90% of Kuwait professionals feel confident and excited about the future of work

KUWAIT: Nearly four in five recruiters in the Middle East say that the hiring process is going to change in the future, according to new research by Bayt.com and YouGov. Nearly nine in 10 say the process will be fully online, significantly faster, and more reliant on artificial intelligence, automation, and people analytics.

At the same time, the great majority of Kuwait respondents (90%) feel either "confident" about the future of work and believe they will be successful or they feel "excited" and see a world full of possibilities.8% expressed that they are "worried" about what the future might hold, while only 2% were "uninterested", saying they don't think too far ahead.
Bayt.com, the Middle East's leading career site, and YouGov, a global pioneer in online market research, released the results of the Future of Work in the MENA 2019 report, based on a study amongst nearly 5,000 employers and working professionals in the region. The survey revealed a variety of insights on the skills employees must have to be competitive today, the most significant changes driven by technology, the most effective ways to hire and develop talent as well as the future of job seeking.

"We're really excited about this survey and its bright results on current and future employment," said Omar Tahboub, General Manager, Bayt.com. "Bayt.com was started in the year 2000 at a time when there was a very limited number of people with access to the Internet in the Arab world. Today, we are at the forefront of innovation in technology, having won many awards. In the past two decades, we've helped millions of people find jobs and we look forward to helping millions more in the future. We're really excited to see what the future of work will bring. We have so many plans to bring together technology, AI, and people to drive experiences and intelligence in the hiring process. "

The future of skills and qualifications

Kuwaiti companies favor employees with both interpersonal and technical skills. Results show that while soft skills such as time management (96%), teamwork (92%) and communication (95%) are considered the most important today, 45% believe that both technical and soft skills will be equally important 10 years from now. On the other hand, two in five respondents (44%) believe that technical skills will become more important.

Organizations in Kuwait are focusing on strategically recruiting and retaining for a skilled workforce. According to respondents, computer skills (92%), creative thinking (93%) and communication (91%) will be the top skills for jobseekers in the next 10 years -followed by job-specific skills (89%), teamwork (85%),time management (87%),adaptability (84%) and people management (83%).

From a hiring perspective, previous job experience (92%) and CV presentation (78%) are considered as the most important factors in finding qualified people. Degree specialization, diversity and cultural fit also play a major role in hiring decisions. 10 years from now, Kuwait respondents say that previous job experience (80%) will continue to be the topmost factor influencing hiring, followed closely by specialization of the candidate (73%) and CV presentation (69%).

The future of job roles

Organizations of the future will increasingly use technology to create extraordinary products, services, and experiences that were previously impossible. As technology is augmenting and enhancing jobs in Kuwait, about 86% of the respondents believe that the demand of software engineers is likely to increase over the next 10 years along with demand for directors, project managers, system administrators and designers.

Employers in Kuwait could grow and broaden employee's skills, not just through formal learning but by being exposed to a myriad of new jobs and roles inside the company to increase their engagement levels while stemming job hopping. When it came to getting transferred to another job or department when the demand for a current job role decreases, respondents were split on how easy or difficult that task is. Tahboub added: "Company management must take a leadership role in understanding the future of work and how to create a culture which is both personalized and embraces career mobility and provides easy access to on-demand learning."

The future of recruitment

Interestingly, a whopping 95% of Kuwait recruiters agree that online job sites and professional platforms will dominate and be the most popular recruiting tools within 10 years. The pace of change is only expected to accelerate further - nearly four in five recruiters believe that the hiring process is likely to change in the next 10 years. 88% of Kuwait respondents agree that managing the employer's brand and reputation will be critical for attracting talent.

Compared to traditional methods, Kuwait recruiters have huge hopes for AI and technology in the hiring process. 84% of recruiters agree that response time to applicants is likely to improve using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). 81% of recruiters also suggest that the future of hiring will rely more on automation, Artificial Intelligence, and analytics.
"What's most amazing is that the future is already here. Even today, thousands of organizations in the MENA use Bayt.com's ATS solution Talentera, streamlining their recruitment process from A-to-Z," Tahboub said. "We are also heavily working on AI-powered interview tech of the future, where our Evalufy product helps hiring managers assess the sentiment of candidates using AI."

On the jobseeker's end, considering an increased need for reliable information from the frontlines of change -respondents believe that online job boards and career websites (48%) and social and professional networks (48%) will be the most reliable job seeking sources in the future. Interestingly, only about one third of the respondents (27%) consider company website to be more reliable in the future.
Kerry Mclaren at YouGov said: "Throughout the MENA region, organizations share common challenges in terms of managing the hiring process within the evolving work landscape .A particular focus of our new survey with Bayt.com is on arriving at a better understanding of the potential of new technologies, methods and skills that will vastly improve the job quality and productivity of professionals in the future. The findings will be extremely useful to businesses, individuals, and governments alike."

Data for the Future of Work in the MENA 2019 survey was collected online from June 20 to July 10, 2019. Results are based on a sample of 4,803 respondents from the following countries: UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, and others.