Syed Qadeer (right) and Ryan Lopez of Vistas Global during an interview with The Peninsula, recently.
Over the years, Qatar’s job market has increasingly become more competitive with the growing number of highly qualified professionals looking for new career opportunities in the country, as it prepares to host a successful World Cup in 2022. And with the Qatari government recently announcing the new labour reforms, which include scrapping the No-Objection Certificate (NOC) requirement for employees to change jobs and setting a non-discriminatory minimum wage, the competition in the local job market scene will only intensify as the country becomes a more attractive destination for global talent.
“The new reforms announced by the Qatari government will provide a lot of relief to the candidates as well as the job market. Qatar’s job market has now become an ‘employers’ market’. It’s more competitive now compared to several years ago. There are more candidates compared to the available positions. And a lot of the companies now also ask for certain certifications and trainings to be done. And candidates need to do these. Employers have more options. An employer can now hire a candidate with the exact relevant experience that a recruiter is looking for,” Syed Qadeer, Head of HR & Admin at Vistas Global, said in an interview with The Peninsula yesterday.
“We have a lot of candidates coming in. The competition is getting much tougher for the candidates. As a business outsourcing company, we have more selections because of this,” added Ryan Lopez, Account Manager at Vistas Global.
Vistas Global is one of the largest outsourcing companies in the Middle East, with 1,300 employees of 24 nationalities spread across five countries. In Qatar, the company provides human resources (HR) requirements for various companies and institutions.
Speaking about remuneration provided to the job applicants, Qadeer said: “Qatar has the highest per capita income in the world. And now with the minimum wage set by the government, that is also going to further benefit both sides, including the employer and the worker”.
Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Qatar several industry sectors are still thriving and are currently offering new job opportunities in the local market.
More recently, the Qatar Chamber has also partnered with the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs (MADLSA) in setting up the online Labor Re-employment Platform, to help the laid-off workers find new opportunities in the job market.
“That was a very good initiative and it was the need of the hour. As always, the construction sector is where many of the job opportunities are coming from. And now, the construction industry is going on a very fast pace, with many World Cup projects that need to be completed. We also see many reforms happening in the IT sector, especially now that technology is taking over industries. During the pandemic, many companies have understood the importance of going digital. So IT positions are on demand. Engineering positions are on demand. Hospitality and other sectors are a little on the low side,” Qadeer added.
His advise to the job applicants who are now manoeuvring through a more competitive job market: Invest in your ‘personal brand’.
“When you invest your time, efforts, and money on yourself, you always end up with the right job, and the most important thing is you will have the right skills for the job. Job applicants need to upgrade themselves. Because the trend is changing on a daily basis. Whether you’re starting from a technician level or the CEO level. If you don’t upgrade yourself every time you get a chance, then you’re left out. One mistake I see from a lot of people here is once they get a job, they sit down and they never think of developing it, which is completely wrong. They have to develop themselves and see how to upgrade their skills. So whenever a new opportunity comes, they are always prepared for it,” he added.
