How you get a job in the UAE and what makes you the right candidate are going to soon be very different from we’ve been used to.

In a new survey by Bayt.com and YouGov, seven in ten recruiters in the UAE say the hiring process is going to change in the future, and nearly nine out of ten UAE respondents have confirmed that the process will be fully online, significantly faster, and more reliant on AI, automation, and people analytics. 

According to the Future of Work in the MENA 2019 survey, those nine respondents felt either “confident” about the future of work and believe they will be successful or they feel “excited” and see a world full of possibilities.

Kerry Mclaren at YouGov said, “Throughout the MENA region, organizations share common challenges in terms of managing the hiring process within the evolving work landscape. A particular focus of our new survey with Bayt.com is on arriving at a better understanding of the potential of new technologies, methods and skills that will vastly improve the job quality and productivity of professionals in the future.”

Compared to traditional methods, UAE recruiters have huge hopes for AI and technology in the hiring process. While 86 per cent of recruiters agree that response time to applicants is likely to increase using applicant tracking systems (ATS), 84 per cent of recruiters also say that the future of hiring will rely more on automation, AI, and analytics.

Data for the Future of Work in the MENA 2019 survey was collected online from June 20 to July 10, 2019. The results are based on a sample of 4,803 respondents from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, and other countries.

TOP FUTURE EMPLOYEE SKILLSETS IN THE UAE

Creative thinking, computer skills and communication will be the top skills for jobseekers in the next 10 years, followed by job-specific skills, time management, teamwork, people management and adaptability. Technical and soft skills will be equally important.

In the future, previous job experience will continue to be the topmost factor influencing hiring, followed closely by the specialization of the candidate and their CV. Degree specialization, diversity and cultural fit also play a major role in hiring decisions.

(Writing by Seban Scaria; editing by Daniel Luiz)

(seban.scaria@refinitiv.com)

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