the region’s top recruitment companies, as voted by HR professionals across Asia

SPECIAL REPORT BUSINESS STRATEGY

BEST RECRUITERS IN ASIA 2021

BEST RECRUITERS IN ASIA 2021 Top recruiters look to the future with optimism AT THE PEAK of the pandemic in 2020, retrenchments, hiring freezes and budget cuts were the norm for talent management teams.

Unemployment was at an all-time high across the globe due to the COVID-related recession – and, sadly, Singapore wasn’t spared. In an advance labour market release for 2020, the city state’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) reported higher retrenchment figures every quarter than in the same periods in 2019.

Despite this, it noted that the figures remained “significantly lower” compared to past recessions such as the GFC. As organisations went into survival mode, recruitment activity was almost non-existent.

“As people shift out of the fear of what COVID-19 is or how it’s going to impact them, it starts to dawn on them that this is going to be a longer-term challenge to navigate. The mindset then starts to shift” The hiring sector was hit hard across the nation, with companies putting in hiring freezes and talent pools drying up. What’s more, Singapore saw a drastic dip in employ-

SINGAPORE EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK 30%

Net employment outlook

Seasonally adjusted

25% 20% 15%

15%

15%

10% 5%

5%

6%

8%

8%

9%

9%

0% -3%

-2%

-5% -10% -15% -20% -25% -30%

-27%

Oct–Dec 2019

Jan–Mar 2020

Apr–June 2020

-28%

July–Sep 2020

Oct–Dec 2020

Jan–Mar 2021

Source: ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey Singapore Q1 2021

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ment after the circuit breaker period started in April. The ManpowerGroup recorded a 28% drop in employment from July to September. LinkedIn, on the other hand, found that hiring activity dipped to below zero on its platform from March, hitting as low as -40% by May. However, recruitment did eventually begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel in the second half of the year. ManpowerGroup reported that the employment outlook shot back up to -2% from October to December.

The figure currently stands at an optimistic 15% for the first quarter of 2021, suggesting that organisations have resumed plans to expand their headcounts or at least replace roles left vacant since the crisis.

This optimism was shared by the winners of HRD’s inaugural 5-Star Recruiters awards.

Having kept calm and carried on, these recruiters worked night and day to survive one of the most unpredictable years on record.

Working hand in hand with other sectors, the talent and recruitment market went above

and beyond to help get Singapore back on its feet. After all, as Jaya Dass, managing director for Malaysia and Singapore at award winner Randstad, told HRD, “in the grand scheme of things” the pandemic didn’t just impact recruitment or Asia – the impact was felt globally and across all industries.

COVID-19’s impact on recruitment When HRD spoke to representatives of three 5-Star Recruiters to get their insights into the current employment landscape, Dass revealed what she felt was the pandemic’s greatest impact on recruitment, listing several “structural drivers”.

“What does work look like [now]?” she said. “Think about where and how the nature of work has changed dramatically, with people working remotely and relying heavily on

it starts to dawn on them that this is going to be a longer-term challenge to navigate,” she said. “The mindset then starts to shift [to] should we be thinking about how to capitalise on this opportunity? Is there a silver lining that we can go towards and maybe use as an opportunity to force ourselves to say, ‘What will the future of work look like? What can we take out of this?’ ” Fellow industry colleague Monty Sujanani, country manager, Singapore, at award­­winner Robert Walters, shared similar sentiments.

He told HRD that the impact on recruitment largely reflected the high levels of uncertainty felt by leaders.

“For example, no one’s quite sure when the economy will recover,” he said. “As a result of this uncertainty, we’ve seen a lot of businesses sort of halt their recruitment, take a step back

“[When hiring] you’ve got to look at the potential of the individual rather than what someone has already done. Because with the changing landscape, it’s very hard to determine what will be the next thing that comes up” just technology or an interface to get something done.”

Furthermore, Singapore’s recruitment market has experienced a major shift in talent mobility. Dass referred to the prolonged border closures and sudden stop in free movement of talent across the globe – something many leaders considered a death blow for the sector, especially in globalised cities like Singapore and Hong Kong.

All in all, Dass observed that major changes usually only come about when business leaders choose to shift from a place of fear into opportunity.

“As people shift out of the fear of what COVID-19 is or how it’s going to impact them,

and be very, very cautious on hiring.”

This was paralleled by a spike in candidate applications from individuals who had either been retrenched or were simply unsure about their statuses. They took proactive steps to secure their careers. This resulted in a serious supply and demand issue, where there were way too many candidates but very few job vacancies on the market. Sujanani believes this contributed to a shift to more contract-based hiring opportunities.

“Four or five years ago, the term ‘contract hiring’ was never very appealing or sexy,” Sujanani said. “Now it’s becoming quite the norm. This approach allows organisations to keep teams a bit more agile and gives them

METHODOLOGY What are the five-star ratings?

A recruiter is given a five-star rating for consistently delivering across several areas to employers.

This includes an outstanding combination of good customer service, ability to source the best candidates, value for money, speed of placement and strong retention rates.

How were they calculated?

A team of researchers at HRD analysed data from hundreds of HR professionals, collected through surveys and in-depth interviews, to determine the final ratings of each shortlisted recruiter. This rigorous process ran for about three months in Singapore.

The researchers weighted each of the criteria, depending on its relative importance to employers.

Then they applied an algorithm to the data to find out which criteria mattered most to HR. This determined how many stars each recruiter received. Those companies with the highest scores across all criteria were chosen as overall winners of the 5-Star awards.

some flexibility to react to the changing market. On the other side, candidates are also more willing to take on contract roles [as] they understand the reason [for them].”

The future of recruitment The industry leaders HRD spoke to agreed that the impact on the recruitment sector involved an acceleration of disruptions that existed pre-COVID-19, such as adaptations around the ‘future of work’, as well as a collective mindset shift in terms of what employment looked like. But what changes will become a permanent part of our talent landscape? What will the future of recruitment look like for employers? Read on to find out.

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SPECIAL REPORT BUSINESS STRATEGY

BEST RECRUITERS IN ASIA 2021 STATE OF RECRUITMENT FIRMS IN SINGAPORE

2021

5-STAR RECRUITERS IN ASIA

Number of companies that use a recruiter

Armstrong Craven Number of companies that do all their recruiting in-house

Frazer Jones Gateway Search

Number of companies that use more than one recruiter

Kelly Services Source: sgpgrid.com

Kerry Consulting

Hiring based on potential The practice of hiring based on what is seen as a candidate’s potential has been steadily accelerating in Asia, with around three in five hiring managers saying they have recently hired based on potential. A 2019 Robert Walters study also found that looking beyond a candidate’s experience or qualifications eventually paid dividends: 94% of leaders agreed that those hired based on potential turned out to be highly valuable and engaged team members. Additionally, it helped employers deal with issues such as retention rates as well as the persistent skills gap.

Nilay Khandelwal, managing director at award winner Michael Page Singapore, said that “progressive leaders” hired based on potential because it could help companies remain relevant through rapid industry changes.

“The skill sets that you’re hiring for may not have [existed] in the system,” Khandelwal told HRD. “You’ve got to look at the potential of the individual rather than what someone has already done, because with the changing landscape it’s very hard to determine what will be the next thing that comes up.”

Growing focus on employer branding, EVP Focusing on values is another aspect of the employee experience that has become even more critical in the post-pandemic world. What does your business stand for? How are your

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leaders and organisation showing that they care about more than just the bottom line, for example about employees’ wellbeing as well as societal impact?

“Employer branding has probably become much more important than what it used to be,” Khandelwal said. “What does a healthy work culture entail within an organisation? What are the company’s mission and values?

[How can you be] transparent about financial performance? Candidates are judging an organisation based on these factors when it comes to their brand, especially in current times.”

Being adaptable and flexible has also become “equally important” to your brand strategy as an employer, added Jaya Dass.

“I think organisations fall into two categories: either you handled yourself very well during COVID and your employees are grateful and see that you have the right policy, right value system and the right treatment of your people,” Dass said, “or you fell into the other category where people were disgruntled and unhappy.

“This has an impact on your employer brand because it’s not easy to recover if you’ve reacted badly to [the pandemic]. I think companies need to think about what is being said about their employer brand and values as a company and how attractive they are to future talent, [by showing] how well they’ve adjusted and come out of the pandemic situation.”

Korn Ferry Mercuri Urval Michael Page Morgan McKinley One HR Options Group PERSOLKELLY Singapore Phoenix Recruitment Group The Profile Group Randstad Robert Walters Russell Reynolds Associates Volt International

2021

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