Singapore government looks to hire more private sector talent

Singapore’s public sector will look towards recruiting talent from the private sector as part of its efforts to become more agile and diverse, said Minister-in-charge of the Public Service Chan Chun Sing in an interview, according to The Straits Times. 

The end goal is to have “greater porosity” between the public sector and the outside world, said the minister, commenting on what the public service has learned from the pandemic, and its priorities moving forward. “It’s not a binary thing, where you are either in or out of the public service.”

According to the minister, the public sector is currently grappling with three forces.  First, the level of uncertainty in geopolitics, economics and society has increased due to the spread of COVID-19.

Second, external competition has also intensified, which means that Singapore has to re-examine its relevance to the world. Third, the population is becoming more diverse in terms of aspirations and perspectives, not just in terms of race or religion. 

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In response, the public service has to build resilience by staying agile, anticipate opportunities to stay ahead of the competition, and mobilise diversity when developing solutions, he said.