SINGAPORE — A finance company had been looking for someone to fill its opening for head of technology.

About two years later, the job listing is still there because everyone who had applied for the position lacked the specific skill the firm was looking for.

"Because if there is no right person, they would rather not invest the money in it and only if they find the right person then they will put money to grow this area," said Ms Claire Teo, technology principal consultant at executive search firm Ethos BeathChapman.

This difficulty in finding the right tech talent seems rather prevalent.

The latest Ministry of Manpower job vacancies report showed that software, web and multimedia developer positions, along with nursing, were the hardest to fill when it comes to jobs for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMET).

Recruiters who specialise in headhunting for tech and healthcare said that the problem lies in a lack of required skills and mismatched salary expectations.

LACK OF REQUIRED SKILLS

In tech, many of these hard-to-fill positions are for jobs that require either a niche set of skills or a unique combination of technical skills. It is hard to find an exact fit in the local talent pool.

"One of the main things is aligning any candidate search to the company's business objectives over the next three to five years, and then understanding what skills the business needs in order to achieve those objectives," said Mr John Doyle, associate partner at Page Executive.

Expertise in various software programmes is sometimes required, said Mr John Liau from Taleix, a recruitment agency.

Another point that was raised by recruiters is the mismatch in terms of job expectations, which often results in a high number of mismatched resumes received.

Mr Doyle said that because the tech ecosystem changes and evolves "very quickly", candidates usually look to transition or incorporate new skills into their capabilities.

"Because of this, candidates are not necessarily looking for an exact match to what they are doing today but what they want to do in the future," said Mr Doyle.

This would mean that if a candidate was in a web development role but may be looking to transition into another tech role, they would be likely to apply for jobs that they are hoping to move into.

In the nursing sector, requirements such as a willingness to work shifts and being able to deal with patients and their family members are key, which makes it difficult to find the right person for the job.

"The nursing industry is not the first choice for a lot of people," said Mr Liau.

"Singaporeans are raised in pragmatism so naturally, we are encouraged to study courses that will lend us high paying jobs."

MISMATCH IN SALARY EXPECTATIONS

Which puts into sharp focus one other challenge recruiters often face: A candidate's salary expectations, which can be rather far apart from what the employer is offering.

"When it comes to salary offerings for suitable candidates, it depends on various factors, including the size of the company, geographical location, seniority of the position and prevailing market rates," said Mr Kenji Naito, chief executive officer at Reeracoen Singapore.

However, candidates would come to the table with certain expectations based on market trends, Mr Doyle said.

"Companies are willing to stretch around 10 per cent of their budget but most of them still ideally will want to stick to their original salary budget," said Ms Teo of Ethos BeathChapman.

A candidate's employment history is also something that recruiters would look closely at, particularly when it comes to nursing roles.

Mr Liau from Taleix said that typically when his healthcare clients look at profiles, they would place the resumes of candidates who job hop as a "low priority".

"They will wait a while longer to see if they can hire somebody who has a longer tenure because what they do not want is a high turnover, especially in nursing, as the newly hired candidates will have to learn everything from scratch," he said.