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Does the Jobs Bank mean trouble for the digital industry?

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In an industry that often bemoans a shortage of employable talent, the launch of the National Jobs Bank has sparked fears amongst several senior executives.Just last month, the Workforce Development Agency launched the National Jobs Bank, requiring all employers to publish all available job postings for roles paying from $SG3,000 to SG$12,000 for 14 days before applying for an employment pass (EP). Local press has reported that the portal has pulled in at least 52,000 job postings already.“Providing better jobs and diverse opportunities to meet Singaporeans’ aspirations are the ultimate objectives of economic growth. Even as we remain open to foreign manpower to complement our local workforce, all firms must make an effort to consider Singaporeans fairly. ‘Hiring-own-kind’ and other discriminatory practices that unfairly exclude Singaporeans run against our fundamental values of fairness and meritocracy”, said acting minister for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin, in a statement.One senior media agency professional he told Marketing that the new Jobs Bank launch meant trouble for the industry’s talent crunch.“In the past, if I found anyone I liked, I could hire them right away. Now I have to put up the job on the Jobs Bank for two weeks first,” said the executive.“This is going to be tough, especially for digital. Most of my senior guys are foreigners, and mainly from India. It’s hard to find Singaporeans who are strong in digital. Look at India, it’s way ahead of us in this aspect.” This adds on to the challenge of finding talent in the media planning arena, he added.However, Audrey Kuah, chief executive officer of Dentsu-Aegis Singapore said that this would not be an issue for her agency. “We’ve been focusing in the last three years on local talent, so we are not affected. In fact, we are very supportive. It’s time to groom local talent.”“It will hurt if you didn’t have a plan to reduce a reliance on foreign talent,” she added.What about the digital arena I ask? It’s not impossible to find good local talent in digital, said Kuah, adding that many of the senior digital executives at her agency are locals. “I think the Jobs Bank is a good extension of the government policy of helping businesses to reaching out to local talents as well as for talent (be it local or foreign) to be aware of what are the job opportunities out there,” she added.Regional director of XM Asia Vince Lui said: “Firstly, I do not agree that digital talents tend to be foreign. Some of the movers and shakers in digital talent are local. Anyway, digital talent is scarce, be it local or foreign as digital requires in-depth knowledge in a specific domain and at the same time the person needs to have a breath of knowledge across multiple practices (Eg. from understanding consumer behaviour to data analytics or from design to technology). I do not think the jobs bank will in anyway make seeking digital talent more challenging. In fact, over time, it can play a part in building a bigger local digital talent pool.Nick Fawbert, managing director Asia, Brand New Media said: “I don’t find this move onerous at all. From an operational point of view, it doesn’t dictate who you hire. If I were to recognise the talent that I want to hire, this doesn’t hurt it – it just delays the process.”He added that he did not see it as vastly changing the jobs market here, adding that initiative seemed to be misunderstood. “I see this more as satisfying a social objective in reassuring Singaporeans.”On the other hand, Fawbert pointed out a recent recruitment exercise he ran for his company. He had run ads on the likes of LinkedIn and other platforms. This drew in close to a 150 applicants, of which, few were locals. “It’s not that opportunities aren’t given to locals, they don’t seem to be taking them up.”What are your thoughts?

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