The Best Cities To Work In Asia: Where To Work Once Covid-19 Is Over?

The lockdown mode won’t last forever. Many job seekers are already looking for companies within Asian top cities to chart a new path, and are prioritizing cities that offer employees health and safety, flexibility and opportunities for growth.

Some of the most innovative companies ranked in 2021 are in Asia-Pacific. China may remain a powerhouse for innovation with Tencent and Alibaba, but other countries such as India, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia are taking huge steps to attract top talent.

The sheer size of China and Asia’s hunger for technology means that more and more talents both from near and far, will continue to be attracted to work in Asia in search of opportunity.

If you are in search of greener pastures, here are the top 6 cities to work once Covid-19 is over.

1. Singapore

As an economic center, Singapore has always been successfully ranked as the best place to work in the world. Impressive infrastructure, access to amenities, low crime rates and a large international community helped the city-state cinch pole position in last year’s edition of the ECA International’s global liveability index, extending its 15-year run.

Overall, the Singapore job market has shown minor declines due to the coronavirus pandemic, but financial institutions are still moving forward and continuing to hire tech talent, according to eFinancial Careers Financial Services Tech Job Report.

Vacancies range from data analysts and rise in demand for finance-related data skills. It is clear that the city-state is continuously hiring for growth-oriented roles for international banks that have heavy footprints in Asia.

2. Hong Kong

One of the main draws of Hong Kong is the opportunity for career growth. Whether you are working in finance, trade or technology, these areas offer real growth and career opportunities.

Although Hong Kong has been caught up in waves and seen rivalling with Singapore as the premier Asian innovation hub, the city has seen a fresh boom in the fintech industry.

With its established and vibrant ecosystem, the city has enabled fintechs to innovate and develop, and expand to Greater China and beyond creating opportunities for top talent to land a job in a financial institution.

The fintech industry in Hong Kong is primed for growth as more companies play an integral part in economic recovery post-2021.

3. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

According to a LinkedIn report, due to the rapid rate of digitalisation and shift to online retail due to lockdowns, there are now new roles in e-commerce, cybersecurity, supply chain and marketing roles in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In 2020, Malaysia’s global attractiveness as a desired country for foreigners to relocate for work jumped by some 23 places to number 18, according to a study.

Kuala Lumpur also performs well in the Getting Settled Index (7th). This can be largely attributed to the ease of living in the city without speaking the local language and the relative low cost of living.

4. Pune, India

India’s key metro cities such as Pune, Bangalore and Chennai have placed them on a world map for tech talents looking to find key IT roles. The inclination towards moving to a digital future in the post-pandemic world has seen a steady rise of relevant tech jobs.

Close to Mumbai and nestled in between five majestic hills of the Sahyadri range, Pune a favourable option for tech professionals today is its ability to catch the spotlight as a developing IT hub.

With good quality of living, a robust tech infrastructure, pleasant climate and diverse job opportunities, Pune is a lucrative option for migration. Despite being in the shadow of Mumbai, there are tech talents who are willing to move to Pune. It also ranks at number 12 on the City Momentum Index globally.

5. Bangalore, India

In the last few years, Bangalore or Bengaluru as it’s currently called was among the top 14 leading global advanced manufacturing and robotics ecosystems, according to Startup Genome’s 2018 ranking.

Known as the Silicon Valley of India, it is not surprising to see the highest salary offered across top tech roles from AI to Data Science to Full Stack Developer roles.

The benefits of Bangalore’s infrastructure and abundance of resources has led many multinational corporations to follow suit and place their R&D centres in the city such as Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Tesco, Nokia, and Siemens.

It is even called the new “Shenzhen” due to it being called India’s software center and increasingly, the world’s.

There are abundant job opportunities as the ecosystem is the tech hub of Asia and more to be discovered as ideas, talent, investments and emerging unicorns become commonplace.

6. Chennai, India

Chennai has rightfully become India’s ‘SaaS capital’. The city has more than 650 SaaS start-ups and is currently spearheading its ‘product wave’.

Its employee-first culture and conservatism has earned its commitment of nurturing the best tech talent.

The government has invested in creating IT parks and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to capture the interest of top software companies to set their roots in the city that will attract the best talent.

In terms of mobility, the government is setting up bullet trains such as Chennai to Mysore offering high-speed transport and connecting several metros and cities which will result in many talents moving here and it being a potentially major IT hub in India.

These indispensable reasons have made the above top 6 cities the best place to look for a job in Asia.

If you are looking for a job in Asia’s best cities, feel free to reach out to us or browse our international database of jobs. As experts in hiring the top talent in major Asian markets, we can help you find the right fit.