Top 12 MENA Recruitment Trends We Expect in 2015

10/02/2015
Today there is an unprecedented need to build workforce skills that support economic development and cope with evolving labor market needs in a period of profound and sustained restructuring. Organizations large and small are stressing the importance of anticipating future skills needs to ensure that education and training systems are suitably adapted and to avoid skills gaps, shortages and mismatches.
It is also widely recognized that occupations are evolving as industries undergo a profound restructuring, with some disappearing and new occupations emerging, demanding opportunities for continuous acquisition of new competences, with some competences more amenable to transfer between occupations than others.

The Bayt.com ‘Skills and Hiring Trends in the MENA’ poll sheds light on recruitment strategies of companies operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region today. Based on this poll and other recent studies, the Bayt.com experts list these 12 recruitment trends expected in 2015 in the MENA:
1. Freelancing
In the current recovering MENA job market, freelancing presents a host of opportunities for professionals to make extra money or even as a primary source of income. The Bayt.com ‘State of the Freelance Market in the MENA’ poll reveals that freelancing is considered by 75.2% of respondents to be a good option for someone living in the MENA. Another 69% say they would consider freelancing on a full-time basis, while 53% confirm that their company outsources work to freelancers as freelancers are cheaper to hire (30.4%), are more skilled and efficient (24.8%), and are better at delivering within tight deadlines (16.4%).
2. Flexitime
Professionals in the Bayt.com ‘Employee Motivation in the MENA Workplace’ survey were quite clear about their priorities: they want a better work-life balance. Whether it is to spend more time with family and friends or on sports and learning pursuits, a good work-life balance is repeatedly identified as the top motivating factor at work in the MENA. In 2015, achieving a good work-life balance will possibly be as simple as altering working arrangements to enable more flexibility. Possible new arrangements mentioned in the Bayt.com ‘Work-life Balance in the MENA’ poll include a work-from-home arrangement (10.4%), a flexitime arrangement with the same hours (22.7%), a flexitime arrangement with fewer hours (7.3%), or a part-time work arrangement (0.7%).
3. More career changes
The Bayt.com ‘Career Aspirations in the MENA’ survey has revealed that 7 in 10 respondents in the MENA region have set professional goals for themselves, with 26% having set professional goals for as far as the next 5 years. The most common of these goals are to get a higher salary (54%), to get a new job (53%), and to learn new skills (52%). 64% of respondents feel they deserve to work in a high level position, while 48% are prepared to move to another area of expertise or department to further their career, and 4 in 10 (43%) are prepared to move to another industry altogether as a next step in their career. The same survey has revealed that the most preferred industries in the MENA are the oil, gas and petrochemicals industry at 13%, followed by education, construction, banking and finance, and marketing/PR/advertising (all at 7%).
4. More mothers in workforce
More than half (55%) of working women in the MENA see a successful career as their main source of happiness, as per the Bayt.com ‘Status of Working Women in the Middle East’ survey. It’s clear that women in the region have come a very long way as successful professionals. The MENA workplace has become much more diversified as an increased number of women have made their presence felt in many industries and across all professions and career levels. Today the female workforce in the MENA has expanded with exponential strength, and with women feeling far more qualified and empowered in the workplace and 51% of surveyed women considering job offers to be made irrespective of gender, we expect even more women to enter the MENA workforce in 2015 and pave their way to the senior-most echelons of their organizations where already significant numbers of regional women have made their mark.
5. Online recruitment reigns supreme
The Bayt.com ‘Skills and Hiring Trends in the MENA’ poll has revealed that online hiring will be more important than ever before in 2015. In fact, 20.2% of employers in the MENA believe that leading online job sites, like Bayt.com, will be most widely used to source candidates this year. In parallel, 29.3% of respondents working in the HR field maintain that the recruitment of active candidates online will become the number one hiring trend of 2015. With a majority of employers sourcing talent on the internet, job seekers are advised to create searchable online profiles that stand out. The same poll shows that two of the most critical mistakes that job seekers make are having an incomplete online public profile (15.9%) and not having active online conversations (12%).
6. Personal branding is the new science
92% of respondents in the Bayt.com ‘Personal Branding in the MENA’ poll said that good personal online branding can help you grow in your career. Personal branding is very powerful because it sends a clear, consistent message about who you are and what you have to offer. A strong, authentic personal brand helps you become known for what you’re good at. It makes others able to say what your unique promise of value is once they see you or your name. Having a polished online presence is extremely important, especially when you know that 84% of MENA employers will take the time to research candidates online before making a final decision, as per the Bayt.com ‘Hiring Management in the MENA’ poll. Bayt.com offers one of the easiest ways to build a strong and authentic personal brand. With its People platform Bayt.com provides a unique avenue through which job seekers can brand themselves online by creating their own public profile for free, and then engage and connect with peers on Bayt.com Specialties, Bayt.com’s professional networking platform.
7. It’s all about transferable skills
In this era of high employment turnover and mobility, your transferable skills are the arsenal that ensures your marketability, increases your professional competitive advantage and eases your transition into any new role. No matter how specific, specialized and limited you may think your past or present role to be, you are likely to have a set of highly valuable skills that are transferable across workplaces and hence essential to your career success. According to the Bayt.com ‘Skills and Hiring Trends in the MENA’ poll, three of the top general skills sought in jobseekers in 2015 include problem-solving/analytical thinking (18.5%), creativity (14%), and leadership (13.3%).
8. Specialties boards are the new classroom
One of the most critical mistakes that job seekers make according to employers in the Bayt.com ‘Skills and Hiring Trends in the MENA’ poll is not having active online conversations. In 2015, job seekers will be offered a myriad of ways to share their views and knowledge, source feedback and discuss matters that affect their professional lives. Platforms such as Bayt.com Specialties enable professionals to get together, ask specific questions and obtain expert opinions and answers. Engaging in professional discussions on Bayt.com Specialties is a good way for employers to know more about you, beyond a traditional CV.
9. Employer training budgets and programs change
35.6% of respondents in the Bayt.com ‘Skills and Hiring Trends in the MENA’ poll think that there is a skills gap in some areas in their company. For 29%, a solution to building necessary expertise is simply by increasing training investments. Fortunately, 73.1% of them believe that their company’s project investment in training will increase in 2015. Other suggestions to bridge the skills gap include redeploying employees to roles where their skills are most needed (22.1%) and working closer –and earlier on– with universities on curricula (19.2%). In 2015, companies in the MENA are expected to help professionals in acquiring new skills via a combination of on-the-job experience (13.5%), formal internal training (21.9%), formal external training (16.5%), and by shadowing and observing others (9%).
10. Recruitment cycles shrink
According to the Bayt.com ‘Skills and Hiring Trends in the MENA’ poll, 48% of respondents responsible for hiring in the MENA admit that their company now takes 1 to 3 months to fill a vacant position. Most employers (32.9%) call up candidates to notify them about a hiring decision, with a further 30% notifying them via email.
11. More jobs from the SME sector
According to the last Bayt.com Middle East Job Index Survey, the region’s hiring outlook is looking quite positive for the coming year, with 70% of employers claiming to be either ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ hiring in the next 12 months. This will particularly be the case for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with the trend continuing from past waves with most employers planning to hire people for junior or middle-level executive positions. Unsurprisingly, the same survey reveals that significantly more in the GCC (57%) than in North Africa (26%) or Levant (22%) believe that their country of residence is more attractive as a job market in comparison to other countries in the region.
12. The democratization of salaries
61% of respondents in the 2014 Bayt.com MENA Salary Survey believe that salaries in the MENA are on the rise. This is considered to be due to inflation and the rising cost of living, as well as the economic growth some of these countries are witnessing, and pay rises in the public sector. Undoubtedly, employees feel short changed, and with an increase in the cost of living and a presumption other employers pay more, we may see significant churn over the next year as employers struggle to match employees expectations and ensure parity and fairness in pay structures. Sites such as bayt.com Salaries have ensured that salary figures for different roles and industries in the region are widely available and can be shared and discussed openly.

Fonte:http://blog.bayt.com/2015/02/top-12-mena-recruitment-trends-we-expect-in-2015/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=subscription&utm_campaign=jobseeker_digest_en

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