Hiring levels still slow on cautious market outlook

KUCHING: Hiring levels remained at a slow pace within Malaysia and Asia as a whole, according to international recruitment consultancy Robert Walters.

The firm yesterday published its Asia Job Index for the fourth quarter of 2016 (4Q16) which tracks job advertising volumes for professional positions across the leading job boards and national newspapers in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.

Robert Walters Malaysia managing director Sally Raj commented that the slight rise in annual job advertisements was not surprising as professionals remained cautious about changing jobs due to challenging market conditions.

“Firms also slowed hiring at the end of the year as companies reviewed budgets and business plans for the following year. However, new jobs were generated as new market entrants continued to expand their operations in Malaysia,” she said in a statement.

“This was mainly thanks to the country’s low operating costs. A number of e- commerce startups, for example, created more job opportunities for IT experts such as software developers and those proficient in cyber- security.

“To overcome talent shortages in these areas, many employers focused on attracting Malaysians based overseas and we expect this demand for returning Malaysians to remain healthy through 2017.”

Among key findings of the report include global firms continuing to set up their regional and global purchasing hubs in the country, driven by the ease of doing business in Malaysia.

“This helped to boost the number of jobs in the merchandising and purchasing sector by 35,” the firm added.

“As more business moved to online or mobile platforms, there was a rise in demand for IT experts proficient in running back office digital infrastructure or those with niche technology skills such as user experience designers.

“Vacancies for human resources professionals dipped by 34 percent in thefourthquarter of 2016, as more companies employed direct approaches ( headhunting, networking and talent referrals) rather than job advertisements to find niche talent for their in-house human resources teams.

“Many organisations also focused on building in-house talent acquisition teams instead of hiring externally.”