Tech talent in demand more than ever during pandemic

Singapore

WHILE the pandemic has cast a pall on the employment market, the demand for tech professionals is stronger than ever, as companies look to accelerate their digitalisation efforts amid the slowdown, industry watchers tell The Business Times.

Anthony Thompson, regional managing director of recruiter PageGroup Asia, said that these tech roles are largely linked to areas like e-commerce or data, and these positions are available across a broad range of sectors, not just technology companies.

"There was demand for this before Covid-19, but I think Covid-19 has accelerated this demand," Mr Thompson said.

With the pandemic now forcing most people to stay home, technology that enables people to carry on tasks as usual is especially sought-after.

This means greater demand for services like telehealth and e-commerce, said Chua Bo Si, technical program manager at cybersecurity firm HackerOne. Also, robo-advisors are gaining popularity as both seasoned and new investors look for opportunities in a volatile market.

In addition, as global supply chains face disruption from the pandemic, companies are looking to strengthen their supply chain systems through the use of Big Data, artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, said Tan Geok Cheng, Asia-Pacific managing director for Synopsys Software Integrity Group.

At the same time, with the majority of the workforce now working from home during Singapore's "circuit breaker" period, the last thing companies need is a data breach.

The increase in demand for these services in turn translates into demand for talent who can offer these services.

PageGroup Asia's Mr Thompson said that the firm has seen about a 10 per cent increase in demand for tech professionals, compared to pre-Covid-19 levels. At Kerry Consulting, the demand has grown by about 20 per cent, according to the firm's executive director in financial services recruitment Emily Tan.

Audrey Tan, managing director of Korn Ferry Singapore, noted that the Covid-19 crisis has caused a lot of businesses to rethink how they would operate post-pandemic.

She added: "The reality is that acquiring talent is as, if not more, important than ever because the war for talent in key roles where there is a limited supply of talents has not changed. Companies need every competitive edge they can get to navigate the storm and prepare them for success in the post-outbreak era."

Telco Singtel is expecting to recruit more than 2,000 people this year to meet both short-term and long-term needs, its group chief human resources officer Aileen Tan told BT. The latter is for future growth areas including Internet of Things, analytics, 5G and cloud.

Containers Printers, a Singapore-based packaging producer and SME (small and medium-sized enterprise), considers the downtime a good opportunity to embark on its expansion plans, which include digitalising its operations. Apart from trying to fill temporary positions that have emerged as a result of the pandemic, the company is also trying to hire product development engineers and infocomm technology staff among others for its long-term plans.

"We take this opportunity to be able to at least bring in and focus on setting up, installations and learning new skill sets. When the market is a bit lower, you have some spare time to do that, but once the market goes back to a high level of activity, it's very hard to take time out to then learn new things or install. Your manpower is further stretched," Amy Chung, Containers Printers chief executive, explained.

In the public sector, Government Technology Agency has 400 vacancies in roles like software engineers, digital business analysts and infrastructure specialists. Meanwhile, Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS), the technology agency for Singapore's public healthcare sector, wants to fill 400 positions, of which 90 per cent are tech roles, by end-2020. These roles include data scientists, cybersecurity analysts and network engineers.

Filling these vacancies however will not be easy, recruiters said, even though some startups and companies that have been directly affected by the pandemic have had to cut jobs.

May Wee, chief HR officer at IHiS, said: "While some startups may find it challenging to retain jobs, we have observed that the tech giants are continuing their talent hunt and the market remains competitive for tech talents."

Synopsys's Mr Tan added: "Most startups already use outsourced development teams. The jobs startups shed may likely to be non-technical, like marketing, communications, administration, or sales. These jobs will not be widely available in large companies as they may shed employees too."

This means that companies may have to adjust their expectations when hiring.

"Very talented candidates, if they're happily employed somewhere else, are probably more reluctant to take a risk and move to another role," PageGroup Asia's Mr Thompson said.

He added that many new roles created to facilitate digitalistion have not existed for long, and there isn't a huge bank of people with those specific experiences.

"Companies are going to have accept that they need to focus their hiring on people's capacity to learn and adapt to new technologies and people's potential and the outcomes they can deliver, as opposed to a more traditional way of looking at years of experience and specific qualifications," Mr Thompson noted.

"Equally, it's going to be essential for candidates to accept that they're going to have to be people who are comfortable and even embrace change and adopt an attitude of continuous learning."