Every so often someone asks me: ‘How do we tap into the talent pool in China from Australia?’ or ‘What’s the best way to hire 200 people in Vietnam?’ And each time, I feel a mix of second-hand excitement and dread.
Expanding across East Asia is a tall order—not for the faint-hearted. It has been one of the most professionally enriching, humbling, and challenging experiences of my career.
That’s why I find the phrase ‘here ≠ there, now ≠ then’ such a perfect prism for understanding recruitment across APAC. It captures two hard truths recruiters live with:
Geography matters. What works here won’t work there.
Time matters. What worked then rarely works now. Economics, culture, and tech adoption shift too fast for yesterday’s playbook.
Yet, many organisations still build strategies on old beliefs or vague memories of ‘how things used to be.’ The result? Plans divorced from reality.
Remember what you thought you knew about the East Asia labour market BEFORE you started working there? Like ‘everyone in tech speaks English’ or ‘nobody changes jobs’ or ‘if you are a global brand you can ride on the inbound recruitment only’ or ‘people are okay with long hours’ or ‘relocations are easy’?
These myths linger because they are convenient shortcuts – half memories, half wishful thinking. But the reality on the ground is always more complex, and more interesting.
So, let me bore you (or excite you, depending on your appetite) with a semi-granular look at how things have changed over the past decade, what forces drove that change, and how to navigate the good, the bad, and the ugly of technical recruitment across East Asia – warts and all.
SINGAPORE
A decade ago, Singapore was the undisputed expat HQ hub. Big packages, banking, IT, enterprise software, and the promise of a cosmopolitan lifestyle made employer branding simple: live and work in Singapore.
Fast forward to today and the picture is different. The COMPASS framework tightened foreign hiring, while NAIS 2.0 has repositioned AI, data, ML, and cloud as economic anchors. Expat-heavy perks have largely faded, replaced by skills-first and localisation strategies. Contracting and gig work have taken off, supported by pro-business rules and post-COVID flexibility.
Recruiters now need to shift their pitch. Branding is no longer lifestyle-led but policy-savvy and career-focused. Highlight regional exposure, career stability in regulated industries, and adjacency to AI/data projects. Expect contested but strong talent pools, with candidates weighing brand, visa clarity, and growth pathways as much as pay.
HONG KONG
Ten years ago, Hong Kong was buzzing as a fintech and banking IT hub. Its open economy, low taxes, and bilingual workforce drew international professionals in droves. Recruitment was network-driven, fuelled by the city’s role as a financial capital.
But here is not there. The market is now smaller and more regulated, shaped as much by policy as by business demand. The government has leaned into talent schemes like TTPS and TechTAS, smoothing the path for niche hires where the local market lacks depth. Finance, IT, and consulting remain strong contracting spaces, though the high cost of living and political context weigh heavily on candidate decisions.
Today, employer branding works best when tied to banking relevance, cross-border exposure with GBA/China systems, and the availability of fast-track visas. Candidates weigh stability, mobility, and brand credibility alongside the tech content of the role.
CHINA
A decade ago, China’s tech scene embodied speed and ambition. Internet giants scaled at breakneck pace, startups dangled equity, and 996 was worn as a badge of honour. Recruiters sold growth, prestige, and upside with ease.
The past few years have been sobering. Crackdowns on consumer platforms, economic slowdown, and property shocks cooled the frenzy. Mass layoffs left candidates cautious. Yet new energy is flowing into AI, robotics, semiconductors, and new-quality productive forces. Demand is intense at the senior end of AI/infra, while fresh grads face oversupply.
Contracting remains rare due to cultural preference for stability and state roles, with the gig economy tightly regulated. Selling a Senior Developer role today means anchoring in scale and prestige (this platform serves 100M+ users) or linking to national priorities in AI and fintech. Expect plenty of juniors, scarcity of seniors, higher salary expectations, and candidates increasingly wary of 996 culture.
JAPAN
Once defined by rigidity, Japan’s IT hiring is slowly opening up under pressure from demographic and digital realities. The old model of lifetime employment and Japanese-only workplaces is eroding in the face of chronic shortages and the looming 2025 Digital Cliff.
Cloud modernisation, cybersecurity, ERP renewal, and data projects dominate demand. Employers who once resisted diversity now explore English-speaking hires, reskilling, and non-traditional pipelines—though stability and belonging remain core cultural drivers.
Contracting is still niche, with loyalty and rigid labour laws favouring permanent hires. To attract senior developers, recruiters should emphasise security and continuity, national digital transformation goals, and structured learning pathways. Expect slow decision-making, scarce senior talent, and a candidate audience more attuned to career longevity than short-term gains.
VIETNAM
Vietnam has moved rapidly from outsourcing hub to one of Asia’s fastest-growing developer ecosystems. Global engineering centres, venture-backed startups, and a young, ambitious talent pool now define the market.
Supply, however, lags demand. While universities turn out large STEM cohorts, mid- and senior-level engineers remain scarce. Salaries are rising, attrition is common, and developers increasingly look for brand recognition, learning opportunities, and international exposure—not just pay.
Community engagement is central to recruitment. Sponsoring hackathons, dev meetups, and mentorship programmes often resonates more than cash. For technical roles, pitches that emphasise learning, global projects, and visibility carry weight. Expect high turnover risk, rising salary benchmarks, and candidates who value growth above all.
MALAYSIA
Malaysia’s IT market has evolved from a shared-services centre to a serious player in data centres, cloud, and fintech. Kuala Lumpur and Johor, boosted by hyperscaler investment and government programmes like Malaysia Digital, are becoming regional hubs.
Demand for cloud, network, cyber, and data roles is climbing, with recruiters now able to sell cutting-edge opportunities and APAC exposure rather than back-office stability. Contracting is slowly emerging in creative and IT roles, though permanent jobs remain the cultural norm.
When pitching senior tech roles, the most effective approach is to highlight future-facing industries (AI, data, fintech), cross-border career ladders, and work–life balance, which Malaysian professionals value highly. Salaries remain below Singapore, but English fluency makes cross-regional collaboration smooth.
So, in all this mess, how do you structure your Talent team to be productive, lean, and efficient? Assuming most of the big bulky processes like Mobility, Rewards and Recognition, Workforce Planning, People Analytics, Background Checks, and TA tools are already handled at a global level, the question becomes: which capabilities need to sit locally, and which can be centralised?
Your recruiters must be local in every market because language, culture, and candidate care are essential. While it’s tempting (and possible) to train your team to be universal, understanding local idiosyncrasies is critical. Recruiters from one country may work well in some territories but struggle in others, so portability matters.
Your sourcing team should be cheap, nimble, multilingual, and regionally native. While outsourcing to India may feel tempting, Vietnam or the Philippines are smarter hubs for regional sourcing — lower costs, strong language skills, and local market knowledge. Centralised sourcers can support smaller or lower-touch markets, while local recruiters should be absolutely able to source on high-touch, competitive markets like Japan and Australia.
While placing the Operations team, one should also consider financial efficiency: residing the team in a lower-cost, well-connected hub (like Vietnam, the Philippines, or Malaysia) can cover multiple time zones without inflating costs, while still supporting all markets effectively. Marketing, however, cannot be fully centralised. Campaigns need localisation in language, tone, and cultural adaptation, even if central teams manage strategy, templates, and analytics.
In short, keep your recruiters close to the action, centralise what can be standardised, and let your team collaborate across borders — it’s the sweet spot between speed, quality, and regional consistency.
Of course, this is just my take on the problem. If expanding in the region is your new task (again, dread and excitement!) you need to experiment, take risks and keep an open mind. Maybe not too open though, as we know, “The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.” T. Pratchett.
Good luck!
