In an effort to measure hiring potential across the Middle East and North Africa, Bayt.com - the Middle East’s #1 Job Site – and YouGov – global online market research company – conducted the latest Middle East Job Index Survey. Results from the survey have revealed that, in the Levant,62% of employers plan to hire within the next year. Even more in Jordan specifically, nearly two thirds (65%) of employers are planning to hire within the next year.
Hiring in the Next Three and12 Months
Within the next three months, just over half (51%) of all Levant employers are planning to hire. In Jordan,56% of employers said that they are “definitely” or “probably” going to hire.
Among companies in Jordan that plan to hire within the next three months, over half (53%) are going to hire for a “Junior Executive”, followed by23% who intend to hire a “Coordinator”, and22% intend to hire an “Executive”. When it comes to specific roles,14% of respondents said they are going to hire an “accountant”, followed by “Sales Manager”, “HR Manager”, “Customer Service Representative”, and “Administrative Assistant” (each at11%).
Certain sectors will be hiring more than others over the next three months. More than half (53%) of the private sector – small/medium local companies, as well as other private sector companies intend to hire, followed by private sector – large local companies (51%) and private sector – multinational companies (49%).
In terms of future hiring expectations, even more companies in Jordan (65%) are planning to hire. Private sector – multinational companies have the highest hiring intentions in a year’s time (67%) within the MENA region.
Among employers who were surveyed,70% claim that their company has hired new employees in the past12 months. In fact,46% of employers claim that new hires at their companies were made within the past three months.
“In Jordan, the hiring forecast points to a promising job market, with nearly two thirds of employers in Jordan planning to hire within the next year and more than one in two planning to hire within three months,” said Suhail Masri, VP of Employer Solutions, Bayt.com. “We have also seen that more than a third (34%) of those planning to hire in Jordan within three months are looking to hire for more than five job roles. At Bayt.com, these findings come as no surprise to us: there are more than10,000 jobs posted on Bayt.com on any given day and thousands of additional vacancies are filled through our CV Search tool. Our mission is to continue working very closely with the region’s employers to help them find talent. We are also always enhancing and developing our tools and information that empower and support job seekers on their journey to finding the ideal jobs.”
Qualifications and Skills in Demand
When it comes to academic qualification, a large number of employers in Jordan are looking for Business Management Graduation/Post Graduation (28%), followed by Information Technology Graduation/Post Graduation (17%), Engineering Graduation/Post Graduation (16%) and Administrative Qualifications (16%).
In terms of skills in high demand, more than three quarters (78%) of employers in Jordan are looking for candidates that have “Good Communication Skills – Arabic and English”, followed by “team players/ cooperative/ helpful/ flexible” candidates (48%) and those with the “ability to work under pressure” (47%).
When employers in Jordan look for experience,36% of them said that they look for candidates with good “managerial” experience – “ability to manage a team”,27% look for “mid-level experience (3 to7 years), and another27% are looking for candidates with “sales and marketing experience”.
Masri adds: “We encourage companies and organizations to use Bayt.com features, including our CV Search and Job Postings, when looking to hire new employees. Our tools and database of nearly30 million CVs can help employers meet their hiring needs and ensure that they fill their vacancies as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.”
Attractiveness of job market and industry
The industries emerging as the ones attracting/retaining top talent in Jordan include Real Banking/Finance (39%), Education/Academia (28%) and Healthcare/Medical Services (24%). When it came to industries attracting/retaining top Graduate talent in Jordan, more than a third of respondents (38%) said Banking/Finance, this was followed by Education/Academia (27%) and IT/ Internet/E-Commerce (26%).
When it came to industries attracting/retaining the top National talent, a similar trend was highlighted: Banking/Finance (42%) came first followed by Education/Academia (25%), Advertising/ Marketing/ Public Relations (24%), as well as Healthcare / Medical Services (24%). In addition, respondents said that industries attracting/retaining female talent are Banking/Finance (44%), Education/Academia (37%), and Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations (37%).
“Hiring expectancy is one of the most important areas to study in the MENA region as it can serve as a reflection on the state of the economy and general job availability,” said Anjali Chhabra, Senior Research Manager, YouGov. “ In addition to finding out the region’s hiring potential when looking at the job market, it is important to have insights on which skills, experience levels and academic qualifications are currently in high demand. With this information, job seekers can more strategically plan their efforts and search activities.”
Data for the Bayt.com Middle East Job Index survey was collected online between May19th and July19th,2017. Results are based on a sample of1,474 respondents from the following countries: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.