“Recruitment is progressively being viewed as less of a process and more of a service”
Cost savings are driving decisions in APAC—now much higher on the agenda—ranked overall as 2nd priority, compared to last year at 5th. According to a recent HR survey—20 Questions—conducted by Resource Solutions, Malaysia ranked cost savings as their 6th priority. Having an abundant and busy recruitment market, when asked how the current number of permanent hires compares with this time last year, the majority (65%) in Malaysia responded, “yes we definitely will be hiring more than we were last year.” This is largely accredited to the wealth of natural resources driving their economy. Simon Bradberry, Asia MD, Resource Solutions commented, “45% of people across the region are saying that volumes have increased, however—a really interesting analysis—Singapore, having the highest proportion of respondents only saw a 5% net positive result in volumes going up.”
Applicant feedback
The overall top priority for recruitment over the next 12 months is to improve the quality of candidates attracted. With this is mind, 65% of respondents do not do any survey of applicants and only 11% survey both successful and unsuccessful applicants. The majority of people that apply for a position will not be successful and therefore represent a large audience. These people, once they leave the premises, are going to talk about the experience they had. Bradberry stated, “In terms of opportunities, you will learn more from unsuccessful applicants than successful, particularly in a world where social media is becoming increasingly important, where people go away, talk about, and share their experiences.”
The best recruitment solutions tend to use technology and tend to use it very well. Recruitment technology in Asia however, is not nearly as popular as it is in Europe or the US. Bradberry commented, “This is largely accredited to the fact that a lot of these technologies are tried and tested at the headquarters abroad in the US or UK and then deployed nationally, with very little support in terms of training or adaptation to the local market across Asia. As a result, you will find large organisations with current job vacancies not advertising these on their sites across APAC.” Nonetheless, APAC has seen a 10% increase in the usage of recruitment technology.
Tracking platform
There are multiple risk elements when dealing with temporary or contract staff. Bradberry highlighted the importance of knowing the backgrounds of staff, for example criminal records, and the necessity of ensuring all essential forms are filled out before employment begins. When they leave for the final time it is important to check that they have had their security passes taken from them—ensuring future system access is denied, etc. With this in mind, 15% said they are not performing these essential checks and are therefore exposing themselves to high risk when dealing with temporary and contract staff.
Mobile friendly career site
One of the biggest changes happening in recruitment is the amount of job searches taking place on mobile devices. This figure is rapidly increasing—currently 25% of all job searches are made on a mobile device—and this figure is only set to go up. However, only 10% of respondents in Asia have a mobile-friendly site.
Social media recruitment strategy
One of the hottest topics in recruitment is social media, but what is actually happening? Two thirds of respondents reported that, 5% or less of their recruitment process takes place via social media and less than 10% stated their recruitment through social media happens over 20% of the time. In conclusion, Bradberry stated, “Recruitment activity is on the up. The way you engage and attract talent needs to be at it’s best.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
