KUWAIT: A new
poll conducted by Bayt.com - the Middle East's largest Job Site - reveals that
more than four in five (83 percent) professionals have considered
"changing their career path completely," with nearly two thirds (64.2
percent) saying that it is "very easy" to change jobs in the region.

Shifting to a new
job (or choosing a totally different career) isn't always about the salary.
When asked why professionals may change their careers entirely, "to find
their real passion" was the most common reason (57.7 percent), followed by
"better compensation" (18.1 percent), opportunities to "learn
and challenge themselves" (14.2 percent) and entering industries with a
higher hiring activity (8.1 percent).

"Changing
careers is a big step but if the job seeker has thought it through, they can
set themselves up for a future that aligns with their personal goals and
financial expectations. Professionals switch jobs all the time - often the
switch is to something related, and other times the career path swerves in a
completely different direction. Currently, Bayt.com features more than 20,000
jobs to highlight the diverse range of opportunities available in a job market
that is evolving and growing continuously," said Suhail Masri, VP of
Employer Solutions at Bayt.com. "We also work with over 34,000,000
professionals regularly to help them embark on new career opportunities."

When people
switch jobs, it seems only natural that they would look to do something
related. After all, skills or experience in one area can carry over to another.
According to Bayt.com survey, the biggest challenge associated with changing
careers is "transferring skills and relevant experience" (76.4
percent), "finding relevant jobs" (9.5 percent), "understanding
a new industry or job role" (2.8 percent), "recreating CV and cover
letter" (1.3 percent) and all of the aforementioned factors (8 percent).

While many
professionals change employers, they tend to remain in the same (or very
similar) occupations. More than half (54.6 percent) of the respondents deem it
necessary to work in the same field as their educational background but 43
percent are open to working in different fields.

A majority of the
respondents (63.8 percent) believe that it is not necessary to obtain
additional education/training before changing careers, 20.3 percent believe it
is important in some cases and 14.5 percent believe that it is always important
to gain new skills before switching jobs. However, when professionals have the
skills that are vital for businesses to succeed, making big career shifts
becomes a more manageable task.

Today's workforce
may be more mobile but they still are strategic and thorough about the process
of switching careers. Nearly half of respondents (47.1 percent) believe that
they should stay in their current role for at least a year before they switch
to another one, 10 percent believe they should stay between one and two years,
19.1 percent think they stay between two and three years before making the
change, while 18.8 percent say "it doesn't matter" how long you stay
in one job.

That said,
professionals in the Middle East typically switch careers in the early stages
of their work life - 70.2 percent in the first five years, 19.2 percent between
five and ten years, while people in senior management are least likely to
switch careers entirely with only 7 percent doing it after ten years in the
same field.

Conducting the
Perfect Job Search

Switching careers
requires certain tools and preparation to help the professional in the
transition process. Whilst looking for a new role, most jobseekers agree that
they need to "rewrite their CV" (85.5 percent). Respondents also
state that in order to change careers successfully, they mostly need help in
professional CV writing (53 percent), identifying new career opportunities (19
percent), and market /industry knowledge and research (4 percent).

The initial steps
in successfully switching careers are to create a new CV for the target
industry (81.4 percent), learning missing key skills (6.4 percent), assessing
whether the switch is a practical option given past experience (4.5 percent)
and researching the market trends and opportunities (5.3 percent).

According to the
poll respondents, the role of online job sites in providing support as
professionals begin a new career switch are diverse and include "finding
new jobs", "learning new skills", "learning about
industries" ,and providing "professional CV writing."

Data for the
Bayt.com's survey about switching careers in the Middle East and North Africa
was collected online from September 23 to November 21, 2018. Results are based
on a sample of 8,380 respondents. Countries assessed include UAE, KSA, Kuwait,
Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Iraq, Algeria and
Tunisia, and others.