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June isn’t only the month of summer solstice, but also the graduation month for most of the local and international senior students, so whether you are a fresh MENA graduate searching for a full-time position, or even a junior searching for a part-time job or a training this summer vacation, this is the ultimate list for you...

6 – Waseet

No. of available jobs: ca. 4,000

Diversity of sectors: 24

Geographic range: 9 countries, each with a localized version.

Arabic availability: Yes

Mobile app: No

Signing up: Not required to apply for any job. Mostly phone numbers of the employers are available, or alternatively, you can email the employer through an online form.

Fees: Free for job seekers and employers.

Searchability of jobs: Moderate with 5 search filters.

Social Media presence: Quarter a million on Facebook, but no Twitter presence at all.

Design: Acceptable. The UI is basic, yet messy.

ArabNet Startup Database: No way! The company dates back to the First Gulf War.

Visits: Nearly 1 million monthly, according to Traffic Estimate, but this includes all the other services, since the recruitment section doesn’t have an individual landing page, but rather a separate localized page for each country. Alexa rank is 21,092.

No. of available applicants/CVs (for employers): 42

In a nutshell: This is the only website in the whole list that isn’t 100% recruitment focused, because the Kuwaiti-Syrian venture, which was founded in 1992, runs classified newspapers, magazines, and outdoor advertising among others. The venture was digitized in 2006, but apparently it hasn’t embraced web 2.0 yet. One thing that will let the tech-savvy generation down is that the website doesn’t enjoy much of tech-oriented jobs, but rather old school occupations and crafts.

5 – Laimoon

No. of available jobs: 5,848

Diversity of sectors: 23

Geographic range: UAE only

Arabic availability: No

Mobile app: No. I wasn’t even able to navigate the mobile site without signing in.

Signing up: Required to apply for any job. You can sign up using LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, but you’ll still be required to fill in your background information in 13 interactive pages, which renders signing up using LinkedIn useless. Some jobs require redirection to the employer’s website to apply there.

Fees: Free for job seekers. For employers, there is a free 30-day job posting offer, which can’t be refused.

Searchability of jobs: Easy

Social Media presence: Last Facebook post was 12 days ago. Last tweet was 15 years ago (jk). But they maintain a good blog.

Design: Laimoon’s UI is interactive and lovely, but the website neither have a header nor a logo, which is apparently an old problem.

ArabNet Startup Database: Yes

Visits: Nearly 300,000 monthly. Alexa rank is 79,117.

No. of available applicants/CVs (for employers): 178,000 members in the UAE and Qatar, according to the website.

In a nutshell: This website constitutes the narrowest-geographic scale of the list, but it does have the potential to expand and compete with the market leaders, especially that it comes from the founders of Zawya. We once had an interesting interview with Ihsan Jawad.

4 – Akhtaboot

No. of available jobs: ca. 4,000

Diversity of sectors: 25

Geographic range: 9 countries

Arabic availability: Yes

Mobile app: No

Signing up: Required to apply for any job.

Fees: Free for job seekers. Employers can choose a subscription package from very flexible plans.

Searchability of jobs: Pretty easy with 4 search filters.

Social Media presence: Very good. The website has profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube (although last video was 1 year ago), Pinterest, and Google+, in addition to an active blog.

Design: Cool and simple. Orange color spreads optimism and energy over the website. Duh! I just like orange.

ArabNet Startup Database: No

Visits: Nearly 370,000 monthly. Alexa rank is 62,383.

No. of available applicants/CVs (for employers): Unknown

In a nutshell: A rich website that will fit everyone’s search. The company has a CSR initiative. It’s based in Jordan but serves the whole region. The team behind the website has a clear vision and a neat execution. They claim that they’re “the only career network in the Levant and the GCC region that utilize Internet, radio, newspaper and magazine advertising for employer job vacancies”, and I don’t have anything to think or say otherwise.

3 – Gulf Talent

No. of available jobs: ca. 4,500

Diversity of sectors: >25

Geographic range: Worldwide

Arabic availability: Partial

Mobile app: No

Signing up: Required to apply for any job. You can sign up using Facebook.

Fees: Free for job seekers. Employers can post their jobs by calling the customer service number for subscription details, or signing up and waiting for the CS call. Fees are undisclosed online which is uninviting, especially for an e-commerce website.

Searchability of jobs: Easy with 4 search filters. There’s also a salary search.

Social Media presence: Absent on Twitter, and only one Facebook post.

Design: Basic, but who really cares about design, if you’re actually searching for a job?

ArabNet Startup Database: No

Visits: Nearly 1,600,000 monthly. Alexa rank is 10,474.

No. of available applicants/CVs (for employers): 3 million, according to the website.

In a nutshell: A good website with lots of job opportunities, various sectors, and outstanding traffic, however I had a hard time finding it online, since it’s landlocked with no social channels. I knew about it through fax, I mean word of mouth. The website was founded in 2005.

2 – Wuzzuf

No. of available jobs: 502

Diversity of sectors: 18. Mostly IT and engineering related.

Geographic range: main focus on Egypt, with plans to expand in the near future

Arabic availability: No, but it’ll be available soon. At the mean time, the Arabic section redirects you to Tanqeeb search engine.

Mobile app: No

Signing up: Required to apply for any job. You can sign up using Facebook.

Fees: Free for job seekers. Employers can choose from 4 straightforward pricing plans, with a 14-day free trial.

Searchability of jobs: Moderate with 8 search filters. The internal pages don’t have a search button, unless you sign in. And after signing in, the search button is listed under “My Jobs”!

Social Media presence: Not too bad, with an active Facebook and Twitter.

Design: Simple and down-to-earth.

ArabNet Startup Database: No

Visits: Nearly 245,000 monthly. Alexa rank is 99,439.

No. of available applicants/CVs (for employers): more than 150,000

In a nutshell: Wuzzuf was born one year ago as a merge between Basharjobs’ matching algorithm and CareerMidEast +200,000 profiles at the time. A very promising platform that has a huge potential. 

1 – Bayt

No. of available jobs: >17,000

Diversity of sectors: 93

Geographic range: Worldwide, plus 17 localized versions.

Arabic availability: Yes, and French as well.

Mobile app: Yes

Signing up: Required to apply for any job. You can sign up using Facebook.

Fees: Free for job seekers. Employers can post their jobs for free, but only for 30 days. Several packages are available for the premium posting. Moreover, packages for CV search and database access range from $675 to $9,000.

Searchability of jobs: Pretty easy. There’s an advanced search enhanced with 10 search filters. There’s also a salary search.

Social Media presence: Exceptional. The website has +222 fans on Facebook, and +36,000 followers on Twitter, in addition to an active YouTube channel, Google+ and a blog.

Design: Great

ArabNet Startup Database: No

Visits: 8 million monthly. Alexa rank stands tall at a four-figure number worth 1,775.

No. of available applicants/CVs (for employers): Staggering 12 million, according to the website.

In a nutshell: The number-one destination to go, whether you’re a job seeker or an employer. The pricing plans are more expensive than other services, but everything comes with a price, my friend. The website was founded in 2000, and it’s the best in the Arab world, if not in the Middle East and North Africa all combined. The company has several arms, including CSR. The website has a special partnership with Wzayef, as some of the latter’s openings redirect applicants to Bayt.

In the end, it’s worthy to mention that ArabNet has just launched its beta version of ArabNet Job Board. It’s free to post your jobs, however you can boost your chances of finding the right candidate by paying $50 to feature it on the website and the Facebook page. On the other side, applicants can fill in their applications, and send them directly to job employers through ArabNet Job Board.

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