Signs that the global recession is easing were supported by a survey that found 29% of telecom firms are looking to hire immediately while another 31% plan to hire within the next six to 12 months. Just 21% of the respondents indicated that they were definitely not hiring in the next six to 12 months. Eighteen percent were uncertain (see Chart 1).

"We are certainly hearing about pockets of positive news, and our feeling is that if the current rally of the markets rolls through to January, we will be seeing an interesting H1 with a lot more companies looking to aggressively ramp up," said Chris Baker, managing director for Asia Pacific at recruiter RP International, which specializes in telecoms.

"Until then we believe that companies will still be open to looking at up-skilling and hiring high-caliber individuals who can run a larger portfolio of responsibilities and help them build out of the downturn. Particularly in the area of sales so they are ready for the upturn," he said.

Despite record unemployment in most countries, almost 60% of the executives said they are facing difficulties finding people with the right skills. The vast majority indicated that the problem was due to candidates lacking the correct mix of skills (see Chart 2 below).

CSL EVP of HR Wilson Hon told Telecom Asia that the Hong Kong operator was indeed having difficultly finding people with the skill sets it requires. "Salary expectations have not been lowered for candidates with the correct skill sets.  We have a medium- to long-term plan to develop and groom people with the skills we need."

About half of executives found too few candidates. Almost a third of those hiring said they lacked the budget to hire the talent they were searching for. Some 20% said there were too few candidates while a quarter said the applicants were too demanding.

The online survey was conducted last month by Telecom Asia and Robert Walters, a professional recruitment consultancy. Sixty-one percent of the 122 telecom executives who participated said they have input in the hiring process. Some 45% of the respondents work for firms with more than 500 employees and 30% were with companies employing 100-500 staff. Just over 70% of the firms are telecom operators and 22% are equipment vendors.