Bayt.com poll: 94% of region's professionals would love to start a brand new career

According to the results, half of the region's employees said they would love to start a new career but they don't know how to go about it, while another quarter said they would love to start a new career - and fully intend to.

Money, however, is an obstacle to starting a brand new career: 10% said that while they want to, they can't afford to. Furthermore, 6% said the obstacle to starting a new career is that they feel too old, while 4% said it is too unrealistic .Only 6% of the region's professionals said they do not wish to start a new career.

The 'Career Reinvention in the Middle East Workplace' August/September online poll series conducted by Bayt.com sought to understand from employees whether they are considering a change in their career path, what steps they would take in case of that change and the main drivers behind that change.

The region's professionals were also asked whether they would consider going back to school to learn skills for a new career: 87% said they would like to go back to school, but of these, 38% said they can't afford to, and 15% said it would be conditional on it being a short course; the other 34% stated they would go back to school without specifying any conditions. The poll found that 5% of professionals wouldn't consider going back to school because they have too many family obligations, and 4% said they no longer have the patience to be back in school.

"It is very interesting to see that the region's professionals place a lot of value in education, with the overwhelming majority agreeing that they would go back to school to develop themselves. There is a growing global trend for adults - regardless of their age and regardless of their career experience - to go back into education at some point in their lives. From these results, it seems that the region's professionals are also following suit,"

stated Lama Ataya, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications, Bayt.com.

Asked why they are changing, or would change careers, respondents came back with a variety of reasons. The most popular choice for a career change among respondents is to pursue their dream or passion (32%). Significantly, a fifth of respondents said they would change their career because they find they can't grow professionally in their current career, while another 16% said they would change purely for financial reasons. Other reasons that professionals cite for changing careers include not being able to actually find a job in their current career area (10%), changes in the economy of the country they live in (7%) and boredom with their current career (7%).

"That such a high proportion of respondents have changed, are changing, or would change their career to 'follow their dream' shows that the days of a 'career for life' are over and nowadays, people are more confident about making a complete shift. For some, however, the reason for changing or wanting to change is born from frustration or disappointment: financially, growth-wise, or just through boredom, which could be a signal to organisations that something needs to be done to further nurture these employees, or address their career uncertainties," commented Ataya.

If the professionals could engage in any career they wanted, engineering and IT proved to be popular choices with 20% and 18% respectively stating they were industries of choice. Financial services (15%) followed by education (11%) were the next most favoured industry choices. By contrast, just 10% said they would like to work in advertising and media, 8% in healthcare and 5% in architecture and interior design.

"Interestingly, engineering, IT and financial services were the three most popular choices among the region's professionals of industries they would like to work in - despite being affected by the economic downturn It may be that these choices are driven by financial motives, as the three have long been reputed to be amongst the region's highest-paying industry sectors, or it may simply be that the region's professionals feel like having a complete change of industry from their current path," said Ataya.

Almost three quarters of the respondents said that they knew someone who has changed their career mid-career; but with different outcomes. Of the 73% who stated they do know someone who had changed, the majority - 53% - said that they are very happy, while the remaining 20% said that they are struggling in their new career.

Yet despite the strong desire to change careers among the region's professionals, for the most part, respondents feel they would be staying in their current career. More than a third, 34%, said they see themselves staying in their current career path until they retire and just a quarter said they are ready to change careers today. A further 6% said they will stay in their current job for another year only and 14% envisage themselves staying in their current job for the next 1-3 years. Just 9% said they see themselves staying in their current career for the next 4-6 years, and 11% said it will be 6-10 years.

"In conducting polls such as these, we are provided with a very general snapshot of the way the region's professionals are feeling about various aspects of their careers and the labour market in general," noted Ataya. "Organisations around the region may be interested in using this kind of information and applying it to their businesses, in a bid to reveal areas where they may be able to improve their operations and procedures, to grow the careers of employees and keep them satisfied and engaged at work. This could mean considerable financial and time savings for these organisations, in the future."

Data for the 'Career Reinvention in the Middle East Workplace' poll series was collected online between 24 August and 4 October 2009, with a total of 29,534 job seekers across the Middle East.