Survey: Internships ‘Provide Viable Route to Employment’ in MENA

Rabat – A recent survey in North Africa and the Middle East (MENA) found that internships provide job opportunities for fresh graduates as companies continue to look for cheap and qualified labor as well as potential candidates for future positions.

“Internships provide a viable route to employment with a majority of MENA employers making job offers after the internship has finished,” commented Ola Haddad, Director of Human Resources at Bayt.com, the MENA’s largest job site.

The survey – conducted by Bayt.com in April-June 2022 – collected 2,288 responses from Morocco, UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Sudan.

It established that 92% of professionals in the MENA think that internships increase fresh graduates’ chances of getting a job after college.

7 in 10 respondents further noted that internships are widely available in the Middle East, adding that 55% of companies are looking for interns while 77% of the firms “always or sometimes” hire interns after they complete their internships.

Bayt.com also found that internship programs enable companies to identify talent for future positions, complete low-demand projects at low cost, quickly fill temporary and seasonal positions, and provide support to small teams and departments.

As companies continue to look for low-cost yet talented labor, the survey found that interns seem to be divided by half (50/50) between those who would accept unpaid internships and others who would only choose paid opportunities.

However, the rising demand for internships is making the market more competitive, said Bayt. As a result, employers tend to look for interns qualified to join their companies while taking into consideration their communication and teamwork skills (60%), creativity (13%), research and analytical skills (12), and management skills (10%).

The survey further noted that the hired interns belonged mostly to the digital marketing industry (24%), as well as information technology (IT) (21%), customer service (18%), HR (15%), accounting, banking, and finance (13%), and graphic design (8%).

With internships providing a key milestone in the lives of fresh graduates, the survey found that universities have a “crucial role in procuring relevant internships for students” as they provide internship seekers with job search courses (36%), internship programs in partnership with companies (36%), on-campus job fairs (16%) and platforms for sharing internship opportunities(12%).

While internships help facilitate the recruitment process for job seekers and companies, the labor force in the MENA region including Morocco has shown a high interest in migrating abroad for job opportunities.

In another similar survey published last week, Bayt.com found that roughly 42% of the Moroccan labor force plans to move abroad over the coming 12 months, exceeding the regional average of 33%.

Citing salary stagnation, “poor economy”, and “poor corporate performance” among their reasons for emigrating, the respondents appeared keen to leave Morocco as soon as possible with the hope of establishing a better life abroad. Europe remains a favorite migration destination due to the existence of vibrant Moroccan communities in countries such as France, Spain, and Belgium.