Professionals in Middle East keen to launch a fresh career

An overwhelming 94 per cent of region's professionals would love to start a brand new career, says a new poll on career reinvention in the Middle East workplace. Out of this nine per cent were from the UAE.

According to the survey, conducted by Bayt.com in the Middle East, half of the employees said they would love to start a new career but they do not know how to go about it, while another quarter said they would love to start a new career, and fully intend to.

Money, however, is an obstacle to starting a new career. Ten per cent professionals said while they want to start a new career, but cannot afford to do so.

Professionals Emirates Business spoke to after the survey was released also confirmed the findings by Bayt.com.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said they would change their jobs and go into completely different career streams if they could afford to do so but were hampered by the current recession and lack of money. A senior manager, who works in a research firm in Dubai Internet City, said: "I would like to become a journalist as I feel that I am more suited for a job in the media as I have to do a lot of research and speak to people for my job anyway and that is what most journalists do so I would be able to fit in perfectly.

"But right now due to the recession I don't think there are any job opportunities in the media as so many magazines have closed down."

A personal assistant in a leading airline said: "I would like to open my own school back in my home country as I feel I will be doing a more meaningful job there but the problem is that fund is needed to start a school and I don't have it right now. Maybe after I retire… "

Furthermore, six per cent in the survey said the obstacle to starting a new career is that they feel too old, while four per cent said it is too unrealistic. Only six per cent of the region's professionals said they do not wish to start a new career.

The "Career Reinvention in the Middle East Workplace" August/September online poll series sought to understand from employees whether they are considering a change in their career path, what steps they would take in case of that change and the main drivers behind that change.

Asked if the economic recession and fear of job loss due to it had anything to do with the desire to change jobs, Lama Ataya, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications, at Bayt.com, said: "Certainly times of economic turbulence often necessitate career change or at least set the stage for serious rethinking of current career paths in favour of healthier more robust industries. However, the August Bayt.com poll has shown the majority of professionals would seriously consider career change not so much in response to changes in their country's economy but to follow a passion/dream.

"The second most popular reason to change careers was to achieve career growth; and this sentiment has been echoed over and over again in multiple HR surveys and polls Bayt.com has conducted in the region over the years."

Ataya said only 10 per cent of respondents indicated they would change career paths as a direct response to not finding jobs in their current career path, ie as a matter of necessity, versus 31 per cent indicating they would do so to pursue a dream and 20 per cent as a result of lack of growth and advancement opportunities in a current career path. Moreover only seven per cent of professionals indicated their career change would be a result of changes in their country's economy.

"Data for the 'Career Reinvention in the Middle East Workplace' poll series was collected online between August 24 and October 4, 2009, with a total of 29,534 job seekers across the Middle East who participated in this survey. As part of this poll, professionals were asked whether 'they would like to reinvent themselves professionally and start a brand new career'."

Professionals in the survey were also asked whether they would consider going back to school to learn skills for a new career. In response, 87 per cent said they would like to go back to school, but of them, 38 per cent said they cannot afford to, and 15 per cent said it would be conditional on it being a short course. The rest 34 per cent said they would go back to school without specifying any conditions. The poll found that five per cent of professionals would not consider going back to school because they have too many family obligations, and four per cent said they no longer have the patience to be back in school.

"It is very interesting to see that the region's professionals place a lot of value in education, with the overwhelming majority agreeing that they would go back to school to develop themselves.

"There is a growing global trend for adults – regardless of their age and regardless of their career experience – to go back into education at some point in their lives. From these results, it seems that the region's professionals are also following suit," said Ataya.

Asked why they are changing, or would change careers, respondents came back with a variety of reasons. The most popular choice for a career change among respondents is to pursue their dream or passion (32 per cent).

Significantly, a fifth of respondents said they would change their career because they cannot grow professionally in their current career, while another 16 per cent said they would change purely for financial reasons. Other reasons that professionals cite for changing careers include not being able to actually find a job in their current career area (10 per cent), changes in the economy of the country they live in (seven per cent ) and boredom with their career (seven per cent).

"That such a high proportion of respondents have changed, are changing, or would change their career to 'follow their dream' shows that the days of a 'career for life' are over and nowadays, people are more confident about making a complete shift," said Ataya.

"For some, however, the reason for changing or wanting to change is born from frustration or disappointment. Financially, growth-wise, or just through boredom, which could be a signal to organisations that something needs to be done to further nurture these employees, or address their career uncertainties," he said.

If the professionals could engage in any career they wanted, engineering and IT proved to be popular choices with 20 per cent and 18 per cent respectively stating they were industries of choice.

Financial services (15 per cent) followed by education (11 per cent) were the next most favoured industry choices. By contrast, just ten per cent said they would like to work in advertising and media, eight per cent in healthcare and five per cent in architecture and interior design.

"Interestingly, engineering, IT and financial services were the three most popular choices among the region's professionals of industries they would like to work in – despite being affected by the economic downturn.

"It may be that these choices are driven by financial motives, as the three have long been reputed to be among the region's highest-paying industry sectors, or it may simply be that the region's professionals feel like having a complete change of industry from their current path," said Ataya.

Almost three quarters of the respondents said they knew someone who has changed their career mid-career; but with different outcomes. Of the 73 per cent who stated they do know someone who had changed, the majority – 53 per cent – said they are very happy, while the remaining 20 per cent said they are struggling in their new career.

Yet despite the strong desire to change careers among the region's professionals, for the most part, respondents feel they would be staying in their current career.

More than a third, 34 per cent, said they see themselves staying in their current career path until they retire and just a quarter said they are ready to change careers today.

A further six per cent said they will stay in their current job for another year only and 14 per cent envisage themselves staying in their current job for the next one to three years. Just nine per cent said they see themselves staying in their current career for the next four to six years.

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