Bayt.com to launch first pan-regional Virtual Job Fair in Middle East recruitment drive
Bayt.com, the Middle East’s number one job site, announced today that it will be hosting a pan-regional Virtual Job Fair (VJF), in a region-wide drive to address the Middle East’s growing levels of unemployment. The VJF, which will be operational on the Bayt.com website, will run for five days between March 22nd and 26th, 2009 and will offer both employers and job seekers from across the entire Middle East a convenient and hassle-free opportunity to interact.
The pan-regional VJF is the fifth online job fair organized and run by Bayt.com, and follows from highly successful versions over the past year including in the UAE, Jordan, Kuwait and KSA. A total of 99,000 job seekers have participated in the previous four Virtual Job Fairs.
Sponsored by the Qatar Foundation, the organization leading Qatar’s drive to become a knowledge-based society through education and learning, and in conjunction with media partner The Peninsula and Al Sharq; the pan-regional VJF will focus on effectively connecting qualified job seekers with the best-fit career opportunities around the Middle East region.
Helping Dubai’s Unemployed Find Jobs in Dubai – One Person At A Time
A few days ago we announced that we would be providing free CV consulting and lunch for unemployed job seekers on the common area outside our head office in Dubai Internet City.
You read stories from news sources that cover the globe. You hear the numbers but you rarely meet the people. Dubai has been no stranger to these stories about Jobs in Dubai, though the actual numbers are a little more difficult to come by. A few weeks back we decided that we can just read the numbers, or we can help the people affected. We chose to help the job seekers who have been the life-blood of Bayt.com for almost 9 years now.
We have done 2 sessions so far, with 8 more to go, and we have already come face-to-face with over 140 job seekers. I personally met 10 job seekers today for one-on-one CV consultation sessions. While I respected the challenges of the situation that many found themselves in – whether they were entry-level, senior managers, or all levels in between – I was also deeply impressed by the quality of people who are now looking for Jobs in Dubai. For companies currently growing headcount and/or looking to engage in a drive for quality, there is a wealth of talent in the market right now looking for Jobs in Dubai.
Bayt.com launches free CV consultation-clinic for the region’s unemployed, in unique unemployment support program initiative
Program is launched in response to growing unemployment rates in the region, following effects of global economic downturn
Bayt.com, the region’s number one jobsite, has reiterated its commitment to improving the employment situation in the Middle East and addressing the challenge of growing unemployment in the region, by offering unemployed professionals a free walk-in CV consultation and advice session.
Between February 15th and February 26th, a team of five Bayt.com professionals including senior executive managers, will be available during the lunchtime period of 12 to 2pm; for unemployed professionals to bring a copy of their CV for an intensive free 15-minute consultation on its merits and shortcomings.
The sessions are co-sponsored by Dubai Internet City where the sessions will be conducted and in addition, a free lunch for the attendees will be provided by Biryani Express.
Rabea Ataya, CEO of bayt.com explained the reasons behind the community outreach endeavor. He said; “We all have an obligation to the communities we live in and I see no more valuable CSR program than one that capitalizes on what we do best; with a free and simple service that will be useful for these jobseekers well into the future.”
Finding Jobs in the MENA Region Just Got Faster and Easier
It’s here, it’s arrived and we’re very happy about it!
A few weeks back we mentioned in our first blog post of 2009 that we would be making some changes to the job seeker experience at Bayt.com, and that day has arrived.
We started with one clear objective: to make the process of looking for, finding and applying to jobs on Bayt.com faster, easier and more efficient and thereby shortening the time it takes for you to build your lifestyle of choice.
It took us many months of looking critically at our current systems, processes and website functionality. We also looked externally at the best websites in the world that make finding information and taking actions as simple and effective as possible. Throughout the process our ongoing consideration was the continual stream of suggestions that we receive from job seekers based on their usage of our site. With over 70,000 daily visitors to Bayt.com, we have a great user group providing excellent feedback.
Bayt.com Staff At The Dubai Marathon – 10k
Runners nervously bounce from one foot to the other, trying to stay warm on this cold rainy morning. The marathoners ran off into the dark street a few minutes back, and now the 10k runners get anxious as their start approaches. Some runners wear smiles on their faces – either out of confidence in their pending performance or resignation to the looming pain. Others are quieter, choosing to focus inward. In all cases, these runners have woken early to participate in the 10k road race at the 2009 Dubai Marathon.
up early and ready to go!
This was the scene last Friday January 16th, and amongst this group of runners was a sizable group wearing the colours of Bayt.com.
The Dubai Marathon is the richest Marathon in the world, and this year featured a $1 million bonus for anyone who set a new Marathon world record, so it was easy for Bayt.com staff to get motivated by the excitement of this event. We were also sporting the message of “For Gaza” on our backs showing solidarity with our regional neighbors who are struggling under hardship. Read more
A Better Way Finding Jobs in the Middle East – coming soon
As we mentioned a few days back, we were imminently launching two projects to start 2009. The first project was our exciting project to crowdsource video contest for our site, called the I can draw Video Contest, and now we are happy to give a sneak-peak at the second.
We’ve been working hard for months trying to really optimize and evolve the job seeker’s experience on Bayt.com. Many of the changes won’t be obvious, but they should be beneficial to all of our users. We want Bayt.com to be even faster, easier and more effective a source to find jobs in Dubai and jobs in the Middle East and North Africa.
If you’re reading this blog it means you either found it randomly or are a regular reader. In both cases, you are who we need right now. We’ll give you a sneak-peak at some of our changes. In return, we’d like your understanding – there are still some bugs and some other changes coming – and we’d also appreciate your feedback.
Creative Agencies No Longer Corner the Market on Creativity
“I can draw” Video Contest is Bayt.com’s Innovative Approach to Find the Best Global Artistic-Multimedia Talent for Jobsite’s Video Needs
Internet users are increasingly creating their own online experiences by uploading videos to websites like YouTube and Vimeo, authoring blogs on Blogger, micro-blogging on Twitter, and creating their personalized online profile on Facebook and MySpace. Bayt.com recognizes that talented, creative individuals are expressing themselves through the internet in numbers and with a level of skill and creativity like never before, and that this creative group is not limited to “professionals.” Talented amateurs make up a significant portion of online creators – and the more than 2,750,000 registered users on Bayt.com – and these users want to play an active role in shaping their online experience. When discussing video content as a core part of their user experience, Bayt.com decided to diverge from the creative agency route for its video production. Instead, Bayt.com has just launched a Video Contest titled “I can draw Video Contest” asking Bayt.com’s users to create engaging, artistic videos that bring the words of Bayt.com to life.
“We spoke to several local and global agencies about producing a suite a videos for Bayt.com, including an introduction to our role in the recruitment process and how-to videos, but the solution was right in front of us all along,” said Dan Stuart, Head of Strategic Initiatives at Bayt.com. “With over 2,750,000 users – many of whom tell us they want to play a larger role in shaping the user experience of Bayt.com – this was a chance to tap into their interests and creative abilities, and to continue the innovative spirit we have been pursuing through events like our Virtual Job Fairs to help our users find jobs in Dubai and jobs in the Middle East–North Africa region.”
What’s new on Bayt?
Happy new year to all the readers and wishing you all the best in 2009.
We at Bayt.com are very excited about the upcoming year and have many things to share with you. Including changes to how we use our corporate blog, we are planning a lot of changes across the world of Bayt.com in the coming weeks and months – at all time evolving ourselves to make it faster and easier for you to build your lifestyle of choice. We will let you know about each initiative in detail as we launch them; however, here is preview of what you will be seeing soon.
New Bayt Blog
We have revamped the theme for our blog to match the design of Bayt.com. Also, we are going to use our blog more frequently to communicate with you – our users. We understand the importance of keeping in touch with you and believe the blog is one of the best ways to let you know what we are doing here at Bayt.com, and at the same time collect your feedback through comments and emails. Therefore, apart from being an active participant in this blog, please let us know how we can improve what we are doing and what products and features you want from Bayt in 2009.
