More job seekers refusing job offers: survey

Many Singapore employers are getting rejections from candidates whom they've made offers to, given the buoyant job market.

According to recruitment firm, Hudson, 40 per cent of employers in Singapore it surveyed said that candidates had declined offers of jobs made to them in the last six months.

This is almost twice as many as the 21 per cent who said that they had not received any refusals at all in this period.

And as hiring expectations continue to rise, workers will be spoilt for choice.

Hudson's Executive GM, Georgie Chong, said this makes the recruitment process more challenging.

"That good candidate in the current market is going to be very protected by the current employer. If you look at Europe and the US, the economic outlook there is still weak. Therefore, most of the growth is going to be piled into Asia. The budget for Asia is more aggressive compared to the headquarters," said Chong.

The single most important reason for refusing a job offer was the expectation of higher salaries.

However, Chong pointed out that employers would be willing to meet these expectations for key positions.

She added that companies may need to pay at least 20 per cent more to attract these candidates.

Chong said: "In certain sectors, for example in banking, compliance roles for instance where we need very specialist knowledge or critical revenue generation positions, and faced with a very tight talent pool, candidates have an upper hand.

"We've even offered candidates 30 - 40 per cent more but they still won't move because their employers come back with very aggressive counter measures."

Such counter offers from the present employer are a significant issue, being mentioned by 38 per cent of employers in the survey.

The Hudson Report also indicated that many employers recognise they must increase salaries to retain top talent.

Nearly half of respondents are prepared to offer increments of more than 10 per cent.

Other reasons cited for turning down job offers include candidates having accepted job offers from other companies.

In addition, the report showed that hiring expectations in Singapore are at their highest levels in nearly a decade.

57 per cent of respondents across all sectors forecast headcount growth in the third quarter.

- Channel News Asia