Three months have flown by quite swiftly - Bayt.com & YouGov Siraj’s Job Index in its 2nd wave (January 2010) is out, aiming to once again gauge perceptions of job availability and hiring, identify jobs and to provide an understanding of the key skill sets and qualifications that employers are looking for in talents across the Middle East today with the beginning of the year 2010. Reminder: “The Middle East Job Index” is calculated using 2 key indices, the JI (Job Index), and the HEI (Hiring Expectancy Index) - relying basically on 2 questions (from which the figures are derived): 1.Will you be hiring in the next 3 months wither for your organization/ clients- if you are in the recruitment / HR consultancy field? 2. Do you think you will be hiring in a year’s time from now either for your organization or for your clients- if you are in the recruitment / HR consultancy field? January2010 Highlights: 1. Vis- a- vis hiring expectancy- Overall: - Current: In the next 3 months, 27% of participating employers stated they are definitely hiring, 29% are probably be hiring, 8% are probably not hiring, 7% are definitely not hiring and 30% cannot yet tell if they are to hire or not. - Expected: In the next 12 months, 32% of participants stated they will definitely be hiring, 37% will probably be hiring, 6% will probably not be hiring, 4% will definitely not be hiring, and 22% cannot yet tell if they will be hiring or not. 2. Hiring Expectancy by Country: a. Current: (in the next 3 months) - Countries that are “definitely hiring”: Bahrain (43%), KSA (33%), Oman &Kuwait (29%) - Countries that are “probably hiring”: Lebanon & Oman (33%), Jordan (32%), Tunisia (31%) b. Future (in one year’s time) - Countries planning to “definitely hire”: KSA (40%), Oman (35%), Tunisia (33%) - Countries planning to “probably hire”: Jordan (46%), Syria (44%), Qatar & Algeria (40%)
3. Hiring Expectancy by Sector: a. Current: (in the next 3 months) - Sectors that are “definitely hiring”: Private Sector- MNC (32%), Private sector- Large Local Companies (30%) - Sectors that are “probably hiring”: Private sector – Large Local Companies & Small / Medium Companies (32%), Private Sector – Other (31%) b. Future (in one year’s time) - Sectors planning to “definitely hire”: Private sector - Large local companies (38%), Private sector- MNC (35%) - Sectors planning to “probably hire”: Private sector- Small/ Medium Local Companies (40%), Private sector- other (39%) Other JI Highlights: - In terms of numbers of jobs available: 44% of total employers said they have to fill in less than 5 jobs in the next 3 months (mostly in Lebanon at 61% and Oman & Syria at 50%) while 22 % are looking into filling 6 to 10 jobs (mostly in Bahrain at 36% and Jordan at 27%). - In terms of positions in demand: Positions that are most in demand are junior executive positions (30%), followed by executive positions (26%) and senior executive positions (24%)- Top management positions are the least sought by employers still: President (4%), VP (4%), Senior VP (3%). - In terms of education and academic qualifications: Education and academic qualifications that are most in demand by total employers are business management (24%), commerce (22%) and engineering (22%). Qualifications that are least in demand by employers are interior or fashion design (3%) and flight training / in flight crew (2%). - In terms of education and academic qualifications- by country: Oman, Lebanon and UAE employers are those seeking business management graduates the most (at 39%, 36%, and 30 % respectively), while Oman employers(again- at 29%), Qatar employers (at 27%) and Morocco & Kuwait ( at 26%) are mostly hunting for commerce graduates. - In terms of skills: 64% of total employers stated they look mostly for good communication skills (in both English and Arabic) in a candidate, followed by the ability to act as a team player – at 48% of the votes. - In terms of experience: 38% of employers stated they are ideally looking for candidates with managerial experience , while 29% are more interested in sales and marketing experience. - In terms of country of residence attractiveness: 44% of employers stated their country of residence is more attractive - to varying extents- as a job marker than its neighboring countries in the Middle East, while 14% stated it is equally attractive and 30% stated it is less attractive - to varying extents. - In terms of country of residence attractiveness- by country: 46% of UAE &KSA employers find their countries of residence much more attractive than neighboring countries, followed by Qatar employers at 38%. - In terms of industry attractiveness: 46% of employers find their industry more attractive- to varying extents- as a potential employer compared to other industries, while 25% of employers find it equally attractive and 37% find it less attractive- to varying extents. - In terms of most attractive industries: banking & finance still ranks first and is now joined by Telecommunications at 37% followed by Construction at 29% and Oil, gas & petrochemicals at 27%. The least attractive industries according to participating employers are Business Consultancy and Medical/ Health Services at 18%.
