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29 March 2024

New-age managers here aplenty

In a volatile market, business leaders need to be pragmatic, quick, not afraid to make tough decisions and not to be complacent (SUPPLIED)

Published
By Sunil Kumar Singh

As the economy tries to limp back to normalcy, corporates and companies too rev up their recruitment routine, and we see a new breed of managers on the block.

If during boom times firms needed managers who multi-tasked as there was a rush to get business, the focus now is client-servicing.
 
Earlier if the emphasis was to grow a company’s topline, today it is the person's ability to control cost or bottomline. And unlike in the past as there is an oversupply in the talent pool, companies and recruitment agencies in the UAE settle for nothing but the best - they hire only the well-qualified, experienced candidates with leadership qualities and exceptional personality traits who will not hesitate taking risks but yet are well-grounded with an eye on profits and future sustenance.

It is a new breed of go-getting game changers, who have strong relationship building qualities and who are not only a topline mover but a super cost controller for a company as well.

Simply put, a manager's role today encompasses far more meaning than it did in the past.

“During boom times, companies needed managers who could multi-task and work under huge time pressure as there was a rush to get business. Now, there’s more focus on client servicing, and on making sure that the people the company is working with are very well looked after. So the emphasis has changed softly from obtaining new clients to actually retaining those ones that a company has already got,” of Mike Hynes, Managing Partner, Kershaw Leonard, said.

Headhunting experts and recruitment consultants add that since emphasis of employers has moved more towards cost control and keeping the company’s bottomline stable, employers are generally focussing more on a candidate’s personality traits than hard skills, while at the same time making sure that a candidate’s educational background and experience are not glossed over.

“Professional experience and educational qualifications remain very vital but employers today are also looking at exceptional personality traits that reflect a leader who is up for the challenge, who is a flexible team player, who is an achiever at all times and an over- achiever when needed,” Amer Zureikat, Vice-President (Sales), Bayt.com, the online job site.

Skills that are most in demand by UAE employers today are good communication skills in Arabic and English, team spirit cooperation and flexibility, good leadership skills and ability to work under pressure, he added.

Added Panos Manolopoulos, Vice-Chairman (Regions), Managing Partner Middle East, Stanton Chase International: “There has been a shift with regards to emphasis on a managerial candidate’s skills. In the past, companies used to give too much emphasis on how fast a candidate could grow a company’s topline or revenues.

Now, although these skills are not neglected, companies give a greater focus now on the candidate’s ability to control cost or bottomline.”

And an oversupply of talent pool is making the process easier, experts say. 

“Employers in the UAE today do realise that they have the opportunity to select the best possible talent on the market and thus are keen on finding the entire 'A' player package which combines not only relevant education and professional experience but also soft skills, technical skills and professional character,” Zureikat said.

Added Ian Giulianotti, Associate Director, Recruitment and Training, Nadia,UAE, the recruitment, Training and HR consultancy firm: “During the boom years, there were just not enough talents available in the UAE market to match the growing demand in almost all sectors of the economy. So companies had be much more liberal in their requirements.

However, in the current market conditions there’s an oversupply of candidates that is enabling companies to be much more selective in what they are looking for in a candidate.”
Manager of today should also have the ability to deal with tough times, experts say.

“Today, companies seek leaders who have not only been successful in growth,but who also know how to plan for more difficult times or markets. Leaders who have the acumen and courage to make early changes in reaction to their market, instead of following the rest,” Michael Al-Nassir, Partner, Head of Middle East, Africa and India, Pedersen & Partners, an international executive search firm, said.

He said, in volatile markets, business leaders need to be pragmatic, quick, not afraid to make tough decisions, to cut rapidly when such action is needed, and above all not to be complacent.