JEDDAH: Hiring levels in the professional and managerial sector in the Gulf region are seeing a strong resurgence, a quarterly survey of hiring and firing trends around the world revealed Wednesday. The “Global Snapshot” from the international recruitment firm Antal, surveyed more than 9,100 organizations in 52 countries on whether they were currently hiring and firing at professional and managerial level. It then asked whether they planned to do so in the coming quarter. Fifty six percent of companies in the Gulf nations surveyed said that they were currently hiring, up from 48 percent in the last Snapshot poll in June. The nations in the region surveyed were the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Yemen. The survey also showed that only 20 percent of Gulf organizations are currently letting managerial staff go, down from 21 percent in June. Confidence is particularly high in Qatar where 80 percent of companies are currently hiring and this is expected to rise to 89 percent over the coming quarter. Current hiring figures for the UAE and Saudi Arabia are 53 percent and 49 percent, respectively. “No one is likely to be brave, or foolish, enough to say that our economic troubles are over, particularly if they are based in any of the nations bearing the brunt of painful budgetary cuts at the moment,” said Antal's CEO, Tony Goodwin.” But it does seem as if we have avoided the financial Armageddon that seemed all too real a prospect from late 2008 to the early months of 2009.” “For chief executives and HR directors around the globe, the key business challenge is already shifting away from headcount reduction or containment to how to source the talent they will need in improving markets. The war for talent, which had dwindled to little more than an insignificant skirmish, has already broken out once again,” he said.
