Opinion Piece: The Transformation Coming to the GCC Job Market
The world has been competing for talent, and the gig economy has transformed the job landscape in recent years, so companies had to adjust to meet these demands. Now that the world is facing what some are calling “the greatest global crisis since WW2”, the job market is rapidly shifting to a new norm. The ‘future of work’, which is the idea of flexible and remote work was predicted to take over within 5-10 years, has now accelerated to 5-6 weeks.
The GCC has already been dealing with a massive change to the job market switching from an oil & gas market to a digital one. The new shifts will include quickly adopting and creating new software, opening up VOIP lines, opening up geographically restrictions for hiring full-time roles, and companies having to create new remote work cultures to compete for the best talent.
Companies in the GCC have to start looking into creating a remote work culture in order to stay relevant. This can include adopting new software quickly such as video conferencing, scheduling, tasks, voice comms, VR/AR and Hologram tools. Perks that can be adopted include onboarding packages, health benefits, and ‘shorter work weeks’.
Other shifts come in types of jobs with top demand being tech talent: software engineers, data scientists, mobile developers, UI/UX developers, and product managers. Training up the youth in the region, offering new programs at universities, and a focus on remote hires will be the leading acquisition strategies.
Job boards and traditional recruiters will shift to a hybrid model of talent marketplaces where the ball will be in the candidate's court. Companies are going to have to put their best foot forward through PR, company pages, and employee reviews. These measures will increase overall retention from less than one year, increased to 1.5 - 2 years.
The transformation is happening faster with a major global crisis lingering so companies have to start thinking about adjusting policies that can include remote, overall hiring, and internal software that can make this transition as friction free as possible.
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