Bayt.com, the Middle East’s number one job site, recently welcomed more than11,500 job seekers online to Jordan’s Virtual Job Fair - a first of its kind event in the country. Hosted on Bayt.com’s, website for five days between the19th and23rd October2008, the Bayt.com Virtual Job Fair offered both local and international employers and Jordan-based job seekers a convenient and hassle-free opportunity to interact, in an efficient and time-saving alternative for job seekers to explore potential job openings throughout Jordan and the Middle East region.
As part of the initiative, Bayt.com constructed animated3D “Virtual Booths” on the website for the different participating companies, which received approximately4,500 unique visits across the period of five-days. Virtual booths, same as in physical job fairs, were branded with the exhibitors’ names and logos and provided access to a wide range of information about all participating companies. Job seekers had the opportunity to submit their CVs immediately to the booths of their choice and directly apply to the advertised jobs; while job seekers and employers had the unique option of interacting in real time via online or video chat.
More than20 companies participated in the Virtual Job Fair, offering jobseekers employment opportunities across many industries and career levels. In total,400 offers of employment were placed as a result of the online event.
“People today are looking towards the internet to facilitate many aspects of their daily lives, and looking for employment is no exception. At Bayt.com we are committed to continually facilitating the process for employers to actively find, interact with, and recruit suitable job seekers; and for job seekers to easily find the newest and most exciting jobs in Jordan from some of the best employers locally and globally. With the fact that nearly a fifth of Jordan’s population use the internet – it makes it an excellent forum for facilitating the entire recruitment process,” commented Bayt.com’s Regional Manager, Fady Darwiche.
Participating in Jordan’s Virtual Job Fair were leading businesses in Jordan alongside regional heavyweights including Arab Bank, Jordan Ice Aerated Water Company / Pepsi Jordan, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s Ministry of Labour, Maktoob.com, Emirates Group and Extensya. Each of the participating companies enjoyed wide online exposure of their brands and a direct dialogue with prospective candidates. The fair included jobs in the Levantine countries of Jordan and Lebanon, in addition to Egypt and Morocco in North Africa, and Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, KSA and Kuwait in the Gulf.
Following Jordan’s Virtual Job Fair, Khalidah Al Khazaaleh, Group Human Resources and Administration Director, Maktoob Group said; “This is the first time that we take part in a virtual job fair and it certainly won’t be the last after the excellent response that we have received in terms of prospective candidates. It demonstrates how far the internet has come as a practical tool, and highlights Bayt.com’s sophistication in channelling this to benefit job seekers and employers alike.”
General Manager of4p's Integrated Marketing Communications, Hadi El Farra, commented; “It is my honour to participate in what I believe has helped us build the cornerstone of our company in the Jordanian market. Thank you Bayt.com for providing4p’s with a fifth p which is “partnership. “We value your efforts in helping us build our nest, under the skies of the ever-giving Jordan.”
“The Virtual Job Fair is such a splendid idea; it presents countless benefits to both job seekers & employers. The thing that is the most important is that one can actually get to participate to the job fair from the comfort and confidentiality of his home or office, which saves time, effort & money. I believe this job fair is absolutely cost effective. It is indeed wonderful that Bayt.com were the first to implement such a creative and much needed initiative”, added Lama Mazahreh, Staffing& OMD Supervisor, Pepsi, Jordan.
“By hosting an event such as this, we are creating the ideal forum for connecting job seekers and employers in Jordan’s increasingly technology-savvy business environment. Online recruitment has a fundamental role to play in the way that companies engage and recruit their staff today, and in holding this event, following a hugely effective version in the UAE, we are demonstrating that this is an effective process that could become widely adopted, for uniting potential employees with employers, by capitalizing on the sophistication of online recruitment through sites like Bayt.com,” concluded Darwiche.
For more information on Bayt.com’s recruitment events log on to www.bayt.com.