People – Russell Reynolds, Express Employment Professionals

Russell Reynolds Associates, a global leadership and executive search firm, announced that Ulrike Wieduwilt has been appointed country manager of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Singapore office. Wieduwilt has been with Russell Reynolds’ since 1999 and played a key role in developing its Shanghai, China,...

Australia – Country sheds 146,300 jobs amid impact of Covid lockdowns

Australia shed 146,300 jobs in August compared to July amid Covid lockdowns to a total of 13.0 million jobs, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday.

The data covered the first two weeks of August, which included the continued lockdown in New South Wales; new lockdowns in Victoria, Queensland...

India – Jobs and networking site apna announces USD 100 million funding round

Apna, a Bengaluru, India-based company that provides an app to enable workers to connect with jobs and network, announced a USD 100 million Series C funding round this week. The funding round values the company at USD 1.1 billion.

“These funds will be fuelling apna’s rocketship to accelerate our mission...

China – Renrui acquires two staffing firms

Renrui Human Resources Technology Holdings Ltd. (6919:HKG) agreed to acquire 51% stake in two China-based staffing providers.

It will pay RMB 47 million (USD 7.3 million) for a 51% stake in Jiangnan Finance Technology (Changzhou) Co. Ltd. The company provides staffing services in IT business process outsourcing...

India – Firm that matches job seekers and employers via WhatsApp raises USD 8 million (Entrepreneur)

Vahan, a platform that uses artificial intelligence to match job seekers and employers inside WhatsApp, raised USD 8 million in a Series A funding round, Entrepreneur reported. The funding round was led by Khosla Ventures. “Our goal is to ensure that previously underserved blue-collar workers get access...

India – Microsoft launches internship program, aims to impact 150,000 students

Microsoft launched a “Future Ready Talent” collaborative internship program in India for students in their second year of college and upward. It aims to impact more than 150,000 higher education students who will join the workforce between 2022 and 2024.

Registration for the internship program began...

Japan – Monstarlab acquiring Dubai-based executive search and talent assessment firm

Monstarlab, a Tokyo-based IT services firm, is acquiring ecap, a provider of executive search and talent assessment based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

“We are proud to have confirmed this acquisition of ecap, an organization that helped us to establish in the UAE back in 2019,” Monstarlab Group...

Japan – Recruit Holdings subsidiary Glassdoor acquires social network Fishbowl

Community site Glassdoor announced its acquisition of social network Fishbowl.

The transaction was made through Glassdoor’s parent company, Tokyo-based Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd., which acquired Glassdoor in 2018. The transaction closed in early September; financial terms were not disclosed.

The Fishbowl...

South Korea – Number of temp employees up 6.9% in August, jobless rate improves

The number of temporary employees in South Korea was 4.85 million in August 2021, up 6.9% when compared to the same period last year, according to data published by Statistics Korea.

When compared to the previous month, the number of temporary employees in South Korea fell slightly by 0.5% in August 2021....

Singapore – Job vacancies hit record high in June, unemployment rate inches up slightly

The number of job vacancies in Singapore rose to a record high in June 2021, according to data from the Ministry of Manpower.

The number of job vacancies was higher than the number of unemployed persons for the first time since March 2019.

The labour market improved in the first half of 2021 as resident...