How will the 2021 Philippine Talent Landscape look like?

The year 2020 painted a very complex and ambiguous picture for the local talent landscape. The country was not spared as we saw company closures, mass job layoffs and furloughs, downsizing, and strategy pivots from micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises as well as established corporations. More than one-fourth (26 percent) of companies shut down and more than one-half (52 percent) are partially operating with income down by 90 percent. The number of job postings on our recruitment platform has dipped by 58 percent from its peak in January but, fortunately, the demand for new talent has been slowly recovering.

Amidst all this volatility, we cannot predict with absolute certainty what the talent landscape will be like moving forward through 2021. However, we can look back on last year’s data from our own artificial intelligence-powered platform to see where we could be headed. We hope that our insights can empower employers in rebuilding and reestablishing themselves in the new normal.

Key industries

The information technology (IT) and software, business process outsourcing (BPO), and retail and merchandising industries continue to hire more people. These three categories alone account for almost half (48 percent) of the more than 17,000 active jobs posted on our platform as of December 2020. Other industries actively looking for new talent include accounting and finance, manufacturing, human resources, trading and distribution, real estate, media and creatives, and sales and marketing.

As businesses and consumers alike increasingly turned to digital platforms for goods and services, the demand for IT and software professionals has gone up. In addition, companies trying to cut down on operating costs are seeing the benefits of outsourcing certain job functions and activities to third parties. Moreover, the proliferation of online stores and eCommerce platforms has driven the number of active job openings in retail and merchandising. Although the number of jobs posted on our website had gone down by 58 percent as compared to 2019, our ranking of the top three industries looking for candidates largely remains the same.

Key hires

Our data on the number of hires per industry is closely linked to the top three industries discussed. In 2020, highest number of hires were for entry-level customer service, entry-level sales and marketing, and associate or supervisory sales and marketing positions, accounting for almost half (46 percent) of the 1,700 hires on the platform. More than one-fourth (29 percent) of the hires on Kalibrr were for entry-level customer service representative jobs.

Mass hiring

As consumers find ways to manage their personal finances and perhaps even augment their own income, job postings for financial advisors appeared prominently on Kalibrr, with more than 3,500 openings across 60 job postings. Customer service representatives ranked second, with over 1,000 openings across 102 job postings. Graphic designers ranked third, with more than 450 openings on 91 job posts.

Key roles

Accounting assistants, administrative assistants, and executive assistants are the most in-demand roles based on the number of job postings on the platform. Cumulatively, close to 400 companies placed over 550 job ads for such job positions.

Sought-after jobs

The top 1,000 jobs posted on Kalibrr received an average of 750 applications, but three job ads, in particular, had more than 10,000 applications.

An entry-level role for a customer solutions officer at the outsourcing arm of one of the world’s largest banks received more than 12,000 applications. Meanwhile, another entry-level customer service role as a freelance creative solutions specialist for an on-demand personal assistant service also received more than 12,000 applicants. Lastly, an entry-level role for a management trainee at a global clothing retailer received more than 10,000 applications.

Key takeaways

The IT and software, BPO, and retail and merchandising industries continue to look for highly qualified talent as we see more than 8,000 unique active job openings from companies falling under these categories. Entry-level customer service roles, as well as sales and marketing jobs, are in high demand. Yet, companies are also searching for accounting and administrative professionals. Employer brand is also an influential factor among job seekers, given that three of the most sought-after jobs on our recruitment platform were posted by highly recognized global brands.

Why Kalibrr works

Kalibrr is focused on helping companies connect with individuals of very high character and very high ability. The recruitment platform has a talent pool of more than 3.8 million job seekers across the globe, and 98 percent of these job seekers are actively or passively looking for new jobs.

Kalibrr is also growing at one of the fastest rates in Southeast Asia at more than 100,000 new signups per month. In terms of demographics, 47 percent of Kalibrr’s new users are job seekers searching for entry-level roles, while 33 percent are at the associate or supervisor level and 13 percent are looking for managerial positions.

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Kalibrr is a technology company that aims to transform how candidates find jobs and how companies hire talent. Placing the candidate experience at the center of everything it does, the company continues to attract the best talent from all over, with almost three million professionals and counting. Kalibrr ultimately connects these talents to companies in search of their next generation of leaders.

The only end-to-end recruitment solutions provider in Southeast Asia, Kalibrr is headquartered in Makati, Philippines, with offices in San Francisco, California, and Jakarta, Indonesia. Established in 2012, it has served over 19,000 clients and is backed by some of the world’s most powerful start-up incubators and venture capitalists. These include Y Combinator, Omidyar Network, Patamar Capital, Wavemaker Partners, and Kickstart Ventures.

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