LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), the world’s largest professional network with more than 347 million members, today announced the results of a new study into Qatar’s ‘talent gap’. One of the key findings uncovered was that some employers are still relying on their own websites, print media, and online career websites to find candidates. Professionals, however, have flocked online and are engaging employers on professional social networks.

The study, which sampled 300 employers and 1,500 job seekers in the GCC, sheds new light on the challenges and opportunities faced by those searching for jobs, and employers looking for people to hire. At the core of the findings was the stark gap between where employers look for talent and where professionals are looking for jobs.

Ali Matar, Head of LinkedIn Talent Solutions, MENA, said: “Talent is the number one contributor to company success. If employers are unable to find and attract the best candidates to their organisation then they will struggle. This study shows that, while more and more employers are effectively engaging candidates through owned and bought media, many aren’t keeping up with the advances in social media and could be missing out on key hires. The most striking fact is the mismatch between how information on available jobs is communicated, and how job-seekers prefer to go about finding these jobs.”

This finding comes despite the fact that 56 percent of Qatar employees asked agreed that there was a shortage of talent in the labor market, and that it was hard to find candidates with the required skills and qualifications. More than half of companies included in the survey responded that it takes a lot of time and cost to fill vacancies in their organisation.

Matar continued: “Online professional networks such as LinkedIn are the preferred search method for job-seekers in Qatar, so should be the first place employers turn. More and more companies are realizing this and proactively engaging LinkedIn’s audience of 14m professionals in the MENA region.”

Wassim Eid, Chief Human Resources Officer at luxury brand company, Chalhoub Group, commented: “Identifying, engaging and attracting the right talent for our organisation is a key competitive differentiator for us and one that is central to our companies’ success. Having recently passed 50,000 followers on the platform, LinkedIn has helped us to build a powerful Employer Brand within our sector, and is helping us to attract a high caliber of candidate. Together with its powerful search tools that allow us to identify the professionals with the right skills and experience, LinkedIn allows us to access those individuals much faster than traditional recruitment methods.”

LinkedIn Talent Gap Study 2015: Key Findings

· Employers are still using owned and paid media to communicate available jobs, while the majority of job-seekers are turning to professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn

· The majority of employers (75 percent) use their own website to publicize openings, even as the clear trend is for ‘social recruiting’

· 60 per cent of Qatar employers responding to the study agreed that is hard to find candidates who possess all the required skills and qualifications

· 81 percent of job-seekers and professionals have responded that they currently hold jobs that do not match their skills and qualifications

LinkedIn established presence in the MENA region in 2012 and has since grown its regional member base to 14 million. In February, LinkedIn unveiled Arabic as the 24^th language option, and the first right-to-left language, on LinkedIn

For more information on LinkedIn’s Talent Gap report, please click here.

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