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Professional success 'key to hiring'

Dubai, January 31, 2012

About 24.3 per cent of managers in the region look for ‘professional success’ above all else in candidates, a recent poll conducted by Bayt.com showed.

The ‘Management Challenges in the Mena’ poll showed that employees, on the other hand, prioritise ‘open, respectful communications’ with their managers.

Team-playing skills were found to be second most important when hiring, with 22.1 percent of managers choosing a candidate who know how to work in a team over character (14.7 percent), general success (11.4 percent), technical skills (10.7 percent), communication skills (6.6 percent), leadership (5.5 percent) and academic success (4.7 percent).

The poll also showed that 79.7 percent of managers have no issues hiring colleagues who are more qualified than themselves.

The majority (62.9 percent) would hire a qualified candidate who is ‘very different’ – only 10.6 percent say that they will not do so. Mid-career employees are considered to be hardest to manage by 37.2 percent of respondents, though a close 34.4 percent believe that those at entry level are harder. 

Most managers (29.9 percent) claim that the most difficult aspect of their job is managing multicultural teams, though building trust and loyalty is also considered challenging by 24.8 percent, the figures showed.

The other areas that managers find challenging are motivating and inspiring teams (18.6 percent), encouraging open communications (16.2 percent), training and coaching (5.7 percent), and delegating adequately (4.8 percent).

“As is shown by the results of our poll, the diverse nationalities that make up the typical working environment in the Middle East can prove to be as challenging as it is culturally enriching,” said Amer Zureikat, VP sales at Bayt.com.

“Bayt.com offers a comprehensive selection of employment resources, guides and articles, all tailored for the Mena work culture. We also offer extensive listings for jobseekers and employers alike,” he said.

Almost half of respondents (44 percent) believe that micromanagement is essential, with only 14.4 percent thinking that it is a ‘very bad idea’. About 53.4 percent of managers believe that their delegation skills are just right. When it comes to underperformance, 47.9 percent state that they will fire an employee after several warnings, while 37.3 percent will dismiss after just one warning.

In terms of relationships, 71.5 percent of managers describe their relationships with their team as friendly; almost a quarter claim a more formal relationship, while 3.9 percent chose ‘fearful’ to describe their team interactions, the results showed.

Complementary to these figures, 68.2 percent of managers claim that they enjoy their position to a large extent.

As far as employees are concerned, the conduct they seek most from their manager is ‘open, respectful communications’, with 35.1 percent choosing this over other options. Also, 20 percent place stock in a good work environment; 16.6 percent want rewards and career progression; 13.4 percent want training and learning; 9.9 percent a good work-life balance and only 5 percent value long-term security.

Of those who responded to the poll, 42.1 percent believe that they have an ‘excellent’ manager – however, 31.1 percent describe their manager as having ‘poor management skills’, it showed.

Data for the Bayt.com ‘Management Challenges in the MENA’ poll was collected online from November 10 to December 30, with 10,754 respondents from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, KSA and the UAE. – TradeArabia News Service




Tags: UAE | Dubai | Bayt.com | Employees | Poll | Managers |

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