Online job sites are as the most common resource used for recruiting candidates for managerial positions in organizations in the UAE, according to a new report from Bayt.com, a leading job site in the Middle East.

In fact, 75 per cent of recruiters in the UAE agreed that online recruitment has facilitated the hiring process at their companies, said the survey, administered by Bayt.com and YouGov, a global pioneer in online market research.

Survey results indicated growing trends in online resource usage for recruiters in the UAE. According to the survey, respondents consider online job sites (47 per cent) to be the most effective source of recruitment for managerial roles across the UAE, followed by recruitment agencies (44 per cent) and their company’s internal network (33 per cent). For non-managerial roles, online job sites (27 per cent) remain the most popular, while employee referrals (22 per cent) emerge as the next most effective source of recruitment.

In addition to that, applicant tracking systems are used by 42 per cent of employers for managerial positions and 28 per cent for non-managerial positions.

More than four in five (86 per cent) respondents agree that online recruitment has facilitated the hiring process for managerial employees, including nearly half (47 per cent) who believe it has ‘greatly’ facilitated the hiring process. The same can be said for non-managerial employees (75 per cent), with two in five (31 per cent) respondents claiming it has ‘greatly’ facilitated the hiring process.

“With over 10,000 jobs available on Bayt.com on any given day, it comes as no surprise that the top method for recruiting candidates in the UAE is job sites,” said Suhail Masri, vice president Employer Solutions, Bayt.com.

“At Bayt.com, we have been working with organizations in the UAE large and small for almost 20 years, helping them recruit top talent. We have been listening to client feedback and improving our offering to improve recruitment efficiency.

“For example, many employers complement their Bayt.com CV Search tool with employment tests that verify the candidates’ skills. Likewise, online job sites have evidently helped prepare jobseekers to better execute the job hunt. In line with this, we at Bayt.com work with over 32,000,000 job seekers and 40,000 companies using advanced hiring technology to make the process smoother, less time consuming, and much more rewarding,” he added.

The job interview

For managerial and non-managerial candidates, interviews (69 per cent and 79 per cent respectively) are considered to be the most popular method in the hiring process, followed by second interviews (40 per cent and 43 per cent), background screening (40 per cent and 32 per cent), pre-employment tests (34 per cent and 42 per cent) and academic certificates (29 per cent and 36 per cent).

For the majority of companies, a typical job interview for both managerial candidates (72 per cent) and non-managerial candidates (64 per cent) lasts up to 30 minutes; and at a large majority of UAE organizations, potential candidates for both managerial roles (80 per cent) and non-managerial roles (68 per cent) will be interviewed by two or three different people throughout the hiring process.

The survey found that first impressions make a sizable difference in a job interview. More than half of respondents believe that first impressions matter ‘greatly’ in a job interview for both managerial (60 per cent) and non-managerial (49 per cent) candidates, 38 per cent said it matters ‘moderately’, while around one in 10 think that first impressions don’t matter.

The hiring decision

After interviews have been conducted, nine in 10 UAE companies need less than four weeks to make the hiring decision for both managerial (91 per cent) and non-managerial (89 per cent) roles – and over half (57 per cent and 55 per cent respectively) need less than two weeks. Additionally, over three quarters of UAE respondents claim that the hiring process for both managerial employees (74 per cent) and non-managerial employees (83 per cent) can last up to two months at their company, while 37 per cent and 49 per cent claim that it typically lasts less than one month.

According to the survey, the most popular way to inform a candidate that they have been selected for either a managerial position (68 per cent) or a non-managerial position (66 per cent) is via phone call, while email (65 per cent and 83 per cent respectively) is the most common way to inform a candidate if they have not been selected for the job.

In terms of improving the recruitment process, respondents looking for managerial candidates most commonly believe they would need added help from specialists for interviewing talent face-to-face (31 per cent), sourcing top talent CVs/profiles (29 per cent), and screening and filtering CVs/profiles (34 per cent). For non-managerial candidates, respondents most commonly believe they would need added help from specialists for interviewing talent face-to-face (40 per cent), comparing and benchmarking salaries (32 per cent), and sourcing top talent CVs/profiles (32 per cent).

The jobseeker perspective

The survey also gauged insights on the hiring process from the jobseeker perspective. It found that currently employed professionals were keen on using digital tools to find employment, as nearly two thirds (66 per cent) of respondents created online CVs/public profiles on top job sites during their most recent job hunt,46 per cent used a cover letter and 27 per cent used a professional CV writing service.

As for the journey from recruitment to hiring, 67 per cent of respondents had up to three different interviews before finding their current job and42 per cent had more than three interviews.

More than half (55 per cent) of respondents found their current job within three months, including a quarter (20 per cent) who found their job in less than one month. 44 per cent found their current job after more than three months of searching.

“The hiring practices survey is an important depiction of the region’s current techniques and tools that are used to facilitate hiring,” said, Nehal Jibouri, head of Custom Research Mena, YouGov.

“With a comprehensive overview of the hiring process, companies can better understand what works and how the process can be improved. Likewise, job seekers can gain a comprehension of what their job hunt journey could look like and what tools are available for them.” – TradeArabia News Service