JEDDAH, 1 November 2003 — With unemployment a perpetual reality, Saudi Arabia’s potential work force are no longer content to wait in line and are using alternative methods in their quest for work. Cue the new trend of e-recruiting that is sweeping the region.
“I went to the unemployment offices every day for three whole months,” says Ahmed, a 24-year-old college graduate, who eventually found a job through friends — doing administrative work at the same college he graduated from. “Now all my friends are looking for jobs, and they will look anywhere”. Ahmed has posted his resume online, in the hope of improving his career prospect.
The Internet has become an integral part of everyday life in the Middle East.
According to Madar research group, in October 2002 the number of Internet users in Saudi Arabia was approximately 1.6 million. Based on the current growth of the cyberspace market, the number of Internet users will reach 4,48 million by 2005.
The first Arab recruitment site is Bayt.com. Currently very popular in GCC countries, it has a significant presence in Saudi Arabia. On average the website has around 300-400 vacant jobs per month in the Kingdom.
Bayt.com offers online recruitment services plus lifestyle information; hence its slogan “lifestyle engineering”. A number of prominent Saudi companies advertise on the site.
Bayt.com’s popularity has led to a number of e-recruiting websites. There is Skill-Link, a career advisory site known to screen sites before accepting them. 123job.org, a site based in the Makkah region, is an initiative of the National Project for Training and Employment. Saudis can only post resumes, but there are no actual job searches.
But do these sites help with Saudization? According to Youssef Berrada a recruitment specialist: “Agencies such as Clarendon Parker and Morgan Banks are search firms who will usually hire people with the right skill for the job, without minding the Saudization issue to a certain extent, because skill is usually the most important constraint. Tauzeef does the same, but because it is a Saudi agency, it hires qualified Saudis.
“As for job boards such as Bayt and Skill-Link, they are more important to the employment issue than can be imagined; they are creating a culture. You can see this in North America, where it is part of the lifestyle to visit several job sites daily to keep an eye on the market and to regularly upgrade your resume.”
On the horizon is alkawader.com. Set to be launched out of Jeddah, its ambition is to be the leading online job board for professionals in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. A special feature of alkawader is that it will be bilingual and user-friendly, with affordable job posting and resume search fees.
Ahmed and his contemporaries are sure to make use of it when it comes.
