Engineers, salespersons top employers' list in Asia

Significant skills gap still exists in some key industry sectors across Asia, particularly engineering, according to a survey by leading UK-based global recruitment group Hays, and increasing numbers of companies are looking to part-time or temporary contracts and overseas workers to fill the shortfalls

The 2012 Hays Salary Guide surveyed top 900 employers in Asia and found nearly a quarter reported finding it a challenge to fill engineers at junior and mid-management level, and just under a fifth at senior level.

Another problem area highlighted within the report was a lack of sales staff - some 22 per cent of employers polled said they have found it difficult to recruit sales candidates at junior to mid and senior management levels.

Elsewhere, technical, IT, accountancy and finance sectors were also identified as causing employers some concern.

"Skills shortages have been a recognized business challenge for some time, but our findings put the spotlight on exactly which skills employers are finding most difficult to source," said Simon Lance, Regional Director of Hays in China.

He said despite the troubled global economic climate, Hays remains upbeat about the overall jobs climate in Asia, but warned the shortages highlighted would start to affect overall business if they continued.

"Asia remains resilient and almost all employers we surveyed said skills shortages have the potential to hamper the effective operation of their business or department. This means that finding a way to bridge this skills gap will be critical in the months and years ahead," he said.