Skills over schools: 2020 employers looked beyond academic qualifications

More than 70% of employers looked beyond academic records when it came to hiring in 2020.

When it came to hiring new workers in the midst of the pandemic, more employers found themselves looking beyond the jobseeker's academic record.

In its latest Job Vacancies report, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) noted that 71.5% of employers in 2020 did not view academic qualifications as their main consideration for hiring employees, instead looking into the candidate's relevant skills, work experience, and attitude.

This applied mainly to non-professional, management, executives and technicians (non-PMET) jobs, with 87.9% of employers choosing to forego a forensic assessment of academic records. For PMET jobs, 59.5% of employers said academic qualifications were not their main concern in hiring.

"There is however, evidence to suggest that while qualifications are not the main consideration, employers continue to use it as a filter for selecting candidates for interviews," the MOM said in its report.

Almost half, or 45% of job vacancies in 2020, were newly created positions, driven by the need for new job functions, job restructurings, and redesign in firms.

The pandemic has forced the hand of digital transformation, and with it came more demand for professionals in areas such as software, web & multimedia development, and systems analysis.

The healthcare sector is also posed to expand not only due to the pandemic, but also to increase the growing health care needs of ageing Lion City residents. Thus there is a robust demand for registered nurses, enrolled nurses and healthcare assistants. There was also a significant increase in the demand for medical and pathology laboratory technicians over the last five years.

Of the new job vacancies in 2020, 76% were for permanent headcount. Fixed-term contract positions rose to 24% from 18% due to the pandemic creating a demand for temporary manpower to meet the demand for increased testing and healthcare.

Despite the push for digitization, only four out of ten of the job vacancies can be done remotely through tele-working arrangements, skewing in favor of PMET positions. Almost all of non-PMET positions such as cleaners, service delivery staff, and machinery operators can not be done remotely.

Skills mismatch continue to be the main challenge faced by jobseekers and employers alike.

"For PMET vacancies, employers commonly cited the lack of necessary skills and work experience,especially in positions where incumbentsrely on specialised technicalknowledge such as software, web & multimedia developersand systems analysts," the MOM said.

The top five unfilled PMET positions are registered nurse & other nursing professional, enrolled/assistant nurse, software, web & multimedia developer, systems analyst and manufacturing engineering technician.

For non-PMET positions, the top vacancies are for cleaner, construction labor, security guard, shop sales assistant and water positions.