A recent survey conducted by the Middle East’s prominent job portal Bayt.com has revealed that 81 percent of professionals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region expect remote hiring to increase over the next few months.
Close to 74 percent of employed respondents on the Future Hiring Trends in the MENA survey claimed that their company is adopting a fully online recruitment process
The survey which was conducted online from 24th July to 29 August 2020 collected samples from 2322 respondents across the MENA region.
Data from the survey suggested that 72 percent of job seekers in the region consider online job sites to be the most reliable source to find relevant opportunities, followed by social media (14%) and company websites (8%).
The collated data from the comprehensive survey suggest that if harnessed well, the digitalization trend could help the region’s companies broaden their talent base by expanding their pool of advanced candidates located in different parts of the world.
Sentiments around remote and virtual work also dominated the survey with 84 percent of respondents considering virtual interviews as a reliable alternative to physical interviews.
According to the survey, online talent platforms have the potential to create significant benefits by increasing workforce participation, shortening the duration of job search and enabling matches that would otherwise not have happened.
Key benefits of online recruitment
Respondents list cost and time effectiveness (28 percent), larger talent pools (9 percent), better quality candidates (6 percent), ease of use (5 percent), and all of the aforementioned categories (47 percent) as some of the key benefits of online recruitment tools.
The new normal
Survey respondents expect online services such as CV search, job postings, video interviews/candidate selection tool, online applicant tracking system, online onboarding tool, and all the above-mentioned tools will provide support to hiring managers in the next few months.
A large portion (87 percent) of survey respondents expect virtual job fairs to increase over the next few months.
Successful hiring
As per the survey data, the largest choice of talent (50 percent), the ability to screen and filter efficiently (17 percent), the ability to test and assess candidates online (11 percent), the ability to conduct streamlined onboarding (11 percent)and strong employer branding (4 percent) are considered as key for a successful hire.
Employers in the MENA are implementing positive initiatives to prepare for the workforce of the future, 80 percent of respondents claim that their company has a clear plan to keep up with expected changes in the recruitment landscape after COVID-19.
