Staff retention will remain the biggest challenge to Dubai businesses in the foreseeable future if the emirate's economic growth continues at its current pace, said the CEO of e-recruitment site Bayt.com.
Talking to Emirates Business, Rabea Ataya said the byproduct of Dubai's success was that employees want to be individually successful and will take on more lucrative job opportunities to get there. Statistics from Bayt.com, which is doubling in size annually and has won more than 80 per cent of the online recruiting market, show the majority of Dubai's employees consider "job hopping" in response to inflation and the booming economy.
"If [Dubai] continues to maintain this pace ad infinitum then the retention issue would be exacerbated over time. If it stabilises or slows down just a bit, obviously people will hold on to their jobs more dearly," Ataya said. He added that financial, construction and healthcare sectors have the highest demand for qualified employees.
What are the major recruitment trends in the region at the moment?
It seems there isn't an industry that isn't hot at this stage. The overwhelming majority of people believe the economy is doing extremely well and will continue to do better. What's been interesting is whether or not people feel they're keeping pace with the economy. Practically everyone [we surveyed] said there are ample jobs in the economy and the vast majority of people believe the economy will perform better. Most people feel they are better off [than previous years].
However, when asked, how do you feel you will do later on?, most people feel they are falling behind compared to the state of the economy. That's a byproduct of how dynamic and fast moving this region is.
Even when we individually do better from a salary or professional perspective, we always feel there is so much more we can do. We're not aware of a single sector that isn't doing well right now.
Which industries have the highest demand for employees?
It's a difficult measure to make because if you're starting from a relatively small base, then you'll see phenomenal growth. For instance in the financial sector, DIFC is a relatively new entrant in the market and it's expanded so quickly that there's obviously a huge demand for qualified bankers and there's very large percentage growth on that. But it's not one of the largest sectors in the economy.
Construction remains a huge sector of the economy and there's massive demand for qualified engineers and project managers. Even the healthcare sector right now – with the advent of Healthcare City, there's a lot more demand for qualified healthcare providers. These three sectors standout in terms of growth.
Separate from the sectors, there are occupational demands. There's a massive demand for salespeople right now.
What are the biggest recruitment challenges for employers?
The biggest challenge from an employer perspective is retention – maintaining good staff. A large number of people feel that in such a great economy they need to run faster, to do better for themselves. So we ask people across the board, how are they reacting to what the economy is doing, whether it's inflation or the pace of the economy? The responses fall broadly into four categories: change jobs, change industries, change work locations but remain an expatriate, or return to country of residence.
In Dubai, by far the majority of people would not consider leaving Dubai – their number one choice is to consider leaving their job. In other words, because things are so great, job jumps happen more often. The average person surveyed said they should not be in a job for more than two years. That's a phenomenal change over what we used to hear five years ago, when most people said they should stay in a job for life. The second biggest choice people selected was they would like to change industries, if they've been in the industry for up to 10 years.
What are your expectations for future of recruitment and the job market in Dubai?
Just as in every other industry, everyone's benefitting from the fact that the economy's doing extremely well. And the result of that is we're seeing more recruiting firms showing up from all over the world to be present in the UAE. Headhunters that used to service the region out of London or New York are setting up shops in Dubai.
What revenues and growth has Bayt.com seen over the past year?
We're a privately held company and we're doing double-digits in millions of dollars. This year our growth year-on-year is more than 85 per cent – that's our growth in sales. Our database is now growing at a rate of more than 3,000 new CVs a day. In this region, we are by far the largest in our field – we believe our market share is well in excess of 80 per cent of the online recruiting market.
Rabea Ataya
CEO, Bayt.com
In 2000, Ataya co-founded the Middle East's leading e-recruiting company, which currently serves more than 2.25 million job-seekers and in excess of 30,000 employers across the Middle East and North Africa.
Ataya is responsible for the overall corporate strategy of website, which among the first dotcoms in the region to become profitable. The firm currently has 11 offices with more than 250 employees throughout the region.
Prior to launching Bayt.com, he founded and managed InfoFort, the Middle East's first and leading records management firm.
Ataya started his career at Alex Brown and Sons, a US-based investment bank, where he helped structure mergers, acquisitions, and public offerings for technology companies.
He graduated from Stanford University in California with a BSc in electrical engineering and an MSc in engineering economic systems. His global media and speaking appearances include CNET, The Wall Street Journal, the World Economic Forum in Amman, Jordan, and Dubai TV.