Slow hiring times may cause Singaporean companies to miss out on top IT talent

·  97% of Singaporean
CIOs are actively taking measures to reduce the length of their recruitment
process of IT professionals.

·  The average
recruitment process length for IT professionals is 3.5 months for staff-level
positions and 4.5 months for management-level positions.

·  48% say a skills
shortage is the main factor that delays the recruitment process, followed by
37% who respectively cite too many interview rounds and too many stakeholders
involved.

·  92% find it
challenging to source qualified IT professionals compared to five years ago.

Singapore, 10 August 2017 – Singaporean companies risk missing out on top IT jobseekers as hiring
managers take multiple months during the recruitment process. New independent
research commissioned by specialised recruiter Robert Half has
shown the average length of the hiring process for IT roles in Singapore is 3.5
months for staff-level professionals and 4.5 months for management-level staff.
To combat delays in the recruitment process, the vast majority (97%) of
Singaporean CIOs are actively taking steps to reduce the length of their hiring
process.

When asked what the main reasons are
contributing to slow recruitment processes, almost half (40%) of Singapore’s
CIOs refer to the challenging search of sourcing candidates with the right
skills. More than one in three (37%) respectively believe there are too many
interview rounds and too many stakeholders are involved.

A further 31% say the number of CV submissions
per role has increased – indicating hiring managers may feel overwhelmed with
the amount of resumes to review during the recruitment process.

Emphasising the need for employers to
streamline the hiring process and expand their search amidst a skills shortage,
the vast majority (92%) of CIOs find it more challenging to source qualified IT
professionals compared to five years ago. Singaporean CIOs find it particularly
hard to source talent within IT security (59%), Business Intelligence (36%), IT
management (35%) and Cloud technology (32%), emphasising the need for CIOs act
fast once they find a match.

Matthieu Imbert-Bouchard, Managing Director at Robert Half
Singapore said: “Operating within a highly
competitive global region, it is understandable for Singaporean companies to
invest a significant amount of time in the recruitment process to secure the
best staff for their teams. Yet oftentimes it has the opposite effect and
results in top talent becoming disinterested in a prolonged hiring process, and
accepting a job offer with competing organisations.”

To boost their companies’ chances of securing
top talent, 97% of Singaporean CIOs are actively taking measures to reduce the
length of their recruitment process of IT professionals. More than four in 10
(43%) Singaporean CIOs have set up a pipeline of qualified candidates so they
don’t always have to restart the hiring process from scratch. More than one in
three (35%) have improved their communication with candidates about the
recruitment process in order to keep them engaged in the process and 31% are
conducting more initial interviews via phone or video conferencing to be able
to create a shortlist of preferred candidates faster. A further 29% are
limiting the number of internal stakeholders involved.

In addition, to offset future delays in the
recruitment process, little more than four in 10 (41%) are ensuring a talent
pipeline of qualified candidates, 33% plan to improve their communication with
candidates about the recruitment process, 31% will limit the number of internal
stakeholders involved and 23% will be conducting more teleconference
interviews.

“To avoid delays in the recruitment process, IT employers need
to proactively address where the setbacks are coming from – and then actively
address any issues. By doing this, companies can optimise their hiring process
and increase their chances of securing their preferred candidate for the role.
By being prepared, limiting the number of internal stakeholders as well as
reducing the number of interview rounds, companies are in a prime position to
recruit the best people for their teams,” Matthieu Imbert-Bouchard concluded.