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Understanding the Middle East’s skills gap Market trends are reprioritizing valuable skills, and in some cases, demanding completely new competencies By Suhail Al-Masri
U
nemployment is one of the biggest challenges that the Middle East faces, and has faced for quite some time. In this very youthful part of the world, competition for jobs creates an overwhelming amount of pressure on job seekers and on companies alike. Job seekers now have to go several extra miles to stand out from the large applicant pool. Businesses and organizations are often bombarded by the volume of applications and are challenged to narrow down the prospects and make the most confident hiring decision. Even startups that are just beginning to dip their toes in the water can easily receive hundreds of applications, emails, and pleading letters for the handful of positions they offer at a time. But there is another big elephant in the room that we must confront, and it is known as the skills gap. No, this is not just a buzzword that is thrown around in research conferences and thought leaders’ Twitter feeds. This is a serious issue that affects everybody in the marketplace– employers and job seekers alike.
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Entrepreneur august 2017
Skills gap is the difference between the skills required on the job and the actual skills that the job seeker (or employee) possesses. As a matter of fact, 65% of business leaders and 59% of job seekers who participated in the Bayt.com 2017 Middle East Skills Report believe there is a skills gap in the market. For a starting place, think about the technological acceleration, and how it is impacting the type of skills that are in demand. The number of people who are online as well as the amount of data they are generating is growing exponentially. The development of virtual and augmented reality as well as the Internet of Things (IoT) is opening
up many possibilities for new types of work (i.e. remote patient screening and smart contracting). Another example is the shared economy services. Think of Careem, Airbnb, and Udemy as examples. These new platforms empower the individual to be a self-employee, self-promoter, self-marketer, and, in a way, an overall entrepreneur. As a result, these market trends are reprioritizing valuable skills, and in some cases, demanding completely new competencies. Today’s most critical skills Luckily, most of the skills that are in high demand remain to be soft and transferrable. According to employers, the top three most important skills for mid-career or junior positions are teamwork (83% of employers said it is very important), time management (80% said it is very important) and written communication (76% said it is very important). Job seekers also agree; 84% of them said that teamwork is a very important skill, 83% said time management is very important, and 79% said written communication is very important. It is positive to note the fact that employers and junior job seekers agree on the most critical skills. From a job seeker’s perspective, knowing what employers expect from you and being right about it can only help one focus on developing those particular skills and land a job faster.
Most critical skills for junior positions 47
Creative thinking
44
Global mindset
43
Design / visual thinking Time management
41
Logical / critical thinking
40
Entrepreneurship
40
People management
39
Team work
38
Written communication
34
Emotional intelligence
34
Job-specific skills
31
Technology and computer skills
29
Employers
59
Employees
50 53 78 59 49 73 87 76 66 60 66
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