MENA,18 June2019: The2019 'Fresh Graduates in the Middle East and North Africa' survey, conducted by Bayt.com, the Middle East's leading career site, and market research agency YouGov, has found that, most MENA graduates (81%) were satisfied with the quality of higher education they received. Qualification of teachers, curriculum, teaching methods applied, quality of infrastructure, technology usage, and value for money paid, were also rated positively by MENA respondents.
65% of respondents say they’ve considered the job availability in the field they chose to major in prior to enrolment. At the same time, about two-thirds of respondents who are currently employed work in their field of study, while37% ended up working in a totally different field. The two most common fields of study pursued by respondents were engineering (17%) and accounting/finance (16%).
Jobs for Fresh Graduates
The most popular tool cited by fresh graduates for finding a job is online job sites. Moreover, the most important attribute for fresh graduates when selecting a job is said to be ‘the nature of the work/being passionate about the job’.
Most respondents (43%) feel that the biggest challenge they face in finding a job is not knowing how to approach the job search effectively. Lack of previous work experience (42%) is also considered an obstacle. That said, three in five respondents (60%) have managed to acquire work experience before or during college. Of these,43% worked for a period of up to six months.
Fresh graduates are also eager to travel abroad for employment purposes; about two-thirds of the respondents (67%) would consider relocating.
"The2019 Bayt.com Fresh Graduates are highly satisfied with their higher education and very much prefer using online job sites for entering the workforce and building their career,” said Omar Tahboub, General Manager of Bayt.com. “Our goal at Bayt.com is to arm these graduates with the right tools and information needed to thrive in today's ever-evolving employment sector. Entry-level candidates can easily utilize different tools on Bayt.com that are designed to build their CV, grow their skills and increase their professional knowledge. They can also apply to nearly20,000 jobs that are available on our site currently.”
Most Attractive Industries and Skills in Demand
According to the survey, in the MENA, the most appealing industries for fresh graduates from a career perspective are banking and finance (23%) and education and academia (19%). Business consultancy, business management and management consulting (18%) and engineering and design (17%) are also popular among fresh graduates.
When it comes to industries that seem to be hiring the highest number of fresh graduates, MENA respondents listed advertising/marketing (20%), followed by military/defense/police (20%), banking/finance (17%), and education/academia (13%).
According to39% of respondents, some industries employ fresh graduates because graduates have lower salary expectations. Another30% believes that certain industries hire more young graduates because they are compliant and willing to follow instructions.
In terms of skills required to excel in the workplace, respondents mentioned computer skills (59%) as the most important, followed by technical skills (34%), interpersonal/ team skills (34%) and linguistic skills (34%).
Fresh graduates in the MENA consider their skills in communications (42%), computer (43%), academic and technical skills (49%), problem-solving and analytical thinking (50%), negotiation (47%), leadership (46%) and linguistics (46%) to be ‘good’. Moreover, they consider themselves to have 'very good' interpersonal and team playing skills (57%), and flexibility and adaptability to change (51%).
Kerry McLaren at YouGov MENA said, “The2019 Bayt.com Fresh Graduates in the MENA survey shows that more and more employers are opening their doors to fresh graduates, presenting a significant shift in what employers need in these increasingly digital world. Our research reflects the preference of employers in hiring candidates who have already developed interpersonal and technological proficiencies despite being new to the workforce. And this can, in turn, help shape the future of employment across the MENA region."
Data for the2019 Bayt.com Fresh Graduates in the MENA survey was collected online from18th April2019 to13th May2019. Results are based on a sample of1,582 respondents from the following countries: UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, and others.