Amman: The 2019 'Fresh Graduates in the Middle East and North Africa' survey, conducted by Bayt.com, the Middle East's leading career site, and market research agency YouGov, has found that the most popular tool cited by fresh graduates for finding a job is online job sites. Moreover, the most important attribute for fresh graduates when selecting a job is said to be ‘the nature of the work/being passionate about the job’.
67% of respondents say they’ve considered the job availability in the field they chose to major in prior to enrolment. At the same time, more than half of respondents (42%) who are currently employed work in their field of study, while 58% ended up working in a totally different field.
Qualification of teachers, curriculum, teaching methods applied, quality of infrastructure, technology usage, and value for money paid, were also rated positively by Jordan respondents. The two most common fields of study pursued by fresh graduates were engineering (17%) and accounting/finance (16%).
Jobs for Fresh Graduates
More than a quarter of (43%) fresh graduates are not able to predict how long it will take them to find their first job while 13% of respondents claim that it took/will take less than three months for them to find their first job. For 29% of them, the job search lasted/ will last between 3 months to a year, while 5% got/are expecting to get a job directly through campus placements.
A significant number of respondents feel that the biggest challenge they face in finding a job is Lack of previous work experience (57%). Not knowing how to approach the job search effectively (48%) is also considered an obstacle. That said, an overwhelming number of respondents (49%) have managed to acquire work experience before or during college. Of these, 64% worked for a period of up to six months.
Fresh graduates are also eager to travel abroad for employment purposes; about two-thirds of the respondents (66%) would consider relocating.
"The 2019 Bayt.com Fresh Graduates are highly satisfied with their higher education and very much prefer using online job sites for entering the workforce and building their career,” said Omar Tahboub, General Manager of Bayt.com. “Our goal at Bayt.com is to arm these graduates with the right tools and information needed to thrive in today's ever-evolving employment sector. Entry-level candidates can easily utilize different tools on Bayt.com that are designed to build their CV, grow their skills and increase their professional knowledge. They can also apply to nearly 20,000 jobs that are available on our site currently.”
Most Attractive Industries and Skills in Demand
Based on the survey, in the Jordan, the most appealing industries for fresh graduates from a career perspective are banking/ finance (26%), engineering/ design (24%), education/ academia (21%), Business Consultancy/ Business Management/ Management Consulting (20%), Advertising/ Marketing/ Public Relations (15%) and Human Resources (13%) are also popular among fresh graduates.
When it comes to industries that seem to be hiring the highest number of fresh graduates, Jordan respondents listed advertising & marketing (26%), followed by military & defense (20%) and banking & finance (19%).
According to 46% of respondents, some industries employ fresh graduates because they have lower salary expectations. Another 26% believe that certain industries hire more young graduates because they are compliant and willing to follow instructions.
In terms of skills required to excel in the workplace, respondents mentioned computer skills (61%) as the most important, followed by communication skills (38%), interpersonal/ team skills (35%) and Academic and technical skills (35%).
Fresh graduates in the Jordan consider their skills in communication (93%), computer (97%), academic and technical skills (87%), problem-solving and analytical thinking (89%), negotiation (79%), leadership (79%) and linguistics (79%), interpersonal and team playing skills (97%), and flexibility and adaptability to change (93%) to be ‘good’ or 'very good'.
Kerry McLaren at YouGov MENA said, “The 2019 Bayt.com Fresh Graduates in the MENA survey shows that more and more employers are opening their doors to fresh graduates, presenting a significant shift in what employers need in these increasingly digital world. Our research reflects the preference of employers in hiring candidates who have already developed interpersonal and technological proficiencies despite being new to the workforce. And this can, in turn, help shape the future of employment across the Jordan."
Data for the 2019 Bayt.com Fresh Graduates in the MENA survey was collected online from 18th April 2019 to 13th May 2019. Results are based on a sample of 1,582 respondents from the following countries: UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, and others.
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