Hong Kong, September 16, 2013 -- Cazar has just published a study on how companies in Asia Pacific region, hire their senior management. After an extensive analysis of 619 senior hires and 350,174 applicants, Cazar’s study breaks some myths and clears some misconceptions about recruitment channels of senior management.

The report (download link below) took into account more than 30 medium & large companies over a 15-month period between June 2012 to September 2013, across diverse sectors including retail, construction, banking, transport, IT, broadcast media and telecom. Vacancies for CxO job titles such as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, CIO, CFO, CSO; senior roles such as Director of Marketing, Financial Controller, Head of IT and similar job functions across departments were analyzed.

It is important to note that Asia Pacific is an extremely large, diverse, heterogeneous market, which is also fairly complex and fragmented comprising of more than 50 countries - each with its own work culture, languages, business practices, economies and regulations. Despite this, the findings on top-level management hires were surprisingly consistent across these countries.

The common belief is that recruiting senior management cannot be done online. On the contrary, Cazar’s study shows that senior candidates actually prefer to engage directly with employers online - much more than entry level or middle management candidates. Quality senior applicants also shied away from sending their CV to a generic application form, free job boards, public email address and preferred to engage with the employer directly via their career website.

While some may think that senior roles require executive talent recruitment agencies, Cazar’s study suggests that employers have become very proficient at finding top candidates online themselves. These companies present had a clear online recruitment strategy and the right tools. For example, companies with content rich corporate career websites alone, contributed to biggest source of senior hires at 38%. Similarly, candidates who applied to senior roles through professional networking, which is often done online, had a 37% chance of getting hired.

Highlights of the report:
-Senior candidates look for work online – more so than anyone else.
-Amongst companies with a good online strategy, an average vacancy generated an average of 274 applicants, while a senior job vacancy produced 566 applicants.
-The companies analysed got 98% of their applicants through an online channel.
-Recruiting from the corporate talent pool took 24 days on average, also the quickest and most cost effective while agencies took 71 days.


Building a talent pool is essential for employers looking to hire for senior positions. For instance, companies with a quality talent pool of previously qualified applicants hired 22% of their new senior recruits through it. A talent pool is also the quickest (24 days on average) and most cost-effective way of finding senior hires.

Companies in the study all had a comprehensive online recruitment strategy, a well designed, content-rich career website and an application process with role-relevant questions.

“There is a big shortage of senior professionals in Asia. The competition for talent is intensifying. It is not surprising that a significant number of candidates are now sourced online - it is the quickest and most effective method. In Singapore for example, many employers have a talent acquisition strategy that includes a career website, social media and other new candidate channels. Without it, hiring top local and expat talent efficiently would not be possible,” explains Stefan Sawh, Regional Director Asia Pacific, Cazar.

Cazar believes that with the huge growth in Asia, employers need to be even more effective with recruitment, especially for senior roles. For example, in Indonesia, thanks to overall economic growth, the outlook is good for local jobseekers, but a challenge for recruiters. The emergence of a new middle class in Indonesia is driving the luxury goods, retail and property sectors, which in turn has created a big boom in employment opportunities. The difficulty for local firms is to hire the people they need in time for opening.

The same is true in Malaysia, where the government is making efforts to diversify the economy through hi-tech zones like Cyber Jaya creating an unprecedented need for qualified professionals. Malaysia’s internal recruiters are now looking for a much wider range of skill sets from within the country and are moving away from traditional hiring methods.

Many employers are investing a lot in their recruitment functions and increasingly use optimized corporate career websites and social media for maximum-targeted reach. Such employers, who have a clear online recruitment strategy, often get a surplus of qualified senior candidates, which allows them to build a quality talent pool. Apparently, having a good talent pool should be every employer’s objective: the study confirms it is the most cost-efficient recruitment method for senior roles because it can drastically cut agency costs and slash hiring times by 50%.

To download the full report, infographics, ready to use artwork, design files for your print or online publication, please click here or copy-paste the below URL into your browser: http://www.cazar.com/media/1003/cazar_downloads.zip (No registration required)

About Cazar:
Over the past 10 years, Cazar’s Sniperhire platform has helped leading companies in the Middle East & Asia hire cost effectively and smartly.

With presence in Dubai, Adelaide, Hong Kong and Riyadh, Cazar (formerly The Hiring Solutions Company) allows blue-chip employers to reduce their time-to-hire cost-effectively. Through a unique solutions approach that combines technology, coaching and consulting, it automates every step of the corporate recruitment process. From requisition to on boarding, Cazar’s highly customizable, scalable, localized cloud based recruitment platform processes tens of millions of candidates each year for employers.

For more information, please visit www.cazar.com

For editorial inquires, interviews, quotes, high-resolution images, media kit or additional information please contact: Ariana Shahbazi, Marketing & Communications Director, D + 971 4 3063456, M + 971 55 270 9797, Online: www.cazar.com, Email: [email protected]

Contact:
Ariana Shahbazi
Cazar
Suite 1008, Prosperity Millennia Plaza
663 King's Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong
+ 971 4 3063456
[email protected]
http://www.cazar.com