At least three recruiters approach Singapore-based software engineer Xiao Yuguang every day with job offers.
Demand for Xiao’s skills has soared since he graduated in 2014 with a computer engineering degree but now he just ignores the offers, having recently joined TikTok owner Bytedance after several years with Southeast Asia’s Grab.
“It’s not like I want to change jobs frequently,” said Xiao.
Singapore is aiming to become a regional tech hub but faces a severe talent crunch as more firms move in, interviews with more than a dozen recruiters, companies and workers show.
China’s Tencent, Bytedance, U.S.-based Zoom Video Communications and unicorn Grab and Sea Ltd are among companies expanding in Singapore, fueling a war for tech talent in the city-state, where the jobless rate had reached a 16-year high due to a coronavirus-induced recession.
“Certain member companies have been expanding their operations … and looking to hire more data scientists, more coders,” said Lei Hsien-Hsien, chief executive officer at the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore.
“So the demand is very strong but the supply is relatively weak, which then slows down some of the expansion plans.”
Up to 500 new tech vacancies are posted each week on job sites, according to NodeFlair, which is helping hire for Bytedance and Sea’s e-commerce business Shopee.
The information communications sector would need another 60,000 professionals over the next three years, cabinet minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in June.
In response to a Reuters query on the figure, the communications ministry said in mid-September there were nearly 10,000 tech-related job postings on a government-run careers portal and another 6,800 jobs and traineeships would be created by June 2021 through industry partnerships…..read more
Source: Reuters
