Study: Educational qualifications lose out to technical skills as firms relook hiring process

Companies in Singapore and Malaysia would prefer to hire candidates with skills, over qualifications such as education or experience, LinkedIn’s recent Future of Talent report has found. Malaysia prefers to hire candidates with technical skills (38%) and transferable skills (28%), and this is prioritised over traditional qualifiers like education (10%) and minimum years of experience (12%). In fact, two out of three (67%) companies are open to hiring employees from another industry if the skills they possess match the job requirements.

Similarly, companies in Singapore prefer to hire candidates with technical skills (39%) and transferable skills (31%). This is prioritised over traditional qualifiers like education (8%) and minimum years of experience (12%). In fact, three in five (60%) companies are open to hiring employees from another industry if the skills they possess match the job requirements.

Moreover, external hiring is not the only way to acquire skills in demand. The report found that companies are becoming more open to tapping on talent within the organisation to fill open roles. Around 85% of companies in Malaysia are willing to hire internally as they can leverage existing employees’ insider's perspective (72%), provide a sense of progress to employees (65%), and encourage loyalty (56%). In Singapore, 90% of companies, are willing to hire internally as they can leverage existing employees’ insider's perspective (65%), provide a sense of progress to employees (65%), and encourage loyalty (55%).

Companies in Malaysia look for three soft skills in particular when hiring internally, namely, problem solving skill, communication skills, and strategic thinking. Among these three, problem solving skills (46%) stood out as one of the in-demand skill sets as compared to other markets in APAC.