• Tell us about you, your experience, and your time in the Middle East.

I come from Lebanon, a small Mediterranean country, home to Gebran Khalil Gebran, the cedars and Byblos, one of the oldest cities in the world.  I obtained my Master of Science in software engineering from France. Subsequently, I moved back to Lebanon where I worked over two decades in the field of business development in the enterprise software industry. I decided to move to the UAE in 2015 to start an exciting new journey that has been a rewarding learning experience and a great networking opportunity with like-minded professionals in the field of technology. It is no secret that the UAE is a vibrant and dynamic business environment, providing access to international markets and empowering innovative start-ups and ideas. Also, and from a social and personal standpoint, my stay in the UAE has been a really great opportunity for learning about different cultures and broadening my personal experience, especially since the UAE is home to around 200 nationalities.

• You describe your company as an “agency recruitment marketplace”. In simple terms, what does your company do? And what distinguishes it from recruitment agencies?

Let me start by clarifying a misconception about the role of Ubidy; we are not a recruitment agency, and we are not a job board platform. We are technology innovators who have introduced the modern way of doing recruitment for the 21^st century, as the traditional recruitment practices are not sufficient anymore in keeping up with the new challenges that employers are facing in talent acquisition and recruitment.

Ubidy is an online platform, in other words a ‘digital B2B global marketplace’, where we instantly connect employers to hundreds of the world’s best niche and specialist agencies in all corners of the globe. We help employers by providing them with on-demand, at-will access to work with a global panel of pre-qualified and expert recruiting agencies, and we are providing them with connections that they typically wouldn’t have. We are changing the way businesses find top talent across the world, as we are making it easier than ever for employers to find the right candidates in real-time. We are helping organizations find key people with unique skills that can transform their businesses.

• What innovative ways are you adopting in helping employers deal with contemporary challenges in their talent acquisition & recruitment processes?

Many employers today are still working with a limited number of agencies in traditional ways, communicating manually and offline and spending considerable time managing administrative and coordination tasks. We took this process to a whole new level by introducing an online platform providing advanced automation capabilities as well as centralized communication with all stakeholders in the recruitment process allowing for real-time visibility into the process.

Moreover, the platform offers employers a unique opportunity to instantly access hundreds of qualified and specialised agencies, which allows them to tap into a vast pool of, not only active, but also passive candidates that might not have been available otherwise. By the way, around 70% of talents are passive candidates who are not actively seeking new opportunities. This can be a game-changer for businesses that are looking to fill niche or hard-to-fill roles. So, without Ubidy, many employers would be limited to working with a smaller number of agencies and would miss out on the benefits of a wider network and passive candidate pool.

Another important point I want to mention here, is that in today’s fast-paced business environment, timely recruitment is essential for organizations to meet tight deadlines and budgets while ensuring that the right talent is in place to drive success. The talent acquisition team needs a system, such as Ubidy, that can keep up with the fast-paced nature of business, providing timely and punctual service to the operations team. It is crucial for the operations team to have the right hires from the first time and as soon as they need them to maintain productivity and drive project success. This helps our customer partners stay agile and competitive in this fast-paced world of business.

• Why did Ubidy decide to expand its scope to cover the Middle East region?

The Middle East is heading towards unprecedented growth in terms of projects and expansions related to many sectors such as renewable energy, smart cities, transportation, etc. Such large-scale projects would require top talents with special skills and competencies. Our significance lies in facilitating the connection between industries and their corresponding recruitment agencies worldwide. Large-scale projects necessitate the acquisition of global talents. Operating internationally enables us to promptly provide access to talents from all domains, including those that are new or sought-after by the industry.

More about Ubidy: https://youtu.be/H0dZWuKC-yc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ikazzaz/