Finding a job is a highly competitive process. It is not easy. It needs your work and commitment. Very rarely do we hear stories of people having a job handed over to them as soon as they graduate and with minimum effort on their behalf. That almost never happens. After all, they say finding a job is a full time job. Whether you are looking for a job in Kuwait City, Dubai, Jeddah, Amman, or Cairo, you will need to know what challenges are faced by job seekers in the region and how they over come them.
Here are a few more highlights from a new poll by Bayt.com, the Middle East’s leading career site, titled Job Search Challenges in the Middle East and North Africa:
1. Online job sites when the race
It is truly noteworthy that online job sites, including Bayt.com, continue to be more popular and more frequently used than the rest of job search tools in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The poll revealed that the vast majority of people in the region use online job sites to look for jobs (36.8%). This is followed by company social media pages (11.9%); company websites (4.7%); personal networking (3.1%); newspapers and magazines (2.2%); and “Other” (5.6%). Nearly a third of respondents claim to use “All of the above” methods during their job hunt.
2. Smartphones play a bigger role
It is incontestable that smartphones have become an inseparable part of our daily activities. Even when it comes to job hunting and career planning, smartphones are extremely useful. 85.1% of job seekers use their smartphones as part of their job search. Nearly half of respondents use smartphones for browsing jobs online. Others use their smartphones for filling out applications, networking, and creating their CV and cover letter. For this purpose, Bayt.com has revamped its mobile app and made it even more engaging, interactive and easy to use. Today, not only can you apply for jobs directly from the app, but you can also get powerful insights into who has viewed your CV and the keywords they have used to find you.
3. Devoting enough time and effort
The poll revealed that there’s certainly no deficit in commitment when it comes to investing the time and effort into the job search. More than half (51.7%) of the respondents spend between one and four hours per day looking for jobs, while nearly one third (28.9%) spend more than four hours per day on the search. Job seekers on Bayt.com have the opportunity to explore numerous tools that are beyond CV writing. Job seekers can access salary reports, research reports, career articles, and numerous learning opportunities.
4. Networking that doesn’t fail
A large majority (91%) of MENA professionals agree that networking plays a key role in the job search, with more than one quarter (28.5%) stating that they “strongly agree”. Whether they’re connecting with other professionals via smartphones, social media, or online job sites, respondents undoubtedly see the importance of this particular method. For job seekers, Bayt.com Specialties made it possible to grow their career by building a professional online presence. Job seekers can easily access Specialties anytime, anywhere to network with like-minded professionals, but also create meaningful content in their areas of expertise and showcase it to an audience that has the potential to impact their careers.
5. Acknowledging the obstacles
There are certain factors that contribute to job search challenges in the MENA. Three quarters (75.2%) of respondents agree that their geographical location affects their employment opportunities, and for nearly one third (31.7%) of respondents, a shortage of jobs in the market is the largest barrier to landing a job. Additionally, one fifth (20.1%) think that job seekers lack the necessary skills that employers are looking for. In order to make their job search less challenging, more than one third (37.3%) of MENA professionals say that they need support in locating more relevant job opportunities, while another third (36.2%) think that they need support in creating a CV and a public profile.
As the Middle East continues to be plagued by one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, Bayt.com multiplies its effort to find more and more opportunities for job seekers. Bayt.com collaborates with many universities and local government entities around the Middle East to tackle these challenges today, and we are constantly conducting polls and speaking to our members to understand how we can improve our tools to better connect them with companies.
Click here to view the full infographic.
