E-recruitment Sentiment In Southeast Asia’s BFSI Sector To Stay Cautious

Southeast Asia’s Banking and Financial Services sector is still displaying a cautious hiring outlook, despite seeing slight improvement in online hiring in Singapore and the Philippines. This is according to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI) – a monthly gauge of online job hiring activity by Monster.com. The Index tracks industries and occupations with the highest and lowest growth in online recruitment, and also includes data points from the BFSI sector.

This May, the Philippines recorded the highest online hiring activity in the Banking and Financial Services Industry in Southeast Asia, at 12% year-on-year, unchanged from the year-on-year growth recorded in the previous month.  Singapore witnessed a growth of 5% year-on-year in May, a 3% year-on-year improvement from last month. Malaysia – the only market to report a decline in online hiring saw a 10% dip between May 2016 and 2017.

BFSI Industry:

Domestic demand for Finance and Accounts roles also remained restrained in May, with slight improvement in Philippines – the only market that registered positive annual growth with 5% year-on-year between May 2016 and 2017. Malaysia saw the steepest drop in demand for these professionals in May, at -14% year-on-year. Singapore recorded a 7% decline in the online hiring of the Finance and Accounts professionals in the same month.

“The banking & finance sector will remain in a state of constant flux – with automation offering new opportunities at various new levels. Restructuring at a regional level continues as organisations streamline their dependency on foreign labour. This means employees and prospective candidates must upskill, as there will be a greater push for productivity and demand for specialised skills. Finding top talent in this sector will remain a challenge, especially as employers are pressed to identify more local talent.”

“A greater interest in robotic automation and artificial intelligence means consultants will play a key role in implementing technology projects on cognitive computing, machine learning and AI,” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director at Monster.com – APAC and Middle East.

The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career websites and online job listings across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.

Malaysia Highlights

• Monster Employment Index Malaysia eases 14% from the year-ago level.
• Oil and Gas records the steepest growth among Industry Sectors. Retail exhibits the steepest decline.
• Sales & Business Development professionals witness the most-notable demand on-the-year.