SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Sales development associate, cloud engineer and enterprise account executive are the top in-demand jobs in Singapore, a study found, just as the hiring outlook here and abroad turns cloudy.
Professional networking platform LinkedIn’s latest Jobs on the Rise list showed technology and sales-related roles made up most of the top 15 fastest-growing jobs here.
Only two of the 15 roles – fourth-placed healthcare assistant and 14th-placed investment associate – were in other fields.
The study, which examined data from LinkedIn’s millions of Singapore users, calculated the job titles experiencing the highest growth rates among users from January 2018 to July 2022. The platform currently has over three million users here.
“The data reveals that the need to drive business growth in an uncertain economic environment, continued focus on digitalisation, disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence and cyber security are creating opportunities for professionals in 2023,” LinkedIn said in a statement on Wednesday (Jan 18).
The list was released on Wednesday, together with results from a separate workforce study conducted in December 2022.
That study, which polled almost 23,000 workers across 17 markets, found hiring in Singapore for December 2022 dropped by 34 per cent compared with December 2021.
Despite this decline, almost two in three professionals in Singapore are considering changing roles in 2023, with half of those polled expressing confidence in securing a new job, and 18 per cent who did not.
The bullish sentiment could stem from a tight labour market in Asia compared with pre-pandemic levels, while the high proportion of potential job seekers could reflect a yearning for higher wages to increase financial security as the cost of living soars, LinkedIn said.
This bears out in the demand for higher salaries being both the biggest motivator for employees wanting to leave a current role and the greatest incentive to stay on in their current role, it added.
But many may be disappointed, as nearly seven in 10 C-suite executives polled in Singapore reported that a pay rise to deal with the cost of living is not on the cards, according to an earlier LinkedIn survey released in November 2022.
The December survey also found that three in four Singapore employees reported feeling overworked and undervalued, with almost seven in 10 believing their employer has not invested in their growth.
“This combination of factors means many workers want to switch to a new job, as three-quarters feel they will not be in their current role for a long time,” said LinkedIn.
To cushion themselves against the challenging economic climate, over one in two employees polled are learning new skills and deepening their knowledge in areas that are in demand.
And this has paid dividends in employee confidence to push for a promotion or new opportunity, with close to half indicating they felt more confident in 2023, compared with the start of 2022, even though hiring has cooled.
Pooja Chhabria, LinkedIn’s head of editorial, Asia-Pacific, said it is encouraging that professionals are striving to land their ideal role despite the uncertain economic outlook.
“Since the pandemic, it’s clear that professionals have built up a bank of resilience and we’re seeing this in their confidence to tackle the year ahead.”
LinkedIn’s 15 fastest-growing jobs in Singapore
1. Sales development representative
2. Cloud engineer
3. Enterprise account executive
4. Healthcare assistant
5. Cyber security engineer
6. Site reliability engineer
7. Back-end developer
8. Cyber security consultant
9. Technical account manager
10. Customer success specialist
11. Machine learning engineer
12. Artificial intelligence engineer
13. DevOps engineer
14. Investment associate
15. Product owner
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