Almost two in three (64 per cent) employers in the GCC plan to hire within the next year, while almost half are planning to hire within the next three months, a report said.

Meanwhile in the UAE, nearly seven in 10 (69 per cent) employers are planning to hire within the next year, added the latest Middle East Job Index Survey from Bayt.com, a leading job site in the Middle East and YouGov, a global online market research company.

In the UAE, more than one in two (51 per cent) employers said that they are “definitely” or “probably” going to hire.

Among UAE companies that plan to hire within the next three months, more than three in eight (38 per cent) are going to hire for a “junior executive”, followed by 30 per cent who intend to hire a “coordinator”, and 25 per cent who intend to hire a “manager”. When it comes to specific roles, 27 per cent of employers in the UAE said they are looking to hire a “sales executive”, while another 18 per cent are planning to hire an “administrative assistant”.

Certain sectors will be hiring more than others over the next three months. More than half (53 per cent) of the private sector – small/medium local companies, as well as other private sector companies intend to hire, followed by private sector – large local companies (51 per cent) and private sector – multinational companies (49 per cent).

In terms of future hiring expectations, even more companies in the UAE (69 per cent) are planning to hire. Private sector – multinational companies have the highest hiring intentions in a year’s time (67 per cent) within the Mena region.

Among employers who were surveyed, 75 per cent claim that their company has hired new employees in the past 12 months. In fact, 50 per cent of employers claim that new hires at their companies were made within the past three months.

“In the UAE, the hiring forecast shows a continuation of a strong job market, with nearly seven in 10 UAE employers planning to hire within the next year and more than one in two planning to hire within three months,” said Suhail Masri, VP of Employer Solutions, Bayt.com.

“We have also seen that more than a third (36 per cent) of those planning to hire in the UAE within three months are looking to hire for more than five job roles. At Bayt.com, these findings come as no surprise to us: there are more than 10,000 jobs posted on Bayt.com on any given day, nearly 3,000 of which are UAE-based. Our mission is to continue working very closely with the region’s employers to help them find talent. We also are always enhancing and developing our tools and information that empower and support job seekers on their journey to finding the ideal jobs.”

Qualifications and skills in demand

When it comes to academic qualification, a large number of UAE employers are looking for business management graduation/post graduation (33 per cent), followed by engineering graduation/post graduation (32 per cent) and commerce graduation/post graduation (25 per cent).

In terms of skills in high demand, more than half (53 per cent) of UAE employers are looking for candidates that are “team players/ cooperative/ helpful/ flexible”, followed by those with an “ability to work under pressure” (50 per cent), and “Good Communication Skills – Arabic and English” (47 per cent).

When UAE employers look for experience, 35 per cent of employers said that they look for candidates with good “managerial” experience – “ability to manage a team”, 32 per cent of employers look for “mid-level experience (3 to 7 years), and another 31 per cent are looking for candidates with “sales and marketing experience”.

Masri added: “We encourage companies and organizations to use Bayt.com features, including our CV Search and Job Postings, when looking to hire new employees. Our tools and database of nearly 30 million CVs can help employers meet their hiring needs and ensure that they fill their vacancies as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.”

Attractiveness of job market and industry

The majority of respondents in the UAE (67 per cent) feel that their country of residence is “more attractive” than other Mena countries as a job market. Almost half (49 per cent) of respondents also said that their industry is “more attractive” as a potential employer in comparison to other industries.

The industries emerging as the ones attracting/retaining top talent in the UAE include Real Estate/ Construction / Property Development (31 per cent), Banking/Finance (30 per cent), and Engineering/Design (25 per cent). When it came to industries attracting/retaining top Graduate talent in the UAE more than a third of respondents (35 per cent) said Banking/Finance, this was closely followed by Engineering/Design (33 per cent) and Business Consultancy/ Business Management/ Management Consulting (31 per cent).

When it came to industries attracting/retaining the top national talent, a similar trend was highlighted: banking/finance (34 per cent) came first followed by government/ civil service (32 per cent) and real estate / construction / property development (23 per cent). In addition, the majority of respondents said that industries attracting/retaining female talent are banking/finance (44 per cent), hospitality/recreation/entertainment (44 per cent), and advertising/marketing/public relations (42 per cent).

“Hiring expectancy is one of the most important areas to study in the Mena region as it can serve as a reflection on the state of the economy and general job availability,” said Anjali Chhabra, senior research manager, YouGov.

“In addition to finding out the region’s hiring potential when looking at the job market, it is important to have insights on which skills, experience levels and academic qualifications are currently in high demand. With this information, job seekers can more strategically plan their efforts and search activities.” – TradeArabia News Service