The recent Bayt.com Skills Gap in the Middle East and North Africa survey, conducted by Bayt.com and YouGov, explores the skills employers are looking for across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), comparing them to skills in supply. The study covers aspects such as availability of new talent, what positions organizations are hiring for, which skills they rate as most important during recruitment, and which skills new talent lack most.
Across the MENA region, just over half (56%) of employers surveyed feel comfortable their company has sufficient skilled employees to achieve this year’s goals. Meanwhile, over1 in every4 surveyed employers (28%) are unsure, while16% feel their company does not have sufficient skilled employees to meet their goals.
Skills Demand in the MENA: What Are Employers Looking for?
Among employers looking to hire in the MENA, highest demand can be seen for entry-level positions (junior executives and executives, at52% and30%, respectively). A healthy10% of employers surveyed are currently searching for director-level candidates. While GCC employers show a greater need for senior executives, coordinators, and managers, the higher demand for entry-level positions was largely consistent across the region.
In terms of job roles, sales positions are most in demand (20% of employers say they’re looking for “Sales Executives” and16% say they’re looking for “Sales Managers”). Other in-demand positions are: project managers (15%); engineers (14% mechanical and13% electrical); accountants (12%); and administrative assistants (12%).
Results suggest that, aside from a couple of exceptions, demand for most positions is generally highest among GCC employers (being especially high for sales executives (25%) and project managers (19%)).
When asked to rate the importance of various skills when looking to hire for senior versus mid-level or junior positions, employers across the region have higher expectations of senior hires.
Collaboration/teamwork (88%), efficiency (87%), communication skills (85%), overall personality and demeanor (85%), leadership qualities (84%), the ability to work under pressure (84%) and planning/organizational skills (84%) are regarded as the most important attributes in a senior hire. These skills were also among the most valued for mid- to junior-level positions, however, to a lesser degree: efficiency (81%), communication skills (80%), collaboration/teamwork (80%), and the ability to work under pressure (79%).
The biggest gap in expectations between senior and mid-to-junior-level positions are seen for planning/organization skills (84% regarded it as important for senior level positions vs.70% for mid-to-junior level); relevant industry experience (78% for senior level positions vs.67% for mid-to-junior level); negotiation skills (78% for senior level positions vs.68% for mid-to-junior level); overall personality and demeanor (85% for senior level positions vs.75% for mid-to-junior level).
In terms of industries, engineering and design (11%) is most likely to be looking for skilled candidates this year.
Employers Have Their Say: What Skills Are Lacking?
Employer feedback in the survey suggests it can be challenging to find candidates with the required skill sets, with the difficulty being experienced for both senior and mid-to-junior-level positions.
When asked about the difficulty of finding specific skills in senior candidates, MENA employers said that creative thinking (63%), critical thinking and problem solving (63%), adaptability/managing multiple priorities (60%), international work experience (60%) and leadership skills (59%) were the top skills that candidates lack.
Interestingly, ‘technical skills’ are seen as posing the least challenge, with only50% finding these skills difficult to find in senior candidates.
Suhail Masri, Vice President of Employer Solutions, Bayt.com, said: “It is really interesting that the skills gap in the Middle East is not one of technical skills, but of soft skills. To add to the challenge, it’s much easier to assess and qualify a candidate based on his or her technical skills, as opposed to soft skills. At Bayt.com, we have been designing solutions to help employers find the most suitable talents and help job seekers highlight their non-technical skills for years, redefining the online recruitment landscape in the region. Over the past few years, the Bayt.com Specialties platform has evidently addressed an urgent need by our users to express their skills and expertise beyond the confines of the CV document. It empowers professionals to tell the stories that go far beyond a CV, while also helping employers discover these stories, and learn what these professionals are really all about. Often, the classic markers of competence, such as work history, education, credentials, and the like, are not the only pointers to professional leadership. It is well-thought-out, intelligent and original content related to areas of interest and expertise that can make people shine. That’s what Bayt.com Specialties is all about: helping professionals, at all career levels and in all industries and roles, to highlight their unique abilities and truly shine.”
Masri continued: “Another product we have that helps employers assess soft skills is Bayt.com Tests. Job seekers can choose from over a hundred tests designed by experts and showcase their results on their CVs. These tests cover a wide array of topics, from EQ to negotiation skills to business communication.”
Job Seekers in Qatar: What They’re Looking for
Banking/Finance (22%), Business Consultancy/Business Management/Management (21%), Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations (21%), Engineering/Design (20%) and Oil/Gas & Petrochemicals (19%) emerged as the most popular industries with job seekers in Qatar. Most of them are looking for mid-career or junior positions (80%):42% were looking for Executive positions,29% for Senior Executive positions, and38% for Junior Executive positions. A smaller proportion was looking for more specialized or senior positions (22% and7% were searching for Analyst and Director positions, respectively).
When respondents seeking senior positions in Qatar are asked about the skills they possess, they rated ‘efficiency’, ‘overall personality and demeanor’, ‘adaptability / managing multiple priorities, ‘planning / organizational skills’ and ‘critical thinking & problem solving’ as their strongest skills (98% each).
Meanwhile, when those looking for junior-to-mid-level positions were asked about the skills they possess, they rated ‘collaboration/teamwork’ as their strongest skill (97%), followed by ‘creative thinking’ (95%).
Despite their generally positive view of their own skill level, almost half of the job seekers surveyed in Qatar find it difficult to secure a job with their current skills (48%), with11% claiming it is ‘very difficult’. Job seekers also rated the importance of various skills in improving their chances of finding a job. Most candidates looking for senior positions place both ‘technical skills’ and ‘efficiency’ equally at the top of their list (89%). Whereas, those looking for mid-level/junior positions believe that ‘ability to work under pressure’ (93%) followed by ‘communication skills’, ‘collaboration/teamwork’ and ‘efficiency’ (89% each) are the most important skills that will improve their chances of finding a job.
In order to keep their skills current, job seekers in Qatar are committed to self-improvement and rated reading articles and journals (65%), reading books (54%), taking online courses (46%) and researching industry best practices (43%) and as the most popular methods to achieve this.
“In today’s dynamic and ever-evolving job market, candidates need to be constantly looking for new ways to enhance their skills in order to differentiate themselves, optimize their profile and effectively navigate complex work environments,” said Joao Neves, Senior Research Director, YouGov.
“Ideally, to maximize the impact of their efforts, industry leaders, educational institutions and governments should work together to provide job seekers with clear guidance on future growth areas in the region and most desirable skills to succeed.”
The Skills Gap in the Middle East: Perceptions and Solutions
Although the large majority of job seekers (80%) are very committed to continuously acquiring new skills, over half (55%) of MENA respondents still feel that there is a clear skills gap in the region. Evidence shows that it is challenging for employers across the MENA region to find candidates with the required skills. This difficulty is especially accentuated when recruiting for senior positions, with over two-thirds (70%) of respondents claiming they find it either ‘very difficult’ or ‘difficult’ to find candidates with the required skills. The situation seems to be slightly easier when recruiting for junior positions, although almost half (49%) of the employers surveyed still rated the hiring process as ‘very difficult’ or ‘difficult’. Currently, a little over half (56%) of the employers surveyed in the MENA felt comfortable that their company had sufficient skilled employees to achieve this year’s goals.
Across the region, when respondents were asked to select the main reason why they felt job seekers have difficulties in finding jobs matching their skills, the fact that ‘job seekers do not know what employers are looking for’ (34%) and that ‘educational institutions do not teach students the skills they need to enter the job market’ (22%) topped the list. When looking at country-specific responses, results suggest ‘job seekers not knowing what skills employers are looking for’ is more of an issue in the UAE (42%) and Qatar (42%), while those in Egypt were the most likely to claim that ‘educational institutions do not teach students the skills they need to enter the job market’ (30%).
When asked about the best solutions for the perceived skills gap, respondents across the MENA listed that ‘companies should provide enough training opportunities to employees’ (42%); ‘companies, educational institutions and governments should work together to predict future skills needs’ (40%); and ‘companies and educational institutions should work together to provide students with the skills they need to enter the job market’ (39%) as the most ideal solutions.
Masri concluded: “It is a compelling and fundamental issue nowadays for job seekers to be able to ensure their prominence with the right set of skills for their target job. Employer consideration of both online and offline skills is rapidly expanding, and here, at Bayt.com, it’s a part of our mission to empower jobseekers with the right tools to achieve their career goals and to ensure employers that our number1 site offers unparalleled services to train employees and help them reach their full potential at the workplace.”
A total of5,345 interviews were conducted for this study. For the report, analysis was split across two main stakeholder groups, namely, those working (full-time or part-time), involved in hiring decisions for their company and whose companies are currently hiring (referred in the report as ‘Employers’), and those ‘actively’ or ‘passively’ seeking for a job (referred to in the report as ‘Job Seekers’). All interviews were conducted online via Bayt.com’s database between March3rd and March22nd,2016.62% of the respondents were GCC residents, one-quarter (27%) were from North Africa, and the remainder from the Levant (11%).