Human Resource Industry's Role in Helping Jobseekers

Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Minister for Manpower whether the human resource industry can play a more contributory role to help local jobseekers, new entrants and re-entrants in the job market in the new economic landscape and whether they can help to minimise missed matches in the labour market in the next phase of our economic growth.

The HR industry, comprising HR professionals and HR service providers, plays an important role in helping our workers adapt and grow in the future economy. To be effective, three shifts are needed.

One is a mindset shift from looking at workers as "Human Resource", HR – a commodity to be acquired and utilised with value depreciating over time, to treating workers as "Human Capital", HC – an asset to be invested and nurtured with value appreciating over time. It means not just having a "hunter" mentality – poaching talent from the market for immediate plug and play – but a "grower" mentality, to nurture and develop talent so their value to the organisation increases over time.

Two is a shift in practices from qualifications-based hiring to skills-based recruitment and development. It means not being too reliant on educational qualifications and years of experience as proxies for candidates' suitability but, instead, develop competency assessment tools or work trials that holistically assess job fit.

Three is a shift towards promoting an inclusive workplace through fair consideration for jobs and adopting progressive workplace practices. This allows employers to reach a wider pool of talent and bring about better business performance and higher employee engagement.

To help make this transition, we have stepped up efforts to strengthen the capabilities of HR professionals. The Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) was recently set up by the tripartite partners to implement the national HR certification regime, known as IHRP Certification. To be successfully certified, HR professionals have to demonstrate knowledge in applying over 30 competencies and behaviours expected of a future-ready HR professional. Interest in the IHRP Certification has been encouraging, with over 700 HR professionals registering their interest to pursue the certification.

HR professionals and HR service providers should tap on the many Professional Conversion Programmes (PCP). There are more than 70 PCPs across more than 30 sectors today and we expect this number to grow. HR professionals can also play their part by creating intra-company PCPs, to help equip their employees with skills their company will need in the future. If it is necessary to retrench their workforce, HR professionals can help minimise mismatches and missed matches through progressive and responsible practices.

Collectively, these efforts will help our workforce better adapt to take on better jobs and build new careers in our future economy.