94% of Mideast professionals want a new career - survey

NEW JOB: 94 percent of people said they wanted a change of career.

Ninety four percent of the region’s professionals are unhappy in their current jobs and want to start a new career, according to a recent Middle Eastern survey by Bayt.com.

The poll by the jobs website found that about half of people wanted to change their career path but did not know how to go about it.

Twenty five percent of respondents said they intended to embark on a new profession.

Ten percent said they could not afford to change careers, while six percent said they were too old to start again on a new career path, and four percent said a new career was unrealistic.

Only six percent of respondents said they did not want to start a new career.

The poll, conducted in August and September, also asked whether people would consider going back to school to retrain for a new career.

Eighty seven percent of people said they would go back to school, but of these, 38 percent said they could not afford to do so now, while 15 percent said only if the course was short. The remaining 34 percent said there were no issues with them returning to education.

“It is very interesting to see that the region’s professionals place a lot of value in education, with the overwhelming majority agreeing that they would go back to school to develop themselves,” said Lama Ataya, head of marketing and corporate communications, Bayt.com.

The poll was conducted online between 24 August and 4 October 2009, with a total of 29,534 job seekers across the Middle East taking part.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Great Research
Posted by Danno, Dubai, Dubai on Thursday 15 October 2009 at 11:19 UAE time

What a comedy... this piece of research, Bayt staff, quality of reporting, and the conclusions AB draws from such research.

i concur with the 2 commentators: you mean that people who are on job search website are looking for new jobs and new careers??? NO Way???

The problem with our regional economy is that its being operationally run by 20 and 30 somethings (this region had a baby boom in the 70's and 80's) who basically just finished school (univ, college,etc), and across the board they have qualities like English fluency, tek savviness, and cosmopolitan traveling and dining. They have never experienced a lean organization that watches the bottom line like hawks, or to a lesser extent witnessed or lived through an economic cycle.

Going off on a tangent, many of my Pan-Arab wealthy clients placed their 23-30 year old sons/daughters in important decision making positions in their companies and businesses. They have come to realize that these kids are not qualified to make business decisions that will shape the future of their companies; specifically, matters related to finances, economic conditions, and human resources. They are simply not experienced enough, and have not been exposed to the hardships of keeping a business alive for decades. simply graduating from a us/uk university, speaking english, and running a blackberry is just not enough. (this is how i feel about bayt staff)

doh!
Posted by Peter on Monday 12 October 2009 at 10:49 UAE time


Wow! What a stat. Shame about the sampling error. One would imagine that the vast majority of people who visit an online jobs portal would not exactly be thrilled with their current jobs.

Next week: Bayt informs us that the Earth orbits the Sun.

more pointless stats
Posted by Tom, Dubai on Monday 12 October 2009 at 10:37 UAE time


It's hardly surprising that 94% of people surveyed on a recruitment website are looking for work, why else would they be on there in the first place?

It's like saying 95% of people in a survey by Tesco.com were hungry and looking to buy their dinner!!

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