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Over half of IT hires in Asia are duds

Employers not happy with recruits

The IT and telecoms sector will lead the way when it comes to hiring expectations in Asia over the next three months, but over half of new recruits in China and Singapore are duds, according to new stats from Hudson.

The recruitment consultancy’s latest report for the second quarter of 2012 takes an in depth look at China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

It found that while overall only Hong Kong employers were expecting to hire more staff than during the previous quarter, things are looking pretty good for the IT sector.

Two-thirds of those interviewed in China are planning to increase hiring this quarter, with the figure at 49 per cent in Hong Kong – up from 41 per cent last quarter – and at 56 per cent in Singapore, up from 49 per cent.

Cloud computing, security, mobility, BI and e-commerce are some key areas where recruiters are looking for IT pros to fill skills gaps in the region, the report found.

However, Hudson’s findings also revealed that candidates are failing to meet employers' expectations.

At 16 per cent, the IT sector in China had the highest proportion of new recruits regarded as ‘bad’, with only a third regarded as a ‘good’ hire.

In Singapore at least 13 per cent were labelled bad hires while in Hong Kong the impression was more optimistic, with just over half regarded as good.

No doubt with one eye on promoting its services as an ace recruitment specialist, Hudson was keen to point out that employers need the right tools to assess “behaviour, attitudes and cultural fit” just as they do technical and business skills.

The consequences of making bad hiring decisions – according to the employers interviewed for this report – range from negative impacts on staff morale, productivity, team work and customer service to loss of sales and customers.

Crucially the report does not go into detail about the quality or otherwise of ex-pat recruits, but if nothing else it should be a reminder to IT pros looking to move to the region to do their research and be clear from the outset what their employer's expectations are. ®

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