S’pore employers are moving towards skill-based hiring
The Department of Labor released its 2025 jobs report on March 20, and the numbers tell a story that would have seemed impossible a decade ago.
Educational qualifications are not the main determinants in hiring 79.6% of job vacancies last year, up from 78.8% in 2024 and 74.9% in 2023. The movement is slow enough to miss if you’re not looking, but steady enough to reshape Singapore’s workforce.
Employers who have made the transition to skills-based hiring report faster hiring, access to a wider pool of talent, and improved employee performance.
Specifically, this shift has taken a toll on software development, data analytics, and AI-enabled roles across technology, finance, and engineering—the very positions where Singapore is focused on growth, and could see some of the highest salaries.
Change driven by tech giants
This movement did not start with the beginning of a Singaporean who came out of the ordinary to see beyond academic qualifications. It actually started with multinational companies that had data and scales to test what actually predicted job performance.
Between 2017 and 2022, the share of Google jobs requiring a college degree dropped from 93% to 77%, according to an analysis by the Burning Glass Institute.
Google founder Sergey Brin noted in early 2026 that the company is hiring “tons of people without a bachelor’s degree.” They prefer to hire people who “just find themselves in a strange corner.”
Google is not alone in this approach.
IBM has created an apprenticeship program that is clearly marketed with the tag line “No Qualification? No Problem!” in 2017. It went further and removed bachelor’s degree requirements from half of its job vacancies by 2021.
Today, IBM’s share of United States non-degree hiring approaches 20%. This company has proven that ability can come before credentials—and that the door opens wide when employers look at what people can do, not where they studied.
S’pore firms are starting to follow, especially in the age of AI
Now, Singaporean firms across finance, logistics, and retail are starting to follow suit.
Beyond academic qualifications, companies are now looking for curiosity, problem solving, and the ability to learn. This is skill-based hiring—and it’s becoming automated, especially in the age of artificial intelligence.
Many companies are using AI in digital workflows, and the technology is rewriting what “entry level” and “job preparation” mean.
A September 2025 report from Morgan Stanley predicts that AI could impact 90% of jobs to some degree. This shift means that recruiting teams must focus on candidates whose skills align with the company’s long-term goals, many of which will heavily involve AI.
So, what matters is not what a person learned five years ago, but his ability to learn what is needed five years from now.
Singaporeans are increasingly embracing this concept, with increasing numbers entering lifelong learning programs such as SkillsFuture to stay relevant in a rapidly changing job market.
More than 606,000 Singaporeans receive SkillsFuture-supported training by 2025, up from 555,000 by 2024. Of these, 458,000 used their SkillsFuture Credits—a huge increase from 260,000 last year.
About 123,000 middle-aged people chose courses designed to improve employability, up from 112,000 in 2024. These are not hobbyists killing time, but workers betting that skills, not credentials, will be the currency of the next decade.
The results suggest they are wrong. 73% of respondents to the SkillsFuture survey reported that training improved their job performance, up from 69% in 2024. In addition, two out of three respondents attributed career advancement to their studies.
The door is still there, but it is no longer the only way in
It is no longer known where he studied. The hiring process has changed dramatically, as seen in the way a portfolio can open doors that a transcript cannot.
But here’s the sad truth: Singapore’s education system and its labor market operate on slightly different timelines.
This program still sorts students according to qualifications. The market is increasingly filtering them by skills. The firms now following, in finance, transportation, and retail, are playing equally in a game where the rules are still being written.
But that doesn’t mean your degree is worthless—it’s not enough, as nearly 80% of job vacancies don’t consider your educational qualifications when hiring.
What you can do is start caring more than what you have learned. A workforce that understands this difference—and invests appropriately in skills that are clearly transferable to the job itself—will define the next decade of Singapore’s economy.
The door is still there, but it is no longer the only way in.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Singapore businesses here.
Read Also: GDP is growing—so why does it feel like “no jobs everywhere” in Singapore?
Featured Image Credit: Stock
