Our 2026 ASEAN Consumer & Business Pulse Survey, The Great Restructuring, conducted with Rakuten Insight, found that selective hiring was the most common hiring stance in all six markets surveyed. Depending on the market, between 32% and 47% of business leaders reported hiring selectively, compared with 7% to 16% who were expanding hiring.
Our APAC Workforce Whitepaper 2025, also developed with Rakuten Insight and covering more than 12,000 professionals across 12 markets, found considerable differences in career ambition, attitudes towards flexible work and the importance placed on purpose across the region.
Together, these findings point to an important reality. Employers are hiring selectively and the people they hope to attract are weighing very different priorities. Finding someone who can do the job is only part of the challenge. Understanding why the right person would choose to make the move matters just as much.
There Is No Single APAC Candidate
Technology and AI are making it easier to identify people with relevant experience. But knowing whether someone could do a role is different from understanding why they would want it.
Two professionals with similar experience may be motivated by very different things. One may be seeking greater responsibility, while another values stability at a particular stage of life. Others may be ready to change industries or take on something unfamiliar for the right opportunity.
In our work across the region, we see these differences from both sides of the hiring relationship. Employers are thinking carefully about where new talent can make the greatest difference, while professionals are considering what a move could mean for their careers and lives.
That perspective matters because an opportunity can look right on paper and still be wrong for the person. Likewise, a highly qualified candidate is not necessarily the right match for the organisation.
At Reeracoen, we see a consultative approach as the way to bring both sides into focus: the business need behind a vacancy and the person who might fill it. Listening carefully can reveal motivations and expectations that a CV or algorithm cannot fully capture.
-
Employers are hiring selectively, and candidates are weighing very different priorities. Better hiring depends on understanding both sides of the decision.
The Decision Behind Every Hire
For employers, attracting the right person means giving them enough clarity to make an informed choice. Candidates need to understand not only what a role requires, but what they could contribute and gain from it.
This is especially important across APAC, where the same opportunity can be viewed differently depending on the market and the individual. There is no universal formula for what makes a good opportunity compelling.
For many professionals, changing roles is a significant decision. For organisations, hiring can represent an equally important commitment to a new capability or direction.
The people and organisations who choose to take on those challenges deserve the credit for what follows. Our role is to support those decisions with the understanding and connections that help both sides move forward with greater confidence.
When the right match is made, its impact can extend beyond a single vacancy, creating new possibilities for the individual and the organisation around them. That positive cycle is one of the most meaningful outcomes recruitment can create.
Technology, data and AI will continue to make our industry more sophisticated. But at the centre of permanent recruitment will remain something deeply human: an organisation and a person deciding that the opportunity in front of them is worth the change.
Helping both sides understand that decision more clearly is what I believe permanent recruitment should ultimately enable.
