The print screen of the registration page for a virtual fair to take place next week.
Virtual job fairs cater to an increasingly internet-based job market, enabling easy job hunting and hiring for both sides of the employment process.
A new poll by Bayt.com titled Virtual Job Fairs in the MENA found that more than a quarter of respondents regularly participate in virtual job fairs, and satisfaction levels among them is high.
Nearly two thirds (61.1%) of respondents who have used virtual job fairs said that they were satisfied with their experience, with one quarter (23.4%) claiming to be very satisfied, said a press release issued yesterday.
According to respondents, the main advantages of virtual job fairs are easily collecting CVs and tracking candidates (37.6%), reducing the time and cost to hire (24.2%), being able to access talent from anywhere without travelling (22.6%), and increasing a company’s reach nationally and regionally at minimal expense (11%).
While respondents cited technical competence and access to the internet (22.6%) and limited social interaction with employers (19.5%) as the main disadvantages of virtual job fairs, respondents are mostly satisfied with the advantages they offer and with their experience using virtual fairs.
A majority (54.9%) of respondents cited finding employment as their main reason for using virtual job fairs, but other reasons include submitting CVs to selected companies (21.4%), finding internships (9.8%), talking with representatives of selected companies (5.9%), hiring new candidates (5.2%), and gathering information about the labor market (2.9%). 4
Data for the 2016 Bayt.com ‘Virtual Job Fairs in the MENA’ poll was collected online from October 18, 2016 to November 4, 2016. Results are based on a sample of 2,660 respondents. Countries that participated are the UAE, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia, Qatar, KSA, Yemen, and others.
