Asia Market Update 2021
Carter Murray has been very busy over the whole of 2021! We have seen a high volume of hiring within all our specialist sectors across Asia, and the demand has not stopped since January This has been a great year for candidates looking to move roles and maximise the potential salary increases during such a competitive talent market. Clients are competing for talent in what is a very candidate short market, with little inflow of skilled migration anywhere in the world. Clients need to fill new growth roles and replacement positions, while maintaining a very strong focus on retention. Retention has played a role all year with firms making counter offers and looking to other benefits to keep their employees engaged and happy.
Hong Kong & North Asia
In the Hong Kong and North Asia markets we have seen a massive improvement from the hiring levels of 2020. The market rebounded very quickly, and we have seen strong demand for sales, marketing, communications professionals across our core coverage in financial services, professional services and fintech.
The first half of the year saw a large demand for communications professionals with a focus on content creation and digital communications. This demand was from both buy and sell side, with many firms looking for strong writers to take their story to market. Marketing professionals were in demand within the commercial and corporate banking markets, with digital marketers also having may career options.
Fintech has also been growing with crypto exchanges, digital assets and algorithmic/electronic trading firms all hiring in market. With some very niche skill sets required in this space, the talent pool is very small and therefore highly competitive.
Professional services have remained steady with demand for business development, marketing, and communications professionals. Our key sectors of law firms, business services, consultancies and commercial property have all been looking to hire a continued flow of talent.
Singapore & Southeast Asia
In the Southeast Asia market, we have seen demand for hiring sales, marketing, communications and Business Development professionals remain high and continue the trend we saw through 2020.
Technology has been the key sector where there has been a continued demand for sales professionals and it’s a market, we expect to see continued growth. Software and SAAS, e-commerce, digital apps, social media platforms, robotics/electronics and Fintech have all been looking to hire across both established firms and start-ups. As well as sales professionals these firms have also been looking to hire digital marketers/digital content, product marketers and strategic commercial business leaders with a strong knowledge of the Singapore and Southeast Asia markets.
Financial and professional service firms have also showed positive hiring patterns. We have seen continued demand for business development and marketing professionals at all experience levels within law firms. Within financial services the demand for marketing, digital and communications professionals has been strong across asset management, private wealth, insurance, and banking.
Overall, it has been a very positive year for Carter Murray. We expect this hiring demand to continue into 2022 but the candidate pools will become even smaller as little inflow of overseas talent will remain an issue until at least the middle of next year.
If you have any questions about this article and if you need support hiring or finding the right role for you, contact our Carter Murray team.