Around 95 per cent of Middle East professionals think that networking and maintaining relationships has been important to their career success, a report said.

More than half (50.2 per cent) of Mena respondents to have a career mentor, added the survey entitled “The Bayt.com Secrets of Career Success in the Mena” by Bayt.com, a leading career site in the Middle East.

Almost nine out of ten (88.8 per cent) Mena professionals think that taking risks has been important in their career success; while, nearly one-third (29.1 per cent) of respondents owe their career success mostly to hard work while far fewer chalk it up to intelligence (5.6 per cent) or luck (3.6 per cent).

When asked about the biggest career mistake that a professional can make, nearly one-fifth (17.9 per cent) of respondents said that poor ethics and integrity are most detrimental to one’s career. Other responses included neglecting to network (11.9 per cent), hiring poor performers (7.4 per cent), and not maintaining relationships (5.3 per cent).

“It’s great to see that the overwhelming majority of people (95 per cent!) said that networking and building relationships both have been important to their career success,” said Suhail Masri, VP Employer Solutions, Bayt.com.

“Over the past 16 years, we’ve been designing new ways to help professionals in the region forge valuable relationships and meet each other, and urging our members to make the best of their existing networks.

“This all started in the year 2000, when Bayt.com was created to connect between job seekers and employers, but evolved to include connecting together everyone on the career spectrum. Today, millions of people use Bayt.com Specialties to connect with industry peers, and millions of people have public profiles on Bayt.com People that could be used for online networking,” he added.

Aside from important career habits and skills, other elements of career success for Mena professionals have to do with their personal lives. The overwhelming majority (95.6 per cent) of respondents say that their family has been important to their career success and nearly the same proportion (93.6 per cent) say that exercise and physical fitness have also been important.

Education and learning, both prior to beginning a career as well as on the path to success, also seem to be important components. Nearly 9 in 10 (89.1 per cent) of Mena respondents think that their college education has been important to their career success and more than half continue to read books related to their career on either a daily basis (33.2 per cent) or on a weekly basis (20.3 per cent).

When asked about the best source of learning for career growth, responses were generally comparable. Poll results cited the following sources in order of importance: university courses or professional programs (16.3 per cent), online courses (10 per cent), books (9.6 per cent), career-specific internet sites (7.5 per cent), internet forums and discussion groups (7.1 per cent), industry conferences and forums (4.3 per cent), and business magazines and journals (2.7 per cent). Not surprisingly, the largest proportion of respondents (34.9 per cent) said that all of these sources are equally important in learning for career growth.

“It is interesting to note that nearly half of Mena professionals are driven at work by inspiration over desperation. People are willing to invest in themselves and their knowledge in a myriad of ways, and employers should take advantage of this fact by inspiring their employees through learning and training programs,” Masri added.

“At Bayt.com, as part of our steadfast commitment to building a strong, diversified workforce here in the region and meeting the talent demands of the future, we have, over the years, worked hand-in-hand with HR departments to help them devise an effective talent development strategy. Companies and professionals across the various industry and career spectrums work with Bayt.com’s career development products like Tests and Courses. They also partake in specialist discussions online on Bayt.com Specialties, greatly expanding their knowledge and the knowledge of others by sharing what they know.”

In terms of their end goals, more than one third (34.5 per cent) of Mena respondents say that their ultimate vision of success is being a true innovator, creator, or pioneer. More than one quarter (26 per cent) feel that working in a career they absolutely love is their ultimate vision of success, and only 5.6 per cent say that accumulating a large net worth or a high degree of wealth is the ultimate goal. – TradeArabia News Service