Must-Know Staffing Trends for 2015

2015 Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

Build, engage and recruit more by staying ahead of these industry trends

02 Introduction

Introduction
o win in 2015, search & staffing leaders need to stay
T
ahead of the latest staffing trends. Broader technology
advancements have also begun to disrupt the talent
industry, setting the stage for a dynamic and exciting future
for the staffing industry.

03 Executive summary

04 Part 1: The staffing industry in 2015

08 Part 2: Sourcing

About this survey

We surveyed 1,993 staffing decision makers in 19
countries to understand whats keeping them up at night
and where they see the industry headed in 2015. Get a
head start on 2015: tap into our insights and chart your
course for success.

14 Part 3: Brand

18 Part 4: The future of staffing

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

Executive summary: Southeast Asia staffing trends

3 must-know talent acquisition trends and predictions for 2015

1 Sourcing: Social professional

2 Brand: Most firms prioritise the

3 The Future: Passive candidate

networks are by far the #1 source of

quality hires for staffing firms.

need to build their brand. Now their

actions are beginning to catch up.

sourcing and social professional

networks expected to shape the future.

% Agree

66%
51%
2014

38%

20%

40%

77%

Our brand has a

significant impact on
our ability to grow our
business

78%

Those responsible for

our brand have enough
resources to do it well

36%
0%

Our brand has a

significant impact on
our ability to engage
great talent

60%

80%

Social professional networks

We regularly measure
the health of our brand
in a quantifiable way

Finding better ways to

source passive
candidates

Utilising social and

professional networks

62%
59%

61%
65%

56%

53%

Internet job boards

Boosting referral
programs

SEA

43%
32%
Global

Employee referral programs

Your ATS/internal candidate
database
Think about the key quality hires that your
organisation made in the past 12 months.
Which of the following were the most important
sources for those key positions?

Please indicate the extent to which you agree or

disagree with the following statements as they
relate to your firm's brand.

What do you consider to be the three most

essential and long-lasting trends in recruiting for
professional roles?

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

Part 1: The staffing industry in 2015

Part 1: The Recruiting Industry in 2015

Internal pressure and external threats

Southeast Asia hiring volume and budgets
remain healthy

Talent pipelines, social media, and client

experience are the top competitive threats

A whopping 76% of Southeast Asian staffing leaders project

that their hiring volumes for full-time employees will increase
this year. The gap between Southeast Asian hiring volumes
and budgets remains wide. Staffing leaders must scale and
invest wisely.

More Southeast Asian companies are concerned about

talent pipelining and client experiences than global
companies are.

% with increase
Hiring Volume

100%

80%

79%

60%

40%

76%

61%

42%

29%

Build and nurture strong

talent pools or pipelines

28%
27%

Improve their client

experience

25%
27%

Hire recruiters to
strengthen their team

24%

Hiring Budget

25%
Invest in their firms brand

20%
2013

22%

2014
SEA

Considering only full and part-time professional employees, how do

you expect the hiring volume across your organisation to change this
year?

Global

What are the things that your competitors have done or may plan on
doing that would make you most nervous?

How has your organisation's budget for recruiting solutions changed

from last year?

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

Part 1: The Recruiting Industry in 2015

Priorities: Top priorities are growing new client base

and being a strategic partner
Client business development and being a
strategic partner to clients are top priorities
Southeast Asian staffing firms prioritise growing their client
base and becoming a strategic partner as a top priority in
2015.

46%

Growing our base of

new clients

56%

32%

Improving sourcing
techniques

SEA

50%

42%

Being a strategic partner to

my clients

Improving quality of hire

Small staffing agencies are significantly more likely to

prioritise new clients and recruiting passive talent. We
define small agencies as organisations with fewer than 10
recruiters.

50%
53%

Growing our base of new

clients

Recruiting/sourcing highlyskilled talent for my firm

Boutique and large firms differ globally

30%
27%
24%
23%
20%
Global

Think about your firms top priorities for the next 12 months.
Which of the following choices would you consider to be the most
important and least important areas of interest for your
organisation?

Recruiting passive
talent

19%
25%

Large agencies

Small agencies

Think about your firms top priorities for the next 12 months.
Which of the following choices would you consider to be the
most important and least important areas of interest for your
organisation?

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

Part 1: The Recruiting Industry in 2015

Obstacles: Biggest obstacle to landing talent in

2015 is availability of quality talent
Availability of quality talent is #1 obstacle
Competition is the number one obstacle Southeast Asian
companies face in attracting top talent, outstripping
compensation.

Competition is obstacle for significantly more

large firms than for boutique firms
Competitive pressures are more of a threat to large firms than
to boutique firms. Offers made by clients is also viewed as a
threat to more large than small firms, although the difference is
less significant.

57%
Availability of quality talent
60%
49%
49%
Competition

Competition

45%
42%
Offer made by my client
(includes compensation,
role, location, etc)
SEA

47%
41%
Global

What are your firm's biggest obstacles to recruiting talent?

Large agencies

Small agencies

What are your firm's biggest obstacles to attracting the best talent?

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

Part 2: Sourcing

Part 2: Sourcing

Top source for quality hires: Professional networks

Social professional networks are the top
source for quality hires

Large and small staffing agencies are equally

reliant on social recruiting globally

Social professional networks are the most important source

of quality placements. Get ahead of this trend by tapping
into social professional networks for quality placements.

Large agencies are more apt to use internet resume databases

to place high quality talent with their clients. As smaller agencies
gain increased access to data and information, this difference is
one worth watching.

66%

46%
38%

51%

32%

2014

38%
14%

36%
0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Social professional
networks

Internet resume
databases

Social professional networks

Internet job boards
Employee referral programs
Your ATS/internal candidate database
Think about the key quality hires that your organisation
(placed/made) in the past 12 months. Which of the following were the
most important sources for those key positions?

Large agencies

Small agencies

Think about the key quality hires that your organisation (placed/made) in
the past 12 months. Which of the following were the most important sources
for those key positions?

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

Part 2: Sourcing

Top source for quality hires: Professional networks

Social professional networks are a major source for
quality hires in Southeast Asia
Staffing agencies are currently utilising social professional
networks as a major source for the quantity of placements
around the globe. Job boards and candidate databases are
fairly close behind.

Large staffing agencies are more engaged

With the exception of social professional networks, large
staffing agencies are more likely to utilise all sources for
professional placements.

56%

Social professional networks

58%

51%

54%

Internet job boards

50%

2014

44%
42%

Internet resume databases

Company CRM system

40%
Social professional networks

53%

Your ATS/ internal candidate

database

38%

15%

46%

65%
Company career website

Internet job boards

Internet Resume Databases

Employee referral programs

Large Agencies

34%
31%
22%
26%
20%
24%
19%

Small Agencies

Think about the key quality hires that your organisation placed in the
past 12 months. Which of the following were the most important sources
for those key positions? Showing % with over 15% of hires.

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

10

Part 2: Sourcing

Sourcing: There are a handful of sources

that provide both quality and quantity
5 sources of hire for quality and quantity globally
Best quality & quantity
Social
professional
networks

Job boards
Employee
referral
programs

Company
career
General website
social media
Print
General
career fairs

Internet
resume
databases

ATS/ internal
candidate
database

Company
CRM system

54%
of global staffing leaders believe
theyre not doing a good job
tracking return on investment on
sources of hire. Theres lots of
room for improvement.
As the gap between hiring
volume and budgets widens, its
time to invest in and optimise the
sources that return both the best
quality and quantity of
candidates.

Other

How significant were each of the following as a source of white collar professional hires
for your organisation in the past 12 months? (>15% quantity of hires)
Think about the key quality hires that your organisation (placed/made) in the past 12
months. Which of the following were the most important sources for those key
positions?

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

11

Part 2: Sourcing

Passive candidate recruiting: Southeast Asia

above average
Southeast Asia is above average for % of
staffing firms that recruit passive candidates

Why passive candidate recruiting works

Globally, 75% of professionals consider themselves Passive.

Global Candidate Breakdown

United Kingdom

95%

China

94%

United States

91%

Canada

89%

Southeast Asia

88%

Australia

87%

India

87%

Brazil

84%

25%
Active

75%
Passive

87%
Global
average

How would you describe your job search status?

Source: LinkedIns Talent Trends 2014 study

Active candidate definition:

France

84%

Nordics

82%

Netherlands

72%

Passive candidate definition:

To what extent does your recruiting organisation focus on reaching

out to passive talent? To some extent or very much so.

Actively looking
Casually looking a few times a week

Reaching out to personal network

Open to talking to a recruiter
Completely satisfied; Dont want to move
Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

12

Part 2: Sourcing

Sourcing: Number of placements is most valuable

hiring metric
Number of placements is most valuable metric
for staffing firms

Large agencies are about scale while small

agencies are about satisfaction

Client satisfaction and quality of placement are also important

metrics staffing firms use to evaluate performance.

Globally large agencies tend to judge themselves on the

number of placements. Smaller agencies tend to be
more focused on client satisfaction.

33%

Number of
placements

29%

24%

Client
satisfaction

28%

18%

Quality of
placement

18%

SEA

Global

What is the single most valuable metric that you use to track your
recruiting team's performance today?

32%

Number of
placements

27%
26%

Client
satisfaction

Quality of
placement

Large Agencies

30%
18%
17%

Small agencies

What is the single most valuable metric that you use to track your
recruiting team's performance today?

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

13

Part 3: Brand

14

Part 3: Talent Brand

Brand: Its a priority and top reasons to invest

Brand is a key driver to hiring top talent

Top 4 reasons agencies invest in their brand

Global staffing leaders agree that brand is a priority that

impacts their ability to hire top talent. Their actions are now
beginning to catch up. Companies can get ahead of the
competition by creating a proactive brand strategy.

The number one reason Southeast Asian agencies invest in

their brand is due to increased competition. Southeast Asian
agencies are more likely to cite this as a reason than global
companies.

% Agree
54%

Increased competition

Our brand has a

significant impact on our
ability to grow our
business

40%
70%
49%
Increase in client demand

My company has a brand

strategy
Those responsible for our
brand have enough
resources to do it well
We regularly measure the
health of our brand in a
quantifiable way

46%

58%

49%

Need to raise general

awareness

51%

48%

37%

SEA
Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the
following statements as they relate to your firms brand.

45%

Increased belief in the impact

of our firm's brand

46%
Global

For what reasons are you spending more on your firms brand this year?
Directed to leaders who report spending more on brand this year.

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

15

Part 3: Talent Brand

Brand: Top 4 channels for promoting it

Fastest growing channel for promoting agency
brands is online professional networks

Small agencies rely on word of mouth while large

agencies tend to rely on public recognition

In Southeast Asia, online professional networks are the fastest

growing channels for promoting a staffing agencys brand.

Small agencies tend to take the friends and family approach

to building and promoting their brand. Large agencies are 2X
more likely to rely on public recognition awards.

80%

60%

58%

63%
30%
Friends/family, word of
mouth
43%

40%

20%
16%
Public
recognition/awards

0%
2013

2014

Online professional networks (e.g., LinkedIn)

Our firm's website
Friends/family, word of mouth
Traditional Job Boards
Which channels or tools have you found most effective in promoting
your business?

8%

Large agencies

Small agencies

Which channels or tools have you found most effective in promoting

your business?

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

16

Part 3: Talent Brand

Southeast Asian companies are on

top when it comes to prioritising
and acting on brand
Agencies in Southeast Asia and India are
leaders in branding. Get ahead of the
competition today by prioritising and investing
in your brand.

My company has a brand strategy

Brand: Southeast Asian companies are on top in

prioritising and acting on their brand

Southeast
Asia
Australia India
China
Canada

US
UK
France

Brazil

Netherlands

Nordics

Brand is a top priority for our organisation

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

17

Part 4: The future of staffing

18

Part 4: Predicting the Future of

Recruiting

The future: Professional networks and improved

candidate & job matching are in the cards
Passive candidate recruiting and social
professional networks are here to stay
Global and Southeast Asian staffing leaders believe that
passive candidate recruiting and social professional networks
are here to stay. SEA firms believe in the importance of referral
programs significantly more than their global counterparts

62%

Finding better ways to

source passive
candidates

SEA

Candidate and job matching could reshape the recruiting

industry. SEA firms believe that expanding into emerging
markets is a key strategy for staffing firms of the future
compared to their global peers.

51%

Improved candidate and

job matching

51%

59%

61%

Utilising social and

professional networks

Boosting referral
programs

Trend spotting: Candidate and job matching

65%

43%

35%
40%

Recruiting becoming more

like marketing

32%

Using "big data" for

predicting future talent
needs

Global

SEA

What do you consider to be the three most essential and longlasting trends in recruiting for professional roles?

42%

Expanding into emerging

markets

33%
30%
31%

Global

Which of the following new and upcoming trends do you think will play
a significant role in shaping the recruiting industry for the next 5 to 10
years?

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

19

Survey sampling and methodology

Survey Sample

Data Comparisons

Survey respondents are talent acquisition professionals who:

Work for a staffing firm
Represent an even mix of small, medium, and large
firms
Have at least some authority in determining their
companys recruitment solutions budget
Focus exclusively on recruiting professional hires for
clients
Survey respondents are members of LinkedIn who have
opted to participate in research studies. They were selected
based on information in their LinkedIn profile and contacted
via email.

Global comparisons are reported as un-weighted averages from the noted

countries
Historical data comparisons are taken from 2011, 2012 and 2013 Global
Recruiting Trends research, which had similar sampling criteria and
methodology to 2014:
2014 survey fielded August-September 2014 with 201 SEA
respondents
2013 survey fielded April-May 2013 with 24 SEA respondents

Nordics: 100
Netherlands: 201
Canada: 201
UK: 201

France: 200

China: 100

USA: 202

India: 202

Southeast Asia: 201

Brazil: 185
Australia: 200
Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

20

About LinkedIn
Talent Solutions

Subscribe to our Blog: talent.linkedin.com/blog/

Follow us on Slideshare: slideshare.net/linkedin-talent-solutions

LinkedIn Talent Solutions offers
a full range of recruiting
solutions to help organisations
of all sizes find, engage, and
attract the best talent.
Founded in 2003, LinkedIn
connects the worlds
professionals to make them
more productive and successful.
With over 300 million members
worldwide, including executives
from every Fortune 500
company, LinkedIn is the worlds
largest professional network.

Follow us on Twitter: @hireonlinkedin

Follow us on YouTube: youtube.com/user/LITalentSolutions

Discover additional insights:
https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/staffing-agencies
Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/1337

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends

21

About the authors

Sam Gager

Lynette Pathy

Esther Cruz

Ryan Batty

Research Consultant,
LinkedIn Talent
Solutions

Field Marketing
Specialist,
LinkedIn Talent
Solutions

Insights and Content

Marketing Manager,
LinkedIn Talent
Solutions

Director of Marketing,
LinkedIn Talent
Solutions

Sam is an experienced
researcher on
LinkedIns Insights
team. He and his
colleagues uncover
data-driven insights
from LinkedIns
proprietary data.

Lynette is an avid fan of

great content and really
enjoys helping talent
professionals be
successful by driving
content to the
Southeast Asian talent
industry.

Esther is passionate
about connecting
people and
opportunities. She
enjoys creating
content and disruptive
thought leadership for
the talent industry.

Ryan believes in the

power of great
storytelling to convey
meaningful ideas. He
leads a team of
marketers capturing
and sharing insights,
ideas and stories to
serve the talent
industry.

Southeast Asia Staffing Trends 22