The report highlights key trends around the city-state's changing job landscape
LinkedIn has revealed key trends around Singapore’s changing job landscape and what employers should consider while developing talent strategies for 2021. The trends concluded in the exclusive Jobs on the Rise report highlighted the impact of COVID-19 on recruitment as well as talent management.
LinkedIn analysed job roles that saw the highest growth rates between April and October 2020 and compared it against the same period the year before. They considered over 15,000 job titles and broke down the skills required as well as job demand. The team found four key trends in Singapore:
- The rise of the care economy
- The acceleration of digital transformation
- The relevance of traditional jobs in the future of work
- The rise of online education and coaching
The rise of the care economy
When the global pandemic hit, Singapore’s healthcare sector saw a surge in demand, not just for frontline medical professionals such as doctors and nurses, but also for technical specialists and care professionals to support the fight against the public health crisis.
Sometime in August 2020, the Ministry of Health announced plans to create over 9,000 employment opportunities, including jobs, traineeships, attachments, and training opportunities to meet industry demand. The positions were offered to candidates with and without a background in healthcare.1
COVID-19 also led to an unprecedented mental health crisis, which required the expertise of specialists such as psychologists, counsellors, and social workers to attend to the needs of vulnerable groups of people as well as the wider community.
The acceleration of digital transformation
In addition, the pandemic forced everyone indoors, including employees who experienced an overnight transition into remote working arrangements. Whether this evolves into a permanent or remain a temporary policy change for companies, COVID-19 undeniably accelerated the organisation’s digital transformation journey. LinkedIn thus predicted that “workers who are equipped with digital skills – even at a basic level – will have an edge in finding employment opportunities”.
Besides the automation of job roles, Singaporeans also relied more on online delivery services, be it for daily needs like food and groceries, or for shopping. LinkedIn’s analysts thus saw a spike in demand for talent in the logistics, warehousing and supply chain management sectors.
The relevance of traditional jobs in the future of work
With a digitally disrupted world of work, what does this mean for “traditional” job functions? Will they be phased out if organisations were unable to fit them into the transformed business model? The answer is ‘no’. There remains a demand for these roles including those in finance, customer service and business development.
For instance, LinkedIn attributed the continued demand for salespeople and customer support teams to the jump in demand for products and services during the pandemic. As for the finance sector, while the Monetary of Singapore announced the approval of four new digital banks 2, there remains a demand for talent with essential expertise and skills in areas like banking and investor relations.
However, those in traditional job roles likely saw a change in their functions, which required them to upskill or reskill to meet the needs of their digitalised workplaces, as well as align with consumer needs.
The rise of online education and coaching
As professionals dived into upskilling opportunities to fill any skill gaps, LinkedIn observed how the pandemic and lockdowns impacted learning. There was a particular boom for coaches, with the top titles found to be life coach, communication coach, career coordinator, and leadership coach. This suggested how company leaders were keen on expanding their capabilities to meet the needs of the organisation, which resulted in them turning to career experts and facilitators.
The pandemic presented leaders with a difficult crisis to navigate, but it also led to many opportunities to upskill and rethink business priorities. Workforce planning became an essential process to ensure that organisations had the right talent to meet current business needs. There are also plenty of resources to help employers address current and future skill gaps, such as LinkedIn Talent Insights that tracks ongoing market trends. What’s certain is that while 2020 saw the accelerated decline in demand for certain skills, it led to the rise for digital-related capabilities across every industry.
To get more insights into LinkedIn’s Jobs on the Rise in 2021 report, click here.
Sources:
1 – Ministry of Health, News Highlights, 25 August 2020
2 – Monetary Authority of Singapore, Media Releases, 4 December 2020
