‘It’s a prediction problem’: Recruiter’s comment on Singaporean workers not being ‘hungrier’ than foreign workers gets more backlash

SINGAPORE: Recruiter Shulin Lee, founder of legal recruitment firm Aslant Legal, locked her Facebook profile last week after she attempted to extinguish strong reactions from netizens over her comments about Singaporean workers not being “hungrier” as foreign workers caused even more stir online.

Although some came to her defence, saying her comments reflected the realities of the job market, her remarks on CNA’s Deep Dive Podcast still drew backlash, which intensified after she said online that her comments appeared to have “hit a nerve” and “triggered” individuals.

Locking her Facebook profile, however, did little to stop the criticism, as backlash against her continued to grow this week.

Academic Donald Low joined the conversation as he shared a lengthy Facebook post on Tuesday (May 12), questioning whether recruiters are actually able to tell if those they are interviewing are “indeed highly motivated” or are “simply good at appearing to be very hungry or motivated.”

“How does she know? Or more precisely, how does a recruiter, an HR officer, a university admissions officer, etc., tell?”

According to him, at the point of recruitment, “it’s a prediction problem,” mostly guesswork when it comes to less measurable criteria such as worker motivation.

He further argued, “I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve asked people doing hiring or student admissions how they know that the people they’re recommending strongly (say for scholarships) are better than the average candidate, and their response has essentially been ‘we know.’ Hardly have I been shown data that their preferred candidates performed better than the average recruits a year or two later.”

Netizens who reacted to Mr Low’s post shared similar views, questioning how motivations like “hunger” aren’t exactly measurable.

On r/SingaporeRaw, one commenter who has a PhD in management said, “Recruitment has been studied very extensively in management. Many scientific studies show what to recruit for. And no, ‘hunger’ is not something that predicts good performance. Many of these recruiters are unqualified for their jobs and lack expertise.”

Another commenter went further, taking a jab at the hiring system, saying, “How are recruiters actually measuring hunger? Most interviews just reward people who know how to perform desperation for 45 minutes. If someone accepts worse hours, lower boundaries and vague progression, suddenly they are ‘hungry’. If a local asks basic questions about workload, pay or career path, suddenly they are “entitled”. The recruiter gets to make a confident vibes-based judgement, then faces almost no consequence when the hire turns out average. Very convenient system.” 

Meanwhile, a third pointed out how he’d seen “hungrier” people saying yes, then fail at everything and miss all the deadlines.

In related news, some Singaporeans have voiced frustration over being pulled in two directions: choosing to remain “hungry” or having kids. /TISG

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