The results of a poll conducted by dothealth jobs reveals that high cost of living is the biggest recruitment issue facing the Middle East’s healthcare sector in the next two years.

Forty per cent of those questioned in a new marketing research online poll put living costs as the biggest hurdle facing the industry.

The poll was conducted during January when rental costs were still high, but as the fall in residential rents witnessed across much of the Middle East continues, projections for later poll results will change in line with the correction occurring in the real estate market, according to Amit Chopra, online sales manager, dothealth jobs.

“I don’t think people working in the healthcare industry in this region are struggling financially,” he said.

“Although it can be expensive, this result suggests that medical professionals perhaps felt that high rents would put their contemporaries off from coming to the Middle East,” he added.

“When we run the poll I was expecting the issue of skills and experience of job candidates to be the main concern for the healthcare industry, and I think later results will show this to be the case.”

The shortage of qualified personnel was considered to be the second biggest issue facing the recruitment of individuals into healthcare in the region by 31 per cent of those polled.

The majority of those answering the poll consisted of medical professionals, healthcare managers, public sector employees and manufacturers and distributors of medical products.

dothealth jobs is the first, and only website portal dedicated to healthcare recruitment in the Middle East, and organisations operating in the region are now posting their vacancies online.

Farid Ahmed, HR Manager, Emaar Healthcare believes dothealth jobs is offering an important service.

“I think the concept of dothealth jobs is good,” he said. “It’s very specific with its own market. It needs to share information because it’s important for medical professionals to keep up with the latest news.”

“Using dothealth jobs gives us plenty of visibility. Proper marketing of the domain will attract more people to the website and this will allow us greater access to qualified professionals.”

Donna Cox, a recruitment consultant with Outsourcing Consultants has also started posting jobs on the site on behalf of clients.

“I like what I have experienced so far,” she said. “It’s still too early to comment if any candidates will be successful with the clients I have introduced them to, but I like the fact that it's industry specific, unlike other jobsites.”

The key benefit of dothealth jobs is the websites specificity, said Cox.

“[It’s] attracting relevant candidates and [we’re] able to advertise vacancies directly to the targeted sector,” she said.

Although dothealth jobs has only been operating for six weeks, Chopra explained that the level of interest being shown should allow the service to go from strength to strength.

“This is the only online website dedicated to recruitment of professionals in the healthcare sector in the Middle East. Our research showed that there was a desperate need for the vacuum between employers and prospective employees to be filled,” he said.

“I think if you consider the caliber and range of CVs being uploaded onto the site, and the diversity of jobs being listed in the short space of time we’ve been up and running, it illustrates perfectly the need for this service. We’re very hopeful for the future,” Chopra added. – TradeArabia News Service