Manage HR Magazine | Tuesday, February 15, 2022
While Singapore and Malaysia host transient markets of available talent, talent remains harder to find in the markets of Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
FREMONT, CA: According to a recent Cielo report, the vast majority of respondents agree that their company confronts a skills shortage. More than three-quarters of respondents believe that skills shortages and gaps would be among the top three difficulties they will encounter soon. However, the data from APAC differs slightly in terms of the respondents' main concerns. While several respondents regard skills shortages and gaps to be among the most pressing challenges, APAC respondents placed the quality of hiring as the top challenge, followed by skills shortages and time to hire.
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An online survey of over 300 senior talent acquisition and HR leaders, as well as 20+ in-depth interviews with senior executives from MNCs across a variety of industries, provided these findings. According to the research, whereas Singapore and Malaysia have transient markets of available talent, talent is tougher to come by in Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The report also discovered that hiring personnel with leadership roles and unique talents is a major issue in these areas.
In Southeast Asia, for example, industrialized countries have high talent availability and no issues. When it comes to emerging or developing countries, however, talent is scarce. Leadership positions, as well as ones requiring specialised skills, are difficult to obtain. Given how difficult it is to obtain the necessary talents, skills-based talent acquisition appears to be on the rise.
Experts believe that many of APAC's particular challenges, as well as those shared by talent acquisition teams around the world, could be addressed through skills-based talent acquisition. As a result, instead of relying strictly on detecting technical skill gaps in candidates, companies should also consider their soft skills. Because they take longer to develop in a person, they are in higher demand in the shifting corporate scene.
Experts in the APAC area raised worries about breaking away from regional roles and growing focus to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B) in addition to international skills shortages. However, TA professionals in APAC are less concerned about DEI&B than their global counterparts, with only 24.6 percent of recruiters in Asia citing it as a key priority, compared to 45.6 percent internationally.
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