TSR #002: Enough To Go Around

Author

Joo Kwang
October 15, 2023

Enough To Go Around

Read time: 2 minutes

Is the recruitment industry saturated?

This is a common question for those considering a career in recruitment.

Randstad published a report in April 2023 indicating there are 1000+ agencies in Singapore competing for the pie. Interestingly, in 2020, there were more agencies than now (2023)

There are about 3,900 licensed agencies here and they fill about three in 10 job vacancies, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo in a Facebook post on Monday.

It looks like the industry has gone through a major shakeup (aka cleanup) over the pandemic which was tough for every business out there.

The dip in numbers is understandable as recruitment is one of the most challenging industries despite its relatively low entry barrier.

Only the fittest survive and I shall talk about that in another separate post (How to be the fittest in your niche)

With a tighter pool of recruiters, there is definitely enough to go around and this is not just a feel-good sentiment nor is recruitment a zero-sum game as I used to believe - that for me to thrive, my friend Mark (fictitious name!) has to go down!

As a recruiter, I am functionally sensitive to the hiring trends especially for Asia. Though layoffs are happening especially among the tech giants, companies are still hiring but if you observe carefully, there is a shift in the genre of roles being hired for, to meet the evolving market needs and this will continue to do so.

No one has a crystal ball but companies rise on the strength of their employees (quality and quantity) and this is a pattern that won’t be broken by Gen AI or other futuristic tech. In fact, the rise of tech which cuts across industries will only spur new job creations and the need to fulfill them.

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Recruitment industry is thus not saturated at all. What is saturated is our mindset, not the reality.

If you stay abreast of the trends, you will come to terms that there is always more than enough to go around. You will also find it easy to connect with clients that need your services because they are continuously looking for new talents to keep the company growing.

With this “concern” out of the way, I hope this motivates you to double down on your intent to carve out your niche and success.

Coming up: The niche you choose affects your earnings directly, so choose wisely. Stay tuned!

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