“There’s gold in an oil degree” asserts the title of a recent Fortune article on CNNMoney.com which goes on to say that “newly-minted grads in the field are making a killing.’’ Engineers in general a recent Bayt.com month-long online poll has shown, are in top demand across the GCC. Overwhelmingly, employers in the Bayt.com poll have cited that top engineering talent is highly in demand and is difficult to come by in their countries of residence. The poll shows that from a regional employer perspective, engineering positions are significantly harder to fill than Marketing, PR, Sales, Human Resources, IT and Finance positions. Seasoned engineers across the GCC smile as they remember a previous Middle East boom in the 70s when the demand for their expertise was at record peaks and the regional universities couldn’t churn out enough engineering talent. The Middle East renaissance we are seeing today is more diversified with regional economies such as Qatar Bahrain Kuwait and the UAE enjoying a more diversified growth trajectory with a slew of emerging industries contributing to the phenomenal growth. However even with the emergence of the new regional financial services, healthcare, tourism and retail hubs the petroleum sector remains the main engine of growth in the region at large and demand for the latest talent and technologies in that sector is at record highs. Petroleum engineers are not the only engineers in demand in the Middle East though. The plethora of landmark real estate projects which show no signs of dwindling in scope or in number also require an influx of world-class talent which the regional education systems have thus far not been able to supply in full. Civil engineers, electric engineers, architects from the Middle East are increasingly finding themselves competing fiercely with seasoned professionals from overseas for the same positions as regional corporations struggle to find top talent for their ambitious projects. Bayt.com has seen a significant rise in the number of engineering jobs being advertised online in recent months and many of the leading jobsite’s top employers in the sector have announced ambitious expansion plans. Over 725 fresh engineering jobs were advertised on the Middle East''s #1 jobsite in the last month alone and that excludes the larger quantity of positions that are filled without ever being advertised, using the site''s database Search functionality (the Bayt.com team record a 70/30 ratio of Search/Posting recruitment solutions). Meanwhile new construction/property players continue to enter the market and the Bayt.com recruitment consultants attest that the demand for competitive engineering professionals with top pedigrees is reminiscent of another golden age, not too long ago.
