When Hiring for Your Company, a Perfect Match May Not be What's Best

Singapore’s economy continues to recover steadily, with improved business optimism. According to the Labour Market Report Second Quarter 2022 released by the Ministry of Manpower, the job vacancies to unemployed persons ratio has edged up slightly from 2.42 in March 2022 to 2.53 in June 2022. 

As job vacancies across industries return to pre-pandemic levels or higher, employers can tap on the pool of local talent to fill job vacancies. So, not surprisingly, we can expect job advertisements, applications, and interviews to rise in the months ahead. How can employers fill their vacancies amidst a tighter labour market? 

Some employers believe that candidates must have the full set of required skills or be as close to a perfect match as possible to be ready for the job—in other words, they prefer the “plug-and-play” approach when hiring. However, such employers would likely face difficulties since not all would be able to find their “ideal” candidate. 

Having said that, in recent years, we have observed a more encouraging trend. JobStreet’s data shows that hiring managers are going beyond hiring for a perfect match and are willing to consider those who do not fit their criteria 100%.  

When a candidate applies for a job through the JobStreet portal, their application is ranked (as a %) according to a broad range of criteria such as education, skill sets, and work experience. The importance of this criteria is set by each hirer and may differ from hirer to hirer. The higher the ranking score, the better a match they are with the job they applied for. 

From September 2020 to August 2021, the JobStreet database recorded that the median ranking score of the candidates shortlisted by employers was 83%. However, after the selection process, successful candidates tend to have a lower median ranking score of 78%. Some may be surprised that the successful candidates did not rate even higher on the ranking score; surely the stronger candidates will make it through the selection process. But seasoned hiring managers will tell you that a robust selection process allows employers to uncover other important information, such as the candidate’s communication skills during the interview and their fit with the company culture. Such information cannot be fully gleaned from the job application or resume alone. 

JobStreet has also observed that the median ranking score of successful candidates has fallen since 2019 and 2020, from 85% to 80%, before reaching 78% in 2021. This indicates that while hard skills are important, other aspects of job-fit are becoming increasingly important. In fact, candidates who do not have the full set of skills and experience required for the job at the start can acquire these skills over time. 

In industries such as Finance and Investment Banking and Healthcare, the median ranking score remains above 80% as hirers still look for the “close-to-perfect” match – since technical know-how, relevant experience, and relevant certificates are still a priority to employers in these industries. However, in industries such as F&B, Education, and Retail, the median ranking score is below 60% – which means that hirers are more open to hiring candidates who have a lower application score. 

What does all of this mean for employers in a tight labour market? It’s simple. Being overly selective at the shortlisting stage will deprive your company of potentially good candidates. Being more flexible will increase your chance of filling that critical job vacancy.  

It is now less common to find employees who work at a single company throughout their entire career. In today’s dynamic job market, workers are open to increasing their exposure across multiple organisations and industries. Among them are mature candidates who may come from different industries, but bring with them transferable skills such as leadership, problem solving, critical thinking, and project management. Since skills can be always learned, mid-career switchers who lack technical competency but embrace reskilling will remain relevant and valuable throughout their career journey. 

For example, Velisa Leong was a financial planner for eight years before switching to become a Senior Marketing Director at a real estate company. By learning from valuable mentors, networking and maintaining a positive mindset, she managed to build a name for herself in the Singapore real estate industry. Velisa’s sales mentor taught her that sales was more than just a career – it was a life skill, which she could apply to other aspects of her life, or even future career paths. 

This is not a story that is limited only to mid-career switchers. Gen Y Speaks columnist Ong Shen Kwang made a switch from his first job in a traditional banking environment to an Al-driven technology company after four years. While he speaks about the challenges he faced in changing industries, he recognises that he was able to ease into the role thanks to skills that were transferable from his previous job and the guidance provided by his new company. Shen Kwang’s boss and colleagues helped him assimilate quickly into his new work environment through regular check-in calls, and his manager walked him through the company business lines and upcoming assignments in detail. 

Employers and jobseekers can achieve much more when they work together to create a diversity-friendly workforce, where sights are set on sustaining growth in the future, not looking back on the past. Jobseekers, regardless of age, gender, or education level, have become more adaptable and willing to explore a wider breadth of sectors to gain new skills. In return, employers should also consider building pathways to help new and existing employees reskill and upskill for open roles. 

On a similar note, understanding employees’ changing view of work will help employers build and adapt its solutions to win the talent war. 

With the rise of automation and digitalisation driving business transformation, the workforce will also have to transform to keep up with changing needs. Jobs that are repetitive and more labour intensive are at risk of becoming obsolete if they remain unchanged. This is because companies are more likely to automate or digitalise jobs that are highly structured and require a lot of manual activity. 

For example, in the logistics sector, existing job roles will undergo significant changes in the next three to five years. According to the Jobs Transformation Map for the Logistics Sector, 54% of job roles such as Warehouse Management & Operations, Freight Forwarding & Operations, and Sales & Customer Service will experience at least a medium degree of change in job tasks. To keep up with the changes, jobs must be redesigned and workers must reskill or upskill to remain relevant. [Click here for other Jobs Transformation Maps that have been published so far.] 

To meet the demands of business transformation and appeal to jobseekers at the same time, businesses will need to redesign their work processes, job tasks and responsibilities, or even review their talent management strategy. This includes building reskilling pathways to allow existing and new employees to acquire skills required for their jobs, rather than expecting a ready-made talent for the job every time. 

For example, at Great Eastern, the company runs a Corporate Management Associate Programme that allows employees to rotate across divisions, participate in various projects, and learn under mentors in the company over 24 months. This allows them to develop essential skills while discovering their strengths and interests. Neha Satpute, who was part of this programme in August 2020, says that it helped her refine her career goals and craft a roadmap to help her to achieve those goals. During her time in the programme, she participated in business rotations, audit rotations, and strategic and transformation projects, and gained exposure to senior management, which allowed her to gain valuable skills like problem-solving and critical thinking. 

Companies can also tap on Government programmes, such as Workforce Singapore’s (WSG’s) Career Conversion Programmes (CCPs), to help bridge the skills gap. The CCPs provide support for up to 90% of training and salary costs. 

This approach not only removes unnecessary barriers to entry, but also considers the candidate’s potential to develop further in line with the company’s business objectives. 

The JobStreet database has over 2.4 million registered candidates to hire from, 70% of whom are locals. Over 100,000 jobs are available on JobStreet, which uses AI technology to optimise the job searching and application process. Additionally, JobStreet offers insights into the job market that can help hirers shape their hiring process such as via the annual Job Report. 

JobStreet has also partnered with the Boston Consulting Group and The Network to release a report, Decoding Digital Talent, to allow employers to better understand tech talents’ priorities and how to attract and retain tech talents. 

Furthermore, employers can tap on various support measures from the Government, such as the Support for Job Redesign under Productivity Solutions Grant, to redesign work processes, tasks and responsibilities. 

There are also sector-specific programmes to redesign jobs which might have been more labour-intensive and less attractive. This is to enable employees to become more productive, less labour-intensive and allow employees to pick up skills to develop more meaningful careers. These include the Environmental Services (Cleaning) Job Redesign Initiative, and the Security Productivity Initiative. 

Schemes such as the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) also provide salary support for eligible employers to expand local hiring. The JGI will be extended to March 2023 for employers that hire vulnerable workers. 

All in all, as the post-pandemic labour market continues to evolve, opportunity-filled days certainly lie ahead - so whether you are an employer or employee, do seize them.

For more job insights, check out our Employer's Insights page.