Job vacancies advertised in Middle East increase by 25%

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The latest Robert Walters Middle East Jobs Index has revealed that vacancies for professionals across the Middle East increased by 25 per cent between the fourth quarter of 2017 and first quarter of 2018.

"Good to see healthy rises in job numbers being advertised across the Middle East in the senior professional head office space". Saudi in particular with recent stimuli is an exciting growth market in all sectors and regions", said Jason Grundy, Country Head at Robert Walters - Middle East.

Jobs in the field of accounting and finance

Companies in the UAE have been working on the post implementation plans of VAT in the first quarter of 2018, creating roles in the public practice firms and in-house.

The most in-demand roles so far this year are that of tax managers, financial planning and analysis and controllers. The candidates who are qualified with good enterprise resource planning (ERP) experience and mergers and acquisitions exposure, will be in high demand in 2018."

The nationalisation programmes are dominating the region, especially in Saudi.

Jobs in banking and financial services

The job index reflects the sentiment across the banking sector in both UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a number of local banks in UAE have posted double digit growth from their quarter on quarter results. Balance sheets are healthy, loan growth is positive and interest rates have been rising. These occurrences accumulating in positive figures for the large local banks.

There has been an increase in the number of international banks expanding in Saudi Arabia. New office openings and expansion has been prevalent over the past six months and as a by-product they need to staff these offices.

It is predicted that this growth will continue into the second quarter and steady off in the third quarter which are always the quietist months of the year.

Demand for western qualified lawyers

International companies are now realising the importance of having a legal function on the ground in the Middle East rather than utilising their off-shore legal resource. As the rules and regulations in Dubai become more stringent and developed, western qualified lawyers with local experience are becoming increasingly in demand. Lawyers with two years of experience in the region have a competitive advantage over their overseas counterparts when competing for roles at major global brands.

Dubai has made a conscious effort to become a hub for innovation and Fintech which has resulted in new companies opening offices in the region. This in turn has created new commercial instructions for law firms to set up companies and in-house lawyers to manage the day-to-day legal affairs of the company internally."

Since the turn of the year, the oil price has steadily increased which is a positive sign for the UAE economy. Oil & gas lawyers remain in demand in the region, particularly those with experience in mergers & acquisitions.

A significant increase in job opportunities has been seen in Saudi Arabia. This is the beginning of the 2030 Saudi Vision to reduce their reliance on oil by diversifying the economy to develop areas such as tourism, infrastructure and education. This has resulted in a wave of new legal positions for both government entities and international companies.

Recruitment in the field of sales and marketing

Sales and marketing recruitment has been stable in the first quarter of 2018. Arabic speaking B2B sales professionals with a proven track record in the MENA region are always sought after as companies seek to improve their bottom line numbers.

For the marketing roles, we see social media and e-commerce experience as something that clients are increasingly asking for.

The luxury brands are selectively hiring as the Dubai Mall expansion continues to develop and an appetite for Mandarin and Russian speaking staff is noticeable.

Overview of the growth in Saudi Arabia

There has been a positive increase in the advertised jobs in Saudi in the first quarter of 2018. This is mainly driven by Vision 2030 of the Saudi government to have more Saudi nationals working and increasing the percentage of female Saudi nationals at the workplace across all industry sectors.

The Saudi economy is moving away from its dependence on the oil and gas sector with growing opportunities across a number of other industries like government, retail, e-commerce and manufacturing.

The main challenge for employers, both local and international companies, is to hire good quality Saudi talent. To cater for this growing demand Robert Walters now has a dedicated recruitment team focused to support companies in Saudi Arabia to help them meet the Saudisation demands and achieve their business objectives.

There has also been an increase in demand for female Saudi nationals, especially in sales and finance roles. These disciplines were previously male dominated but with the 2030 vision ahead the demand for females is slowly growing.

Outlook for second quarter of 2018

While the second quarter does contain Ramadan and the Eid holidays, the market sentiment is certainly up and positive job numbers from the index suggest a continued growth in the job market for the second quarter.