Vendors Of The Year 2013

Posted on 03/01/2014

The Achieve Group was once again voted amongst Singapore’s top human resource firms in the annual Vendors of the Year 2013 award by Human Resources magazine. These are Achieve Group’s rankings in the following categories:

Here are some excerpts from the article based on an interview with Achieve Group CEO, Joshua Yim:

#9 in ‘Preferred Overall Recruitment Firms’

The “buoyant” labour market – as a result of good economic growth and foreign labour policies – has kept Achieve Group on its toes this year. The company, in particular, has worked on expanding its HR consulting team.

In view of the current business environment, there is a greater demand for our HR consulting services, as companies increasingly require the strategic deployment of initiatives to boost productivity in the workforce and enhance employee engagement in order to retain staff,” said Joshua.

He said the shortage of manpower, particularly for local and PR (permanent resident) workers, would carry on as a challenge in the year to come. “Looking at current market conditions, there will still be a very strong need for manpower acquisition and HR consulting services.” As the local economy continues to grow in the years to come, there will only be a greater demand for talents. Yim recognises the challenge will lie in competition for Singaporean and PR workers as a result of the limited talent pool.

#5 in ‘Preferred Recruitment Firms (Roles Under $5,000)’

This year, Achieve Group has moved up two places to claim fifth spot.

“We have been very conscientious in our service delivery, ensuring that we always provide great value in terms of our speed of delivery and the accuracy of our HR solutions to our customers,” said Joshua, adding it provided it with a strong reputation.

“Additionally, we have a stable team, with one of the lowest attrition rates in our industry. I believe this has helped us gain good traction in the market over the years.” The company, which specialises in talent acquisition and HR consulting, has grown “organically” over the years. However, greater market demand this year prompted it to grow rapidly, particularly in its HR consulting team.

He expects the manpower shortage in local and permanent resident talent to be a problem next year. “There will be even greater needs for talent acquisition compared with 2013.”

#8 in ‘Preferred Recruitment Firms (Roles $5,000 – $10,000)’

Joshua says there has been more demand for the company’s HR consulting services this year, as companies increasingly require strategic deployment of initiatives to boost productivity, engagement and to retain staff.

The company expanded its HR consulting team this year, and Yim said it had also worked with local government agencies to provide similar HR consultation work. “We have been on an expansion trajectory and moved to a new office space that is much larger to cater for greater growth ahead.” Yim said this year was a challenge for recruitment agencies specialising in the supply of foreign labour because of the policy changes.

“It will be the case of survival of the fittest – the bigger talent acquisition companies will survive and grow stronger, while the smaller ones will face difficulty due to the lack of economy of scale against a backdrop of escalating operating costs.”

Source : Human Resources, December 2013