Academic qualifications and skills-based recruitment in the Public Service

Parliament Sitting: 4 Nov 2025

Ms Eileen Chong Pei Shan: To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) what are the percentages of Public Service jobs posted since January 2024 which (i) waive formal academic qualifications; and (ii) employ skills-based assessment as the primary hiring criterion; and (b) what specific measures, targets and timeline has the Public Service established to accelerate the adoption of skills-based hiring across agencies.

Written Reply by Mr Chan Chun Sing, Coordinating Minister for Public Services and Minister-in-charge of the Public Service

The Public Service supports skills-based hiring and has adopted a competency-based framework to guide key employment decisions, including recruitment. Agencies are guided to specify skills and competencies in their recruitment advertisements. If specific qualifications are required, their relevance should be indicated clearly.

We do not track the number of job postings that do or do not include formal academic requirements in their criteria. Certain jobs, such as those in specialised or technical fields like accountancy, engineering, and legal services, require candidates to have the relevant professional qualifications to perform their jobs effectively. In such cases, agencies would explain the need for such requirements.

Regardless of whether formal academic requirements are specified in the job advertisements, recruiters will consider candidates for all roles holistically based on their skills, competencies, work experience and alignment with the job’s requirements, and candidates may be put through assessments such as case studies and practical tasks.