The excitement and freshness of a new office still hangs in the air at Bayt's recently opened office in the Kuwait Free Trade Zone, but Rabea Ataya, CEO of Bayt.com, cheerfully says he feels right at home already. Akram Assaf, Bayt's Chief Technology Officer feels the same way and Mona Ataya, VP of Marketing at Bayt echoes the sentiments of her partners.
Bayt.com is today the unparalleled online recruitment leader in the Arab World. Bayt offers the faster, easier and more cost effective way to match regional jobs with top caliber candidates from the region and abroad.
The Kuwait office was recently set up to cater to the needs of an important job market in the Arab World. Specifically, Kuwait is a priority market for Bayt as it houses a large base of top caliber Jobseekers and Employers. Today Bayt's database of thousand's of job seekers and200+ leading corporations from Kuwait alone - is already the largest in the market. Employers have been quick to recognize and benefit from Bayt's unique recruiting services:
"Al-Ghanim Industries has been utilizing Bayt from the start and we found it to be an excellent mode in finding the right candidates. It's fast, easy and cost effective. I recommend it to all companies who are looking for ways to move up in the times via the Internet and ultimately speed up their recruitment process." Mr. Khaled El-Bagoury, Human Resources Manager Recruitment, Al-Ghanim Industries.
How has Bayt been able to anchor itself so quickly in Kuwait and why the instant ease and familiarity with the market? Because for these founders of Bayt, Kuwait holds a very special significance as the country where they were raised, educated, and for so many years, called home. Now, after pursuing successful careers across the Middle East, in Europe and the United States, this group of entrepreneurs have come back to bring their talent and expertise to the place which acted as a launching pad for them as young adults.
Rabea Ataya states that his upbringing and education in Kuwait prepared him for his university years and the career that followed. After graduating from The American School Kuwait High School, Ataya went on to Stanford University and worked as an investment banker before he returned to the Middle East. Since taking the helm as the CEO of Bayt.com, he has steered the company into the impressive position of the leading career site in the Arab World and is especially excited about ways in which Bayt can support the Kuwaiti job market. "Bayt.com's functionality has been designed precisely to meet the needs of a job market such as Kuwait's, where the criteria for employment are often extremely specific," says Ataya. "Bayt.com enables employers to reach the highest caliber and diversity of candidates from the region and abroad. Bayt essentially galvanizes the largest number of professionals interested in working in Kuwait under one roof - so that employers and job seekers can connect faster and easier. Through unique technology Bayt is able to deliver recruitment tools such as sophisticated searching, filtering and screening of candidates which is unmatched by any other employment tool in the Arab World," he continues.
Another founder of Bayt.com is Akram Assaf. As a high school student in Kuwait, Akram distinguished himself early, graduating amongst the top50 high school students in the country and going on to study Computer Science in Jordan's leading university, where he also graduated in the top10. After a stint at Anderson Consulting, Assaf joined Oracle and within only2 years, he was voted Middle Eastern Consultant of the Year at age26. Now as Chief Technology Officer at Bayt, he recognizes the role that his upbringing in Kuwait played in laying the foundation for his success and is especially enthusiastic about the part that Bayt has to play in sup porting a new generation of Kuwaiti youth as they embark on their careers.
A perfect example of how Bayt is contributing to the local job market is Mona Hajjaj. Hajjaj found her job by posting her CV on Bayt.com and is now the regional manager of Bayt's Kuwait operations. Hajjaj was born, raised and educated in Kuwait. After a successful career in Public Relations and Sales/Marketing Hajjaj now is helping other professionals along their career paths.
"Kuwait gave us a solid educational foundation and our first push into the real world", says Mona Ataya, VP Marketing at Bayt.com. A graduate of The New English School High School, Mona continued her higher education in the U.S. then pursued an illustrious career in marketing and advertising, working with such giants as Proctor & Gamble in the U.S., BBDO and Johnson & Johnson in Europe. For Mona, it was the prospect of "giving back" to the Middle East region, which lured her away from her senior position as a Franchise Director at Johnson & Johnson.
With offices in more than7 cities across the Arab World and commerce with clients that span the Middle East region, Mona says that the Bayt team feels a special affinity with Kuwait. " We understand the Kuwait market", she says. "We value it and we are now back to contribute to it. We have come full circle."