Bayt.com, the Middle East’s number one job site, hosted a group workshop on how personal branding can accelerate career growth and help companies make better hiring decisions.

The workshop called ‘Understanding the Power of Personal Brands in Career Advancement and Recruitment’ was attended by professionals from a range of industries.

It was conducted by Akram Assaf, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Bayt.com.

During the workshop, a wide range of professionals learnt about the art and science behind personal branding, gaining access to latest research findings and industry reports that detail how a professional’s online presence will influences their career path trajectory.

Assaf unveiled the importance of spending time to hone one’s online brand using regional statistics and presented various methodologies of how to effectively tap into the power of personal branding.

He also enunciated the need for companies and managers to better assess their hiring decisions by more effectively using the latest professional social-media channels including the revolutionary Bayt.com Specialties platform, and also to attract candidates better by tapping into the latest online corporate brand-building and sourcing, sorting, ranking and screening techniques.

Assaf said 84 per cent of employers will take the time to research candidates online before making a final decision.

"Even more importantly, 71 per cent of people making hiring decisions say that a candidate's social networking activities made them change their mind about that person. This is the latest information from our recruitment research in the Mena region, which we’re constantly undertaking as a part of our commitment to empower the region’s employers and job seekers with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed in the recruitment market," he noted.

"Today’s session demonstrated the magnitude of building a powerful personal profile – something that is especially important in today’s internet-focused world," he added.

The attendees lauded the workshop and termed the presentation as informative.

“Very nice event about branding and hiring people. I will use Bayt.com to hire people in the future, and I will recommend anyone to use it to connect with millions of people online,” remarked Mohammed Abu Hamiyeh, the founder of #Deals.

“Very interesting statistics about employee and employer selection criteria. After this event, I would definitely consider updating my profile on Bayt.com,” stated Shiraz Ansari, senior pricing manager at Redkee Solutions.

“Akram has clearly explained how important personal branding is on the web in this time of social media. How you see yourself and how others see you through social media is an eye-opener for me. How you put your comment, measure your capability and knowledge is the subject which is a major factor employers view when searching for candidates,” stated Jose Poovallinkal, Business Controls, IBM.

Bayt.com is dedicated to providing empowering information for employers and job seekers across all industries, demographics and job roles.
The job site specializes in the assisting the region’s top employers in their recruitment needs by offering them the tools needed to find Mena's top talent, as well as being a leader in the region in investing to understand and cater to the patterns and issues related to talent localization – a hot topic across the Middle East.

“Today’s workshop focused heavily on how companies and managers can use social media to assess hiring decisions,” said Assaf.

"As an employer… social media has the potential to offer a gold mine of information about a candidate. That’s why we launched Bayt.com Specialties earlier this year. It’s a platform where professionals can establish an active online presence and dialogue as expert in their field, as well as expand their circle of connections, get endorsed by other experts, and get ranked by peers," he explained.

"As an employer, not only can you learn exactly how a potential candidate thinks based on their interactions on Bayt.com Specialties, you can also filter through badges, specialties, and ask questions directly to see how people compare! It adds amazing depth and detail to what you know about a candidate and allows an unrivalled insight into professionals’ skills, abilities and interests," he added.

Bayt.com Specialties was launched in July 2013 with the objective of helping professionals to express thought leadership, enhance professional networking and build professional visibility.

As of today Bayt.com Specialties already has over 80,000 active professional specialties, ranging from “Graphic Design” to “Oracle”to “Recruitment,” said Assaf.

Thousands of members are engaged on the platform on a monthly basis, generating over 250,000 question and answers which serve to lend breadth and depth to career discourse and dialogue as well as to provide a state-of-the-art, innovative, highly dynamic and interactive value-added dimension to the traditional job board and social media recruitment processes, he added.-TradeArabia News Service