Fresh graduates all over the world need to be well prepared for the real world, ideally before they graduate. Do MENA universities prepare their students well enough to confidently enter the job market? What challenges do university graduates face the most when trying to find a job?

Bayt.com has recently conducted the Fresh Graduates in the MENA Survey to help identify which industries are most appealing to fresh graduates in the MENA region and to describe some of the challenges young job seekers face when looking for a job.

Key Findings:

• Marketing (24%), Military (17%) and Banking (15%) emerged as the top industries hiring MENA fresh graduates in 2022.
• Over 8 in 10 fresh graduates are satisfied with the quality of higher education they received.
• When asked about the top skills required to excel in the workplace, respondents mentioned computer skills (61%) as most important, followed by interpersonal/ team playing skills (46%).
• Most MENA graduates (43%) feel that the biggest challenge they face when searching for a job is not knowing how to approach the job search effectively.
• The nature of the job/ being passionate about the job (40%) emerges as the single most important factor for MENA respondents when selecting a job.

Data for the Fresh Graduates in the MENA Survey was collected online between 9 March and 16 April, 2022. Results are based on a sample of 1,141 respondents from the following countries: UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya among others.