Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is home to Singapore and over 500 million people as vibrant and diverse as you can imagine.
Our neighbouring countries are only three to five hours of flight time away, and offer a ready market for companies looking for regional talent.
Indonesia
Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country at about 245 million. Its strengths lie in the IT, engineering, creative, and services and hospitality industries, but the majority of its workforce is employed in agriculture. According to the National Accreditation Board for Higher Education in Indonesia, there are 82 state and 2,606 private Institutions of Higher Learning in Indonesia, enrolling over 3.8 million students.
Malaysia
Singapore’s closest neighbour, Malaysia, produces talent in IT, engineering, creative and digital media, services and hospitality, and manufacturing. Its financial and service sectors are also quickly gaining ground, although the economy is still largely dependent on natural resources such as mining, petro-chemicals and agriculture.
Malaysia has over 400 private and public Institutes of Higher Learning, including five international renowned universities which have set up campuses in Malaysia. Campus recruitment activities occur throughout the year, while job fairs and career talks are normally held from March to April and August to September. You can partner Contact Singapore in its recruitment events during these periods.
Myanmar
Myanmar, Southeast Asia’s largest country, is known to produce not only the world's finest rubies but also a diligent workforce. The Myanmarese are widely recognised by employers to be hardworking and earnest.
They are also strong in areas such as IT, Engineering and Medicine. Even in our universities in Singapore, it is not hard to find an Engineering professor from Myanmar among its staff, for example. Students from Myanmar are also eager to upgrade themselves, and many are in both Singapore public and private schools, getting equipped to contribute to the Singapore economy.
The Philippines
Many Filipino professionals are keen to work in Singapore because of the more attractive remuneration packages, and they have an immediate advantage over other Southeast Asians with their greater fluency in English.
There are over 2,000 Institutes of Higher Learning in the Philippines of varying quality. The most popular programmes are business and economics, teaching, engineering, technology, medical and health-related studies, and ICT.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) regulates the number of Filipino professionals who work outside the country. If you are keen to recruit in the Philippines, you should seek out employment agencies licensed by the POEA. Campus recruitment activities such as job fairs and career talks are normally held from January to February, July and September. Contact Singapore organises activities in the Philippines during these months.
Vietnam
Vietnam is considered the fastest-growing economy in Southeast Asia and one of the new emerging markets of the world. The Vietnamese have expertise in the R&D, engineering, agriculture and services industries.
Most of the schools, colleges and universities in Vietnam are state-controlled and there are several specialist colleges which aim to develop a diverse and skilled national workforce. The government has committed to increasing educational opportunities for all, towards building a learning society and developing trained labour for the industrialisation and modernisation of the country.
Campus recruitment activities such as job fairs and career talks are normally held in March and August. Contact Singapore usually lines up activities in Vietnam in these same months.
Partnering Contact Singapore
To find out more about how Contact Singapore can partner you in reaching out to global talent, email us at singapore@contactsingapore.sg.
Find out more about our Southeast Asian office here.
To check out Contact Singapore’s events in Southeast Asia, go to Events page.