*Division of Information Studies, School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University,31 Nanyang Link Singapore

Transcription

1 A SURVEY OF NON-TRADITIONAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE PROFESSIONALS IN SINGAPORE Christopher Khoo, Gabriel Yeo, Christopher Yeung, Abdus Sattar Chaudhry & M. Shaheen Majid* Abstract This is a small study of the employment opportunities for information professionals in Singapore, focusing on jobs outside traditional libraries and information centers. Job advertisements appearing in the recruitment pages of the Straits Times (Singapore) newspaper over eight Saturdays in November and December 2004 were analyzed, to identify jobs that required some information handling component. Out of an estimated 2,300 jobs requiring at least a Bachelor s degree, 74 (3.2%) were found to be pure IT positions and 335 (14.6%) were non- IT positions in which information handling responsibilities comprised at least 25% of the duties. Additional analyses identified the industries with a higher number of information handling jobs, and the types of information handling skills, non-information skills and personal attributes sought by employers. Academic/professional qualifications required and the position level of the jobs were also examined. INTRODUCTION A study of the employment opportunities for information professionals in Singapore is being carried out, focusing on information jobs outside traditional libraries and information centers. The study has the following objectives: 1. To identify the main types of information and knowledge-intensive jobs currently available as well as those projected to be available over the next five years, and the corresponding types of information skills required; and 2. To conduct a market analysis of employment needs and employment trends related to information and knowledge management. The study involves an analysis of newspaper job advertisements, analysis of employment statistics obtained from published sources, an employer questionnaire survey, and interviews with alumni of the Division of Information Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The analysis of newspaper job advertisements and published employment statistics has been completed, but the employer questionnaire survey and alumni interviews are in progress. This paper reports the results of the analysis of newspaper job advertisements. Job advertisements appearing in the recruitment pages of the Straits Times (Singapore) newspaper over eight Saturdays in November and December 2004 were analyzed, to identify jobs that required some information handling component. Out of an estimated 2,300 jobs requiring at least a Bachelor s degree, 74 (3.2%) were found to be pure IT positions and 335 (14.6%) were positions in which information handling responsibilities comprised at least 25% of the job. *Division of Information Studies, School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University,31 Nanyang Link Singapore

2 We consider these positions to be part of the job market for information professionals, since they can be taken by information professionals with appropriate domain knowledge and work experience. Indeed, students entering the MSc in Information Studies program at Nanyang Technological University come from a wide spectrum of industries, professions and academic/professional backgrounds, and work in diverse disciplines after graduation. In this study, we seek to estimate how large the information job market is, and to identify the information handling skills that are in demand. LITERATURE REVIEW The steady growth of the job market in the information/knowledge sector over the past century is well-documented. In an influential piece of work, Machlup (1962) measured the percentage of the U.S. work force engaged in knowledge work in which the primary output is the distribution, creation and handling of information. He found a shift in employment patterns: from majority employment in manual work (mainly blue-collar and agricultural work) to majority employment in knowledge work (primarily white-collar). Machlup estimated that from 1900 to 1959, knowledge occupations grew from 10.7% of all employed persons to 31.6% of all employed persons. Machlup (1962) also observed a trend from occupations requiring less training to occupations requiring more training. He pointed to the succession of occupations clerical, administrative and managerial, and finally professional and technical occupations leading the growth in the knowledge sector. In his 1998 paper, Martin recognized this as a shift from occupations requiring mainly routine handling of information to occupations requiring non-routine handling of information, the latter requiring a higher level of training. The outcome was a trend from less to more highly trained information occupations. In a follow-up study to Machlup, Porat (1977) found that the major part of the U.S. economy and its national wealth, once based on manufacturing, now depended on information products and services. He discovered that the majority employment had shifted from manufacturing and agriculture to information goods and services. He documented a growth in information work from 7% of all employed persons in 1860 to 50.6% in He introduced the term information workers in place of Machlup s knowledge workers. Porat divided information jobs into five major categories: 1. Producers, including science and technical workers (e.g. scientists and system analysts), and private information service providers (e.g. lawyers, judges, accountants and auditors) 2. Distributors, including educators (e.g. teachers), public information disseminators (e.g. librarians), and communication workers (e.g. entertainers and designers) 3. Market search and coordination specialists, including information gatherers (e.g. interviewers and meter readers), search and coordination specialists (e.g. insurance agents and sales representatives), and planning and control workers (e.g. administrators) 4. Processors, including non-electronic processors (e.g. file clerks and secretaries), and electronic processors (e.g. bank tellers and typists) 5. Information machine operators, including non-electronic operators (e.g. stenographers), electronic operators (e.g. data entry operators and office machine repairmen), and telecommunication workers (e.g. telecom operators and telephone linemen). Adapting Porat s model, Kling (1990) divided information jobs into five strata corresponding to the different levels of training required: professional, semi-professional, supervisory and upper-level 2

3 sales, clerical and blue-collar occupations. He determined that all five levels of jobs had grown in the 1900 to 1980 period as a proportion of all employment. In a more recent study, Martin (1998) found that information jobs grew from 40.2% of all employment in 1970 to 45.8% in 1995, although the rate of growth slowed over time: from about 2% between 1970 and 1980, to 1% between 1980 and 1990, and to 0.11% in the last five years. Jobs which handled information in non-routine ways were growing faster than jobs involving routine information handling. The latter jobs declined from 60% of all information work in 1970 to 52% in 1995, while nonroutine information work grew from 40% to 48%. Producers increased from 17.6% in 1970 to 25.1% in 1995, higher trained market search and coordination specialists increased from 8.5% to 9.5%, while distributors stayed at a constant level. On the other hand, processors decreased from 38.5% to 31.7%, and information machine operators decreased from 6.9% to 4.9%, while lesser trained market search and coordination specialists remained at a constant level. Our study does not intend to chart the whole information sector as defined by Machlup and Porat. Our purpose is to estimate the size of the job market for information professionals, who leave library/information schools (LIS) equipped with generic information handling skills, not domain-specific information skills. For example, lawyers and accountants can be said to be engaged completely in information work. They will certainly benefit from generic information studies, but will require domainspecific information skills taught in a law school or an accountancy program. The literature suggests that there are many generic information jobs in the corporate sector, but the capability of information professionals to fill these jobs is often not recognized by employers. There is also a lack of recognition of the value of professional information handling in organizations. International information consultants interviewed by De Stricker and Oleson (2005, p. 26) noted that their profession was a mystery to clients, that their market reach continues to be plagued by a lack of understanding on the part of potential clients concerning the nature and value of an information professional's services, and it can be a challenge to convince new clients of the benefits inherent in [their] unique skill sets and to overcome arguments along the lines of With the Web, we don't have to worry about getting information. Marin and Poulter (2004) also found an absence or under representation of information professionals in competitive intelligence work in the U.S. In Singapore, there is a similar lack of recognition in the corporate sector of the need for professionally qualified information professionals to fill jobs requiring information handling skills. Kotler et al. (2003, p. 117) found that many firms in Asia lacked information sophistication. Many did not have a marketing research department, and the marketing research performed in some companies was limited to routine forecasting, sales analysis, and occasional surveys. Managers often complained of not knowing where critical information was located in the company, getting too much information they could not use and too little that they really needed, getting important information too late, and doubting the accuracy of the information. Company executives were performing information handling tasks without recognizing that information skills were needed to perform the tasks properly. Kotler et al. further noted that the need for professional information handling skills was often not acknowledged until major mistakes were made, after which an audit had to be conducted. Breen et al. (2002) surveyed 20 companies in the field of organizing online information and studied the curricula of LIS programs in the UK and Ireland. They found that while LIS graduates were being equipped with skills to become information/knowledge managers in the private sector, the stereotypical view of the librarian was a barrier to LIS graduates obtaining employment in the knowledge management sector. The librarians were perceived to be lacking, not in skill sets, but in personality and image. 3

4 It should be recognized, however, that domain-specific information skills not taught in generic LIS programs are needed in many non-traditional information jobs. Noorlander (2005) pointed out that a Wall Street trader selling new financial derivative products and the elementary school librarian both require and depend on information but have very different levels of use, require different kinds of information, have different timing requirements, and use different sources of information. There have been numerous studies of job advertisements for information-related positions. Most of the studies employ content analysis to identify the competencies and qualifications sought by employers. For example, Chaudhry and Komathi (2002) identified competencies for cataloguing positions, while Majid and Wong (2003) identified competencies for library as well as knowledge management professionals. Most of the studies were for positions in libraries and information centers, whereas our study focuses on jobs with substantial information-handling responsibilities outside libraries and information centers. ANALYSIS METHOD Job advertisements in the recruitment section of the Straits Times (Singapore), Saturday edition, were used in the study. In Singapore, the Straits Times is the main medium for organizations to advertise job vacancies and is regarded as the most comprehensive source of information for job seekers, and as such it reflects the current employment trends in Singapore. Job advertisements in the Straits Times contain information about the skills, experience and personal attributes that employers are looking for. We carried out content analysis of job advertisements for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), in which a Bachelor s degree is stated as required. The advertisements were taken from the Executive Appointments segment of the recruitment section over eight consecutive Saturdays in November and December Our reasons for selecting Saturdays in November and December are as follows: Saturday s edition of the Straits Times carries more job vacancies for PMETs than any other day of the week; an even distribution of job vacancies across industries is more likely than, say, in the middle of the year (May/June/July), when we expect openings to be skewed towards fresh graduates; employees are more likely to rethink their career options and look for new opportunities at the end of the year, especially after getting their annual bonuses. We estimated that there were a total of 2,300 job advertisements for executive appointments over these eight Saturdays. These advertisements came from companies in all industries and sectors in Singapore. Content analysis of each job advertisement was carried out. We looked for two categories of jobs: Information Technology (IT) positions non-it positions that required some information handling responsibilities. A subjective assessment of the Job Description/Scope/Responsibilities/Duties listed in each advertisement was made, and jobs in which information handling comprised at least 25% of the overall duties were included in our study. These two categories of jobs added up to 409, including a small number of repeat advertisements. There were 74 pure IT positions and 335 non-it positions in which information handling made up at least 25% of the job. Their details were recorded into a Microsoft Access database. Each job was coded with the following attributes, which were stored in separate database fields: Type of industry Degree of information handling responsibilities Type of information handling skills 4

5 Type of academic/professional qualifications & other (non-information) skills Position level Type of personal attributes. Type of Industry Company names were run through business directories to identify the businesses they were in and the industry to which they belonged. Online business directories were used as their company search functions proved to be most useful. An example is the E-guide, powered by Kellysearch, available at Degree of Information Handling Responsibilities The jobs were categorized into four TYPEs: TYPE 1 job non-it positions in which information handling responsibilities make up at least 75% of the job TYPE 2 job non-it positions with 50 to 75% information handling responsibilities TYPE 3 job non-it positions with 25 to 50% information handling responsibilities TYPE 4 job IT positions. This categorization compared the number of tasks that require information handling with the total number of tasks in the job, and was carried out by a graduate student (one of the authors) in the final semester of the MSc in Information Studies program at Nanyang Technological University, under the supervision of a faculty member. Type of Information Handling Skills The Job Description/Scope/Responsibilities/Duties section of each job advertisement was analyzed to identify the types of information handling skills needed. If a job description contained the line Manage (analysis, specifications and development of) user requests related to application, it was coded as needing the skill User Needs Analysis. If the job description read Identify and develop new business opportunity with current and new resellers, it was coded as needing the skill Environment Scanning. Type of Academic/Professional Qualifications & Other (Non-Information) Skills The required qualifications and skills were recorded e.g. a Business Administration Degree, the ability to use a particular computer programming language such as C++. It was realized, however, that these were too specific for further data analysis, and an additional field was added to code broader categories of qualifications and skills. For instance, Business Administration, Degree and Programming, C++ were generalized to Business and Programming, C. We ended up with a list of 179 academic/professional qualifications as well as 82 (mostly computer type) skills. Position Level The position level of the job was categorized based on the Job Title and the experience required as given in the Requirements/ Pre-Requisites section of the advertisement. Entry-level jobs referred to positions that required 1 to 2 years of working experience in the relevant sector or industry; Mid-level 5

6 referred to positions that required more than 2 years of working experience but did not hold senior level status or responsibilities; and Senior-level referred to positions that required more than 2 years of working experience and had job titles that reflect senior level status and responsibility, such as President, Director, Chief, Head, Manager or Consultant. Type of Personal Attributes These came from the Requirements/Pre-Requisites section of the advertisements, and 27 different personal attributes were found to be sought by employers. ANALYSIS OF THE JOB MARKET By Degree of Information Handling Responsibilities As explained earlier, the jobs were categorized into four TYPEs with different degrees of information handling responsibilities: 22 (1% of an estimated 2,300 executive job vacancies) were TYPE 1 jobs non-it jobs with information handling responsibilities comprising at least 75% of the job 173 (7.5%) were TYPE 2 jobs non-it jobs with 50 to 75% information handing responsibilities 140 (6.1%) were TYPE 3 jobs non-it jobs with 25 to 50% information handling responsibilities 74 (3.2%) were TYPE 4 jobs pure IT positions. TYPE 1 to 4 jobs accounted for 409 (17.8%) of the estimated 2,300 executive job vacancies. By Industry Job advertisements were posted by 187 companies which gave their names, eight anonymous ones which briefly described themselves, and eight completely unknown ones a total of 203. Table 1 groups the companies by industry sector, while Table 2 groups job vacancies by industry. The top four industries advertising jobs with information handling or IT skills were Trading, Information Technology, Consultancies, and Banking and Finance, accounting for 43% of companies and 47% of job vacancies. In a more detailed analysis, TYPE 1 jobs (with more than 75% information handling responsibilities) were concentrated, in descending order, in the Public Sector (Ministries and Statutory Boards), Education, Banking and Finance, and Transportation/Logistics industries. The Public Sector was also a major employer for TYPE 2 jobs (with 50 to 75% information handling responsibilities). Table 1. Companies by industry No. Industry No. of Companies % in Industry 1 Others Trading Information Technology Consultancies Banking and Finance Manufacturing

7 7 Education Communications (Telecom) Public Sector (Ministries, Stat boards) Transportation/ Logistics Healthcare and Medical Information Providers Publishers Food and Beverage Media (news, publications) Unknown companies Total % Table 2. Job Vacancies by Industry No. Industry No. of Job % Vacancies 1 Others Information Technology Banking and Finance Trading Consultancies Communications (Telecom) Public Sector (Ministries, Stat boards) Manufacturing Education Transportation/ Logistics Information Providers Healthcare and Medical Media (news, publications) Publishers Food and Beverage Unknown companies Total % By Information Handling Skills Analysis of the job advertisements yielded twenty information handling skills. The ten most desired skills (across industries) are tabulated in Table 3. The most sought after information skills are user needs analysis and information management. Each was required in more than 30% of the 409 jobs analyzed. Table 3. Top 10 Information Handling Skills No. Information Handling Skill No. of Jobs % requiring this Skill 1 User Needs Analysis Information Management System Design Business Intelligence Environment Scanning

8 6 Information Systems Management Competitive Intelligence Knowledge Management Information Searching Information Security By Academic/Professional Qualifications & Other (Non-Information) Skills A total of 179 academic/professional qualifications and 82 other (non-information) skills were listed in the job advertisements. The five most frequently mentioned qualifications for each TYPE of job are given in Table 4. The top ten non-information skills are given in Table 5. A degree in any discipline is acceptable for 23% of TYPE 1 and 22% of TYPE 2 jobs, 11% of TYPE 3 jobs, and 9% of TYPE 4 jobs. An LIS qualification is required in 27% of TYPE 1 jobs and 2% of TYPE 2 jobs. TYPE of Job TYPE 1 (>75% of job) TYPE 2 (50 to 75%) TYPE 3 (25 to 50%) TYPE 4 (IT job) Table 4. Top 5 Academic/Professional Qualifications for Each TYPE of Job No. Academic/Professional Qualification No. of Jobs Requiring this Qualification 1 Library & Information Science Degree (Any) Degree (Related) Accounting, Degree Diploma (Related) Degree (Related) Computer Science, Degree Degree (Any) Information Technology, Degree Business Administration, Degree Computer Science, Degree Degree (Related) Information Technology, Degree Degree (Any) Electronic Engineering, Degree Computer Science, Degree Degree (Related) Computer Engineering, Degree Electronic Engineering, Degree Electrical Engineering, Degree Table 5. Top 10 Non-Information Skills No. Non-Information Skill No. of Jobs % requiring this Skill 1 Programming Engineering % for TYPE of Job 8

9 3 Computer Science Systems Administration Program, Web Information Technology Program, Java Business Program, C Program, SQL By Position Level Of the 409 job vacancies in our study, there were 120 (29.3%) senior-level, 175 (42.8%) midlevel and 114 (27.9%) entry-level openings. Figure 1 shows the proportion of senior-, mid- and entry-level positions for the four TYPEs of jobs. There is a higher proportion of senior-level positions for TYPE 1 and 2 jobs compared to TYPE 3 and 4. The majority of TYPE 4 jobs (IT jobs) are mid-level. All 4 TYPEs TYPE 1 TYPE 2 TYPE 3 Senior Mid Entry TYPE 4 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Figure 1. Proportion of senior-, mid- and entry-level positions for the four TYPEs of jobs By Personal Attributes Out of 27 personal attributes mentioned in the job advertisements, the ten most sought after are given in Table 6, with communication, interpersonal and team work skills the top three. Table 6. Top 10 Personal Attributes No. Personal Attribute No. of Jobs requiring % this Attribute 1 Good Communication Skills Strong Interpersonal Skills

10 3 Team Player Self Motivated/Ambitious/Driven Analytical Independent/Resourceful Good Organizational Ability Work Well Under Pressure/In A Fast Paced Environment 9 Problem Solver Bilingual CONCLUSION This is a small study of the employment opportunities for information professionals in Singapore. Job advertisements appearing in the recruitment pages of the Straits Times (Singapore) newspaper over eight Saturdays in November and December 2004 were analyzed, to identify jobs that required at least some information handling component. Out of an estimated 2,300 jobs requiring at least a Bachelor s degree, 74 (3.2%) were found to be pure IT positions and 335 (14.6%) were non-it positions in which information handling responsibilities comprised at least 25% of the duties. Of these, 22 (1%) were non-it jobs with information handling responsibilities making up more than 75% of the duties. The top four industries recruiting people with information handling or IT skills were Trading, Information Technology, Consultancies, and Banking and Finance. However, the Public Sector (Ministries and Statutory Boards) and Education sector had the highest proportion of informationintensive jobs where information handling comprised more than 75% of the duties. The most sought after information handling skills were user needs analysis and information management. It should be noted that the information handling skills needed in industry may be somewhat different in nature from the generic skills taught in library and information schools, and job seekers will need to show evidence of domain or subject expertise. The most desired non-information skills were ITrelated skills. Personal attributes most often listed in job advertisements were communication, interpersonal and team work skills. We estimate that about half the TYPE 1 jobs (with more than 75% information handling responsibilities) and 20% of the TYPE 2 jobs (with 50 to 75% information handling responsibilities) can be taken by information professionals without additional domain-specific qualifications. This is not the case for TYPE 3 and TYPE 4 jobs, almost all of which require academic/professional qualifications in a subject area. This lends support to the view that LIS education should be provided at the graduate level and students should have subject-specific undergraduate education. Moreover, we found that a higher proportion of TYPE 1 jobs are senior-level positions not likely to be given to young LIS graduates. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful to Ms Liew Soon Kah for her careful checking and editorial work on this paper. REFERENCES Breen, C., Farragher, A., McQuaid, M., Callanan, M., & Burke, M.A. (2002). New information management opportunities in a changing world. Library Review, 51(3/4),

11 Chaudhry, A.S., & Komathi, N.C. (2002). Requirements for cataloguing positions in the electronic environment. Technical Service Quarterly, 19(1), De Stricker, U., & Oleson, A. J. (2005). Is management consulting for you? Searcher, 13(6), Kling, R. (1990). More information, better jobs?: Occupational stratification and labor-market segmentation in the United States information labor force. The Information Society, 7, Kotler, P., Ang, S.H., Siew, M.L., & Chin, T.T. (2003). Marketing management: An Asian perspective (3 rd ed.). Singapore: Prentice Hall. Machlup, F. (1962). The production and distribution of knowledge in the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Majid, S., & Wong, W.B. (2003). Competencies sought by information and knowledge employers: An analysis of job advertisements. Journal of Information & Knowledge Management, 2(3), Marin, J., & Poulter, A. (2004). Dissemination of competitive intelligence. Journal of Information Science, 30(2), Martin, S.B. (1998). Information technology, employment, and the information sector: Trends in information employment Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 49(12), Noorlander, W. (2005). What does information really mean? Information Outlook, 9(6), Porat, M. (1977). The information economy (Vol. 1-10). Washington, DC: Department of Commerce. 11