DOHA: An online poll conducted by a Dubai-based job site recently revealed that online hiring is becoming increasingly popular among employers in the region.
The survey by Bayt.com titled “skills and hiring trends in the Mena” found that a staggering 84.1 percent of respondents working in HR departments conduct reference checks prior to hiring eligible candidates.
According to 20.2 percent of those responsible for hiring talent, online job sites will be most widely used to source candidates in 2015. In parallel, 29.3 percent claim that the recruitment of active candidates online will become the number one hiring trend of 2015. On the other hand, 11.6 percent state that the recruitment of passive candidates online is set to be the leading hiring trend in the next twelve months.
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As for the time needed to find a qualified candidate to appoint, it’s not very fast; 48 percent of respondents responsible for hiring admit that their company now takes one to three months to fill a vacant position. Most employers (32.9 percent) call up candidates to notify them about a hiring decision, with a further 30 percent notifying job seekers via email. Interestingly, 16.1 percent of respondents involved in the hiring process say that the biggest mistake that candidates make with online recruitment is not emphasising their skills enough. For 15.9 percent, a critical misstep made by job seekers online is having an incomplete public profile. The third most cited critical mistake (according to 12 percent) is not having active online conversations. From the point of view of employees, 39.4 percent believe that their company currently has all the skills it needs, while 35.6 percent say that there is definitely a skills gap in some areas. For 29 percent, a solution to building necessary expertise is simply by increasing training investments.
He also added: “The power of online recruitment is more important than ever before. With a majority of employers sourcing talent on the Internet, job seekers are advised to create searchable online profiles to stand out. The survey was conducted from December 14, 2014 to January 14, 2015, with 5,961 respondents from the UAE, Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Tunisia, and Yemen.