SDS: Recruitment Agency
specialising in recruitment services for japanese speaking job seekers in Singapore

Job Growth vs Creative Resumes

In the latest edition of Hudson report, which uncovered the analysis of hiring expectations in Singapore's employment and HR trends for the latest quarter of 2010 (Q4), it stated that hiring expectations continue to rise, although at a slower rate.

In their latest survey covering 550 executives across key business sectors, 58 per cent plan to grow in headcount in Q4 2010, compared to 57 per cent in the previous quarter. This overall expectation is at the highest level since Q1 2001.

The survey revealed that the Media/PR/Advertising sector takes the lead with the highest percentage of its respondents expecting to hire more in Q4, at 71%. Next is the Healthcare and Life Sciences sector, where 69% plan to grow headcount, up from 50% last quarter. Even after substantial increase in Q3 at 64 per cent, expectations are still increasing in the IT and T sector, with 68 per cent saying that they will be recruiting more in Q4. Respondents in the Consumer sector reported an expectation of hiring increase at 62 percent for Q4, up from 38 per cent in Q3. The Manufacturing and Industrial sector fared almost the same in quarter to quarter comparison, with 48 per cent of respondents expecting hiring growth in Q4. The 56 per cent of respondents in the Banking and Financial Services sector who expect to grow headcount this quarter is down from Q3:s 67 per cent.

Hudson's latest report also conducted an unusual analysis, and with its poll of more than 1500 employers in Singapore, it found that 46 per cent have encountered candidates with dishonest resumes. It was reported that the highest rate of falsified resumes came from the IT industry, with 67 per cent of employers experiencing false information in their candidates resumes. The Banking and Financial services sector was deemed the most honest, with 37 per cent of employers reporting dishonesty. Ms Georgie Chong, executive general manager of Hudson, cited that some job seekers feel tremendous pressure to add false information to their resumes as talent is recognised as a critical differentiator in most organisations in looking for the best candidate to employ.

Back in 2007, First Advantage, a United States based company that checks claims made by job applicants, estimated that 12 to 16 per cent of Singapore candidates had "discrepancies" in their resumes. It also found that the most common tricks used were exaggerating their salaries by two or three times and adding "senior" or "executive" to their previous job titles in the hope of enhancing their next positions.

Employers today are increasingly aware of the problem. The Hudson survey across all sectors found 39 per cent of firms feel that reference checking is a very important part of recruitment process, and a further 47 per cent deem it as important. This leaves only 14 per cent of the survey categorising reference checking as fairly important or not important.