Bayt.com, the Middle East’s number one job site, has announced that over4,300 unique visitors attended the first ever Lebanon Virtual Job Fair (VJF), which ran on the Bayt.com website between September7th and11th ,2009. The latest in a series of tremendously-successful virtual fairs recently held around the region, the Lebanon event was organized to help boost the country’s labor market. A fully-interactive online recruitment forum, VJF Lebanon2009 offered a convenient and stress-free venue for recruiters and job-hunters to network. Overall, Bayt.com recorded almost20,000 total views and received more than10,000 registrations for the event.
The seventh online job fair organized and hosted by Bayt.com, VJF Lebanon2009 was presented in cooperation with media partner, Al Balad, and enjoyed strong support from corporate sponsor, AWI Company Inc-AWI is a leading publisher of quality publications throughout the MENA region. More than114,000 job-seekers have now participated in Bayt.com’s VJF events across the Middle East and have benefited from its ground-breaking concept.
Bayt.com’s COO, Dany Farha, commented, “The excellent response to Lebanon’s first Virtual Job Fair is compelling evidence that the online job fair model provides a popular and uniquely-effective arena for both candidates and employers across this region. Despite the economic downturn, the caliber of employers that attended the Lebanon event indicates that the country’s job-seekers are in demand, and we are committed to continuing our efforts to support the growth and diversification of this country’s job market, as well as job markets across the Middle East.”
Bayt.com’s Virtual Job Fairs offer considerable advantages to both candidates and employers over traditional “brick and mortar” events. Those looking for work can submit their CVs to a variety of top companies quickly and easily Candidates have the option of applying immediately for new and existing jobs by submitting their CVs directly to employer booths, or they can upload their CVs to “CV drop” corners for the attention of a broader audience.
Many potential employees and employers at the Lebanon VJF took advantage of the opportunity to chat in real time via online or video chat services, exchanging information and establishing promising professional relationships.
‘’We are delighted to have taken part in the Bayt.com Lebanon Job Fair, a truly groundbreaking event and the first ever of its kind in Lebanon. Bayt.com prides itself on being the fastest easiest and most effective platform to recruit top talent and through the Virtual Job Fair we were indeed able to use cutting-edge technologies to successfully access Lebanon’s prime talent pool and hold conversations with them regarding current and future positions at Vision Group’’, stated Faisal al Jurdi, President & CEO of Vision Group.
At Bayt.com’s online job fairs, companies looking for new talent benefit from the opportunity to review the credentials of a large number of motivated candidates in a short period of time, without the need to visit a physical location. They can also share up-to-date background information in a variety of formats on a ‘free-to-download’ basis rather than through reams of brochures. As part of the Lebanon VJF, Bayt.com constructed animated3D “virtual booths” on the website for the different participating companies. The virtual booths, like physical job fairs, were branded with the exhibitors’ names and logos and provided access to a range of information about each company.
“Bayt.com’s Lebanon Virtual Job Fair was a very pleasing experience for our company,” said Hiba Al Ariss Lawand, Corporate Recruiter, AWI Company. “We found the online job fair model both effective and efficient. Bayt.com’s professional team guided and supported us from the preparation phase until the day of launch, enabling our company to maximize our corporate presence using the innovative online platform. We have seen outstanding results as a result of our participation at the VJF; in particular, we feel we have significantly increased awareness of our brand and we have made excellent progress toward filling the majority of our posted vacancies.”
The Virtual Job Fair model leverages technology to provide a more focused and convenient recruitment experience for job seekers and employers alike. Virtual fairs are open24/7 and can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection, providing professionals with complete confidentiality and the convenience of participating in the fair from the comfort of their home or office. As a result, VJFs save both time and money: no work-time is lost by physically attending or staffing a job fair, and both travel and logistical costs are largely eliminated. It is estimated that companies reduce their costs by70% when they attend an online job fair compared to a traditional job fair. A total of14 companies were represented at the Lebanon VJF, advertising over600 jobs.
‘’At Spinneys we are proud of the quality of our human capital and spare no resources in continuing to attract, engage and retain top talent. For this reason Bayt.com’s Lebanon Virtual Job Fair was an ideal platform for us in that it allowed us to reach out to Lebanon’s top talent pool, engage them in career conversations and screen then for exciting professional positions at Spinneys. Bayt.com lived up to its promise in being the fastest, easiest and most effective platform to recruit top talent in Lebanon”, stated Rita Eid, Regional Head of Human Resources at Spinneys.
The VJF has proven extremely popular with many employers at the forefront of the recruitment industry who recognize the benefits and importance of state-of-the-art employer branding activities. These companies see the value of utilizing advanced technologies to harness the power of the web and interact with premier talent on a real-time basis.
“Bayt.com has always offered an easy, fast and reliable way to connect with motivated, well-qualified candidates, and their online job fairs offer an intensified, highly-effective opportunity to step up our recruitment activities and showcase our company. We will definitely consider participating in future Virtual Job Fairs and we encourage other companies to participate as well”, added Hiba Al Ariss Lawand, Corporate Recruiter, AWI Company.
With the impact of the global financial crisis continuing to reverberate throughout the region, Bayt.com has redoubled its efforts to stimulate and support Middle Eastern job markets through initiatives such as the Virtual Job Fair series. Bayt.com is committed to enhancing its VJF model and to developing other innovative recruitment offerings, understanding that linking talented people with top-tier positions represents a vital step toward economic renewal.
“The Lebanon VJF, like its predecessors, demonstrated that the online job fair model is ideal for connecting job seekers and employers in the Middle East, an increasingly technologically-savvy business environment. It is clear that online recruitment has a critical role to play in today’s modern recruitment activities, given that it offers numerous advantages over traditional practices. Online recruitment straight-forward, fast and focused; it brings large numbers of motivated job-seekers together with companies that are actively recruiting, creating a win-win situation that is heightened by opportunities for people to interact, confidentially if they wish, in real-time. The online job fair also offers superior return on investment for employers. Bayt.com looks forward to enhancing its leadership role in the realm of online recruitment, and due to an overwhelmingly positive response in countries across the region, both job-seekers and employers can expect more Virtual Job Fairs and other pioneering online recruitment events in the coming months,” concluded Farha.