Green shoots emerging in the Gulf construction sector: FifthEdge – MEP MiddleEast

Green shoots emerging in the Gulf construction sector: FifthEdge – MEP MiddleEast

Recruitment activity in the construction sector in early 2021 shows strong signs of confidence, according to Marcus Taylor, the founder of an industry-specific artificial intelligence-driven job matching platform, FifthEdge.

FifthEdge reports that while there are encouraging signs of recovery in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, more than 80% of recruitment activity remains within the Saudi market.

Taylor says: "Based on the first two months of the year, FifthEdge is on track to see an increase of more than 30% in inbound interest in new opportunities compared to the last two months of 2020.

"The real surprise is the 20% increase in passive candidates who have come on-board to the platform. We categorise 'passive' candidates as those who are secure in their current role but interested in considering something better.“

After 14 months of trials with ten leading early adopter consultants operating in the GCC, FifthEdge has received close to 250,000 applications and targeted 10,000 passive candidates to deliver evolving talent pools of over 4,500 professionals across six core disciplines, including project, design, construction, planning, and commercial management.

"Our data and research have shown talent acquisition teams have been under immense pressure to convert conditional offers to getting boots on the ground as soon as