Singapore: Singapore’s recruitment regulations are leading to a severe crunch in qualified maritime staff, a top HR firm has said in a report, which cites a recent SeaShip News poll. Recruitment firm Spinnaker noted that under Singapore’s Fair Consideration Framework (FCF), all firms must consider Singaporeans fairly for job opportunities. This was highlighted by the case of Prime Gold International who were barred from hiring foreign workers for two years after it was found to have discriminated against Singaporeans.
“Despite the government pushing for local talent to fill local jobs, the currently available talent pool doesn’t support the level of demand,” Spinnaker said in a report out this week. “A lack of graduates wanting to join the maritime community and a rapidly growing maritime sector has left an employment gap,” it added.
“Many companies look to foreign talent to fill the gap but due to government policy there are significant administrative headwinds in this respect,” Spinnaker said.
The recruitment firm highlighted a poll carried out by SeaShip News in which 77% of respondents said the local talent pool in Singapore was not large enough or of high enough quality, while 53% of voters found current work restrictions on foreigners were affecting their businesses. 59% of readers said the government had not been effective in getting more people interested in a maritime career. [05/02/15]
