3 Must-Knows for Hiring in the UAE, KSA and Qatar

With Expo 2020 coming to Dubai soon, and the World Cup in 2022 in Qatar, the MENA region will be attracting more talent and creating more jobs than ever. However, finding the right people with the right skill set has proven to be difficult for local and regional companies, particularly in challenging markets like Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar.

Why are organizations finding it so hard to identify and recruit the right talent in these regions? To find out, we partnered with TNS Research and interviewed more than 300 talent acquisition leaders and 1,500 professionals in the UAE, Saudi and Qatar and published the findings in our Talent Gap Report. Here are 3 key takeaways from the study:

1. Professionals are looking for jobs on social networks, but not all employers are there.

Social networks are the number one platform professionals are using when looking for opportunities and researching a company before applying for a job or joining a team. But, employers in Saudi, UAE and Qatar are lagging behind in the use of social media for recruiting.

 Platforms employers are using when posting openings and professionals are using when looking for new opportunities in the UAE.

What you can start doing: Get on your company’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram page and work with your social media team on building a content strategy to attract the right talent into your organization.

2. There’s a gap between the skills employers perceive as important and the ones candidates perceive as important.

Analytical skills, technical expertise, creativity and openness to other cultures are the top skills employers in the UAE, Saudi and Qatar are looking for in candidates.

On the other hand, strong analytical skills, relevant education background and effective time management are skills that professionals consider most important in the UAE, Saudi and Qatar.

  Important skills in Saudi Arabia according to employers and professionals.

What you can start doing: Identify the skills that you think are the most important when looking for candidates and highlight them in the job description. Make sure your transparent with candidates on the requirements of the role before and during the recruitment process.

3. Nationalization is key, but the initiative still hasn’t been implemented proactively in all countries.

Nationalization is a hot topic in MENA, but the results show otherwise for the UAE and Qatar. In fact, only 28% of employers in the UAE are targeting nationals and 53% in Qatar. On the other hand, 80% of Saudi employers are targeting Saudi nationals in their recruiting strategy, which puts these organizations in a good position with government entities.

What you can start doing: We asked national talent what they were looking for from employers and this is what they answered:

• UAE: More transparent recruitment process and a clear job description from the beginning.
• Saudi: Clarify the requirements in the job description in order to find more suitable candidates.
• Qatar: More transparent communication during the recruitment process.

Takeaways

Based on the survey results, there are a couple of things that you, as a recruiter, can start doing on LinkedIn to bridge the talent gap that exists in MENA, and particularly the UAE, Saudi and Qatar:

1. Start the discussion with your social media team to see how you can get involved in building content targeted to candidates.
2. Source and plan your hiring strategy. Think about the long term and start building a talent pipeline that you can tap into later on.
3. Post your jobs in front of the right candidates. LinkedIn’s algorithm will only expose your jobs to the right talent.

Download our free Talent Gap Report to find out more about the results of the survey and learn how you can get ahead of the game.

Awesome presentation tips to turn you into a better public speaker

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WHETHER YOU'RE UPDATING COLLEAGUES DURING A TEAM MEETING OR DELIVERING THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT A NATIONAL CONFERENCE, HERE ARE SOME PRESENTATION TIPS TO HELP YOU BECOME A MORE EFFECTIVE SPEAKER.

If you've ever endured — or slept through — a long talk while the speaker droned on and showed endless slides filled with 12-point text and undecipherable diagrams, you know how excruciating the experience can be. The goal is to knock 'em dead, not turn listeners into zombies.

Great presentations can open the door to more career opportunities. Whether you're updating colleagues during a team meeting or delivering the keynote address at a national conference, here are some presentation tips to help you become a more effective speaker.

Understand your crowdBefore you can engage listeners, you have to know them. As you prepare your talk, ask yourself these questions:

• Who is my audience — laypeople, insiders or a mixed group?
• What do they want to know or learn?
• What are some of their concerns related to my topic?
• What is my overall objective, and how do I convey that to this particular group?

Keep your audience in mind through every step of your preparation, from the subject and format to the choice of images, audio and videos. Remember, this presentation is for them, not you. Even if you've given a similar talk many times, it doesn't take long to adapt it for a particular group. This could be as simple as customizing the introductory slide and adding humor that's tailored to the crowd or event.

Engage the audiencePoor presentations lecture the listeners and tell them what to think. Better presentations draw in the crowd and ask them to participate.

Say you're giving a talk on workplace ethics. You could start by giving a few scenarios of dubious behavior. Hypotheticals get the audience thinking about what they would do in a given situation. All of a sudden, they're no longer passive recipients of your message, but active participants.

Throughout the presentation, ask questions and perhaps open up the floor for responses. Engaged listeners retain more information and are more likely to act on it.

Study the greatsThe Internet is an excellent place to turn not just for presentation tips but also videos of the pros in action. Watch and learn from the likes of Cokie Roberts, Malcolm Gladwell, Donna Brazile, Sheryl Sandberg and, of course, the inimitable Steve Jobs. Another great source is TED Talks, which have so captivated the world that videos have been viewed millions of times and translated into 90 languages. Carmine Gallo, communication coach and author of "Talk Like TED," offers these presentation tips:

• Tell a story … or three. This will help the audience relate to what you're saying. Stories "reach people's hearts and minds," Gallo writes.
• Teach them something new. Help them see themselves, their work or their world in a different light. The more unusual or unfamiliar the information, the more they'll remember it.
• Don't exceed the time limit. No TED Talk is longer than 18 minutes, which is "long enough to be serious and short enough to hold people's attention," says TED curator Chris Anderson. Your own time limit may be longer or shorter. The key is to not give so much information that listeners suffer from cognitive overload.
• Don't skimp on practicing. Your delivery should be as smooth and natural as possible, which comes from repetition and even memorization. Engaging public speakers don't read straight from their notes.

Don't abuse presentation softwarePowerPoint, Keynote or Prezi are great tools, but only if you use them properly. Here are some rules to follow:

• Never read slides word for word.
• Use words sparingly; images are much better at driving home a point and helping people remember a concept.
• Keep in mind that it's not mandatory to use presentation software. In fact, if you're trying to motivate a team or forge an emotional connection, it may be best not to use visuals at all.

Being comfortable speaking in public benefits almost every worker in almost any profession. The higher you want to climb on the career ladder, the more important this soft skill becomes. For better presentations, whether you're instructing or inspiring, always keep your audience's wants, needs and limits in mind.

Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini whose remarks incited Xenophobic attacks after saying “All foreigners must leave South Africa” has appealed for calm. Speaking with his subjects today April 20th in Durban, the king said his remarks were taken out of context.

“This violence directed at our brothers and sisters is shameful. My speech … was directed at the police, calling for stricter law enforcement, but that was never reported. The public was instead given another side of my speech, which had been twisted and misrepresented.” he said

He pleaded with South Africans to stop attacking foreigners.

MTN & Multichoice To Shutdown In Nigeria Over Xenophobia in SA

Nigeria ranking highest number in the mass murder by South Africans have deemed it them a great responsibility to shutdown corresponding South African companies in Nigeria if their demands are not met.

According to South African news portal – eNCA

The South African government has been given 48 hours to stop xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals and their shops or else their companies abroad will be shut down.


An official with the newly elected All Progressive Congress (APC), Tolu Adesanya, confirmed to eNCA that they handed down a memorandum to the South African embassy in Lagos on Wednesday.

In the memorandum, the APC party officials and members of civil society groups have demanded that South Africa take swift action against attacks on foreign nationals.

Adesanya said that Nigeria will shut down South African businesses if their demands are not met by South Africa.

“We actually handed a letter to the South African embassy yesterday, making them aware that we are not happy with what is going on in South Africa. Should there be any more attacks, we are going to shut down South African businesses in Nigeria. That is MTN, Multi Choice, Shoprite etc,” said APC official Tolu Adesanya

South Africa must confront the roots of its xenophobic violence

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he wave of deadly xenophobic attacks against foreigners of African descent that has shamed South Africa, and the astonishingly tardy response by the government, has multiple causes. These simmer under the surface, and from time to time explode violently.

Not honestly acknowledging and facing up to underlying societal problems is a big contributing factor. As the xenophobic violence spreads like wild fire, instead of sending in the army to the affected communities, the government remained stuck in denial, leaders claimed it was not xenophobic and was made up of “isolated” incidents.

Xenophobia in South Africa: 'They beat my husband with sticks and took everything'

 

Read more

South Africa is a deeply violent society – and we must own up to that, in order to better deal with the reality. The culture of violence has its roots in the violence of colonialism and apartheid – and the oppressed peoples’ counterviolence in response.

As well as being one of the globe’s most diverse societies, South Africa is also one where different communities are often deeply intolerant of others. Apartheid has not only left a deep legacy of white-against-black racism. The apartheid system, by forcefully ghettoising ethnic groups, those with different shades of skin or languages, has left a legacy of not only interracial group and colour prejudice, but also prejudice against Africans from outside the country.

As a result, both black and white South Africans are deeply suspicious of Africans from north of the Limpopo. African immigrants are violently attacked because perpetrators believe the police will not prosecute them with the same zeal because the victims are foreign, not “like us”.

Xenophobic statements by national leaders have helped fuel the problem. King Goodwill Zwelithini, traditional leader of the Zulu ethnic group, said African migrants should “take their things and go”, as they supposedly take the jobs and public resources meant for locals.

President Jacob Zuma last year said that South African blacks should not behave as if they were “typical” blacks from “Africa”. The African National Congress general secretary, Gwede Mantashe, blamed “foreigners” for stoking unrest in South Africa’s platinum belt.

In January this year, the small business development minister, Lindiwe Zulu, said the businesses of foreign Africans based in townships could not expect to coexist peacefully with local business owners unless they shared their trade “secrets”.

The last wave of xenophobic attacks, in 2008, came at the height of the global financial crisis. Right now, the South African economy is again at a “crossroads”, as finance minister Nhlanhla Nene put it in his budget speech earlier this year.

As the economy gets worse, poor blacks and African immigrants compete for scarce resources at the township level. African immigrants are likely to be better educated and more resourceful than locals – and the local response has been to turn to violence to stamp out the competition.

South Africa is facing two crises simultaneously: the government is not delivering effective public services to the poor, while the economy is in a slump with job losses in the private sector and increasingly in the public sector.

But democratic institutions, such as parliament, are also perceived to be failing poor black South Africans. Because of this, people increasingly seek answers in populist, tribalist, ethnic and fundamentalist “solutions”. They look for scapegoats, whether “capitalists”, “settlers”, “foreigners”.

The country’s existing party political system, its parties and leaders are not responding to the needs of the majority of voters. Many disillusioned citizens therefore increasingly withdraw from politics or stay away from voting. The ANC, despite the fact that it received 62% of the vote in last year’s national elections, is losing its hold over black society. There is nothing to replace it yet.

President Zuma must go to the victims, and be seen embracing them, apologising as a president for the sickening violence meted out against them. Zulu King Zwelithini must also publicly apologise and be seen to go the affected African migrant communities.

The army must be deployed as a matter of urgency in the affected areas. The perpetrators of xenophobic violence must be prosecuted firmly, to show that government, democratic institutions and society are serious about crimes against foreign Africans.

The previous wave of xenophobic attacks and the government’s uninterested response was one of the factors that dislodged Thabo Mbeki. This current round of xenophobic violence, and likely negative effect on the fragile economy, our relations with other African countries, and the shame of our complicity, may be the harbinger of the beginning of the end of the Zuma presidency also.

Pirated Copies

 PLS DO NOT BUY. Stay on the right side of the law & don't let CRIMINALS win.

The 3 Worst Habits of Clueless Leaders

I worked for a guy who thought of employees as squirrels. I know, because he told a reporter that he often needed to drop into the office "wildfire" to pick them up and save them from being burned alive. Seriously, I could not make this up. The newspaper ran the story.

There is no perfect leader, but most of us who are managers do think we are strong bosses anyway. Okay, so maybe you picked up some rodent-inspired views and bad habits that cause your team some grief from time to time. What’s the big deal?

If this is the way you operate, your bad habits may be harming your employees more than you think. A Gallup study of 7,272 U.S. adults found that that at some point during their careers, one in two had left a job just to get away from their manager.

Think for a moment how your employees respond. Does the mood change when you walk in the door? Are they receptive to you, or do they seem frustrated? These may be signs that your employees are less than enthusiastic -- and that your poor leadership may be taking its toll on team morale.

Clearly, your bad leadership habits affect more than just you. You may think your imperfections are yours to own, but they negatively affect everyone on your team.

Here are three of the worst habits you should kick to the curb before it’s too late.

Expecting the impossible
Are you being reasonable in your requests? For example, you’ve asked your employees to complete a project by a certain time, and then you keep them in a meeting right up to their deadline. Or do you expect a result without sharing the tools or a plan to get there. Think, “Am I giving my employees the tools they need to succeed?”

Changing direction on a whim
You may think that because you’re in charge, you can change directions midstream in the project. I’m not saying that you should never reevaluate the course that you have set. However, being unpredictable causes confusion. You also waste your employees’ time and your money when you suddenly change your mind. Strong leaders know where they’re headed before they set out, and they carefully consider the cost before making an about-face.

Not respecting employees’ time
We work hard at Aha!, but we also believe we should strive for sustainable happiness. That means making sure we allow everyone time to be successful at work and at home. When you run roughshod over your employees’ time and expect them to be available at your beck and call, you show a lack of respect for them. Your employees will be happier when you show that you care about their time too.

You have a responsibility to your employees to be the best leader that you can be. That means identifying barriers that inhibit their growth, even if those barriers involve you.

Without your employees, you won't have much of a business to run. If you want to keep your employees from hitting the road, you need to make a conscious effort to eliminate bad leadership habits that are roadblocks to their success.

Your employees will appreciate your effort toward creating a saner workplace, and respond with gratitude instead of frustration.

Do you agree that these are three nasty habits?