Naukrigulf published the results of its Bi-annual survey – ‘Hiring Outlook 2019’ which estimates the hiring sentiment of employers and consultants from the GCC region for the first half of FY ‘20. The survey was carried out among 258 respondents that comprises both recruiters and consultants.
As per the research, a robust growth in hiring is expected during the upcoming months with ~60% of employers from the GCC region anticipating creation of new jobs – a 6% increase Vs LY same period. One third of the recruiters anticipate only replacement hiring to take place while 8% estimate that there would be no hiring. A marginal 3% of recruiters forecast layoffs for the Apr – Sep ‘19 period.
This growth in hiring will be fueled by recruiters from Healthcare, Banking/ Finance, Oil & Gas and IT – Software Services industries where majority of respondents have predicted the creation of new jobs.
Furthermore, Sales/Marketing, Engineering (Non – IT) and Operations/Supply Chain functions will see most hiring as per estimates – 56%, 47% and 46% respondents respectively estimate the creation of new jobs in these functions. This is followed by IT & HR functions with almost one third of the respondents forecasting strong hiring trends during the Apr-Sep ‘19 period.
When it comes to hiring by experience bands, there is a strong indication that employers are looking at hiring professionals with higher work experience. Employees in the 3 – 7 years exp. band will see the most hiring, with 63% of recruiters looking at hiring for the same, followed by job seekers in the 7-10 exp. band (41% of recruiters) while only 23% forecast hiring in the 0-3 years exp. band. Asian Expats – Indians, Pakistanis and Filipinos in particular – will see most hiring in the coming months owing to lower salary expectations (reflection of salaries prevalent in their home countries) and large job-seeker pools in these Ethnic groups.
Salary expectation mismatch (between employer and job seeker) has emerged as the single biggest challenge for hiring with as much as two thirds of the recruiters citing the same. Shortage of talent especially in certain ethnic groups was the second most pressing challenge as per 38% of the surveyed recruiters.
Commenting on the report Sumeet Singh, Chief Marketing Officer, Naukrigulf.com said, “The Hiring Outlook highlights a positive sentiment amongst the recruiter community with 60% of recruiters indicating creation of new jobs. Recruitment activity is expected to remain stable in the coming months with sectors like Banking/Finance, Oil & Gas and Healthcare likely to increase their headcount in the first half of 2019. We also see a trend of reduced attrition. There continues to be talent crunch in the months to come. We see all of this as a sign of stabilization in the job market.”
Key Highlights of Naukrigulf Hiring Outlook
Talent Crunch
While there is clear optimism when it comes to hiring activity, employers are becoming increasingly wary of the talent crunch situation in the market. Finding the right talent will not be easy in the coming months, with 41% of recruiters predicting the talent crunch to intensify. Another 34% of recruiters, while acknowledging the existence of a talent crunch situation felt that the intensity of it would remain the same as the last six months while only 10% of recruiters say that there will be no shortage of talent. Despite recruiters predicting strong hiring trends in the 3-7 exp. band, 58% of the recruiters face a talent crunch when hiring for the same, indicating that talent among the 3 – 7 exp. band is the most in demand.
When it comes to talent crunch based on ethnic background, recruiters faced a shortage of Indian talent. This was followed Nationals and Arab Expats. This is because there is no talented people from these nationalities who match today’s economic standards and employers expectations for low payouts.
Increment
52% of recruiters indicated that the rate of increment given during FY ‘19 was less than 5% compared to 48% during the same time last year. 6% of the recruiters said, the increment would be upwards of 15%, while 18% of them expect it to be between 10%-15%. Almost a quarter of the recruiters surveyed said that the rate of increment would be anywhere between 5% and 10%.
Attrition
Attrition has fallen quite drastically during the 2nd half of FY ‘19 with only 47% of employers suggesting that their attrition rates were greater than 5% as opposed to 68% during the same time last year
The topic regarding reasons as to why employees leave the organization shed some interesting insights with ‘better compensation’ by far being the biggest reason. This was followed by ‘better profile’ by a prospective employer and ‘poor career growth’ in the existing organization.
Methodology
Naukrigulf Hiring Outlook is a Bi-annual survey conducted amongst recruiters and consultants from the GCC region. The Outlook is a prediction of the hiring trends in the coming six months. Besides the Outlook for Hiring, the survey also covers, increments, attrition level and availability of qualified talent.
Responses from the participants were collected online using a detailed questionnaire and the gathered data was analyzed as well as compared against previous surveys in order to distill meaningful trends and insights. The Survey is released to the registered recruiters’ database.
