Why 2023 hiring in Singapore won’t match this year
Next year will still be a good time to get a financial services job in Singapore or Hong Kong, but vacancy numbers are likely to be down on 2022.
Several finance recruiters who attended a recent eFinancialCareers round table said 2022 had been a record year for hiring. A Hong Kong-based round table delegate said her company’s job numbers are up about 60% year-on-year. “The job market in 2022 has been strong enough for everyone to do well”, added a recruiter in Singapore, while another attendee said she has “smashed” pre-Covid revenues during an “exhausting” year.
The current high levels of year-on-year jobs growth are unlikely to continue in 2023. “I don’t expect huge growth again, and if we do get it, we probably won’t cope,” said a Hong Kong headhunter, who like the other round table delegates asked not to be named in this article.
A recruiter based in the same city said “natural churn” – employers replacing people who leave – will drive the market. “From my conversations with clients, we’re less likely to see big volumes of new headcount,” he added.
Banks in Asia will be initially cautious about front-office hiring because they want to keep costs under control while macroeconomic conditions remain uncertain. In a reversal of the standard trend, this might mean that hiring is busier in the second half of 2023 than the first. “We’re not going to see the big shops giving us 50% of our revenue in a couple of months at the start of the year, like we saw in 2022,” said the headhunter.
It's a different story in the back office. Operations recruiters are expecting to be busy again throughout 2023 in Asia, following a year in which multiple offers became the norm. Recruitment will stay strong because of major transformation projects at financial institutions, and because of talent shortages.
“While there are more Employment Passes being issued in Singapore, local candidates will remain in demand in ops. I’ve spent the past year moving Singaporeans around and around – there's just not enough of them. It's not a debate over quality; it's literally the number of people,” said a back-office recruiter, who works across banking and the buy-side.
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