"Skills can be learnt" - Talabat's team shares recruitment insights

نص الحلقة :

Ada Iriso Yeah so, Talabat is really known as a top employer, not only in the region but worldwide, I'd say, So we are a value driven organization, So we look for people who represents our values on a daily basis, So w behavioral questions and I think through behavioral questions we get to understand how this person really is other than looking at their CV or you know what that piece of paper says, so, getting to understand the person on a personal basis 

Christine Hello and welcome to Career Fit With Christine podcast, Join us today so you can find your dream job where we'll be exploring exciting career opportunities. I'm your host, Christine, with over 12 years experience in people management and talent acquisition, And today we have an episode that is sure to spark your career ambitions, We are diving into the vibrant job market of the UAE and Middle East, Whether you are already considering a move to the UAE or just curious about the possibilities, we have got you covered, We'd be discussing the ins and outs of working in the UAE, from job sectors that are booming to tips on making a smooth transition, so stay tuned you will be able to apply to the mentioned jobs in this podcast through the link that will be shared in the podcast description, and make sure to share this insightful interview with your friends, We are also looking to find their dream job, So today we have two of Talabat's Senior Talent Acquisition Managers, We have Bana Akram, Senior Talent Acquisition Manager and Ada Iriso Talent Acquisition Manager, and she's also heading the employee branding, Welcome bana and Ada So can you introduce yourself and also tell us more about your current roles in Talabat  

Bana Akram Sure thank you Christine, I'm very happy to do this podcast with you, I'm The Senior Manager for Talent Acquisition in Talabat, so I take care of regional logistics and local logistics across 8 countries I take care of food services across the GCC countries, and I'm take care of Iraq It was our, part of our international expansions, where we, a launched in 5 cities, and I also take care of shared service center, and I also take care of Emiratization 

Christine Wow, very interesting a lot to do 

Bana Akram sure exactly a lot to do 

Christine I think, very challenging day 

Bana Akram Every day in Talabat 

?Christine That's interesting, so, you said that you're also heading the shared services 

Bana Akram Yes 

?Christine So what do you mean by the shared services center

Bana Akram So it's our call center that's based out of Egypt so, the shared service team take care of all the queries and any, complaints that they get from; the team in Egypt and the regional teams across the countries 

Christine Okay Welcome Bana 

Bana Akram Thank you Christine 

Christine So let's go to Ada 

Ada Iriso Hey, Christine, thank you so much for having us in the show today, So my name is Ada, I'm a part of the talent acquisition team, I lead the product and design hiring for Talabat, And I also take care of Employer Branding right now, within Talabat also 

Christine Very nice Welcome Ada 

Ada Iriso Thank you 

Christine So again, welcome, Bana and Ada, Today they will be taking us on a tour through their talent acquisition needs for 2024 and tips for candidates to land the dream job within Talabat, So let's take a helicopter view on your current and future talent acquisition needs, as well as Talabat's culture, So let's start with Talabat's Culture and this question is for you Ada since you are heading the Employee Branding, so what are the current ??initiatives and programs that are in place to promote well-being and professional development for your employee 

Ada Iriso So that's a great question I love that question, And a lot of my candidates always ask me this, but I've been in Talabat for a lot of years right now, And it just keeps on getting better, so we have several different initiatives that are broken down into supporting, you know, our employee wellbeing as well as the professional development, So within employee well-being, we actually just wrapped up the the Dubai Fitness Challenge, We had a fitness challenge across, all our UAE markets where we had internal initiatives like fun challenges every day in the office, as well as external challenges where we would go biking in Al-Qudra or go for a 5K run, So we tried to involve everyone in this, and I thought it was a lot of fun We would come in at ten in the morning and we would see people doing push ups in the office, so it's quite fun and challenging too, but other than that, we focus a lot on professional development, and I think that's, a key aspect of Talabat, So one of the many initiatives that we had was the Talabat's Learning Conference, And this actually span across all our different markets, so it was one day fully dedicated for our employees, so we put the stop button to work, And we were just back to back on several different initiatives that the learning and development team put together where we had internal speakers, We had external speakers, and it was all focused on growing all our Talabat-y in the organization; Some other interesting initiatives that we have is something called T-Speaks, so T-Speaks is our four month program where we have any Talabat you can basically join if you want to get better at public speaking, at doing presentations, and we're culture of presentations, we're a culture of, you know, being a very active and it was a very successful program, we had a lot of people sign up, they were competing across all the regions, so this was not only UAE, but across the 8 different markets 

?Christine So what are the exact topics that the sign up for to to learn

Ada Iriso It was very random It could be about anything, they were learning anything from how to pitch yourself in front of C-level to maybe talking about your recent trip to Jordan or anything, and it could be anything 

Christine And then you would get speakers from outside or people from inside who volunteered to 

Ada Iriso So our learning and development team put a program together where they would train, these Talabat-y on little tips and tricks on how to speak in public, so then we had a few finalists and, they, they presented in front of the whole organization, and we had a lot of fun speakers and a lot of fun 

Christine I love this 

Ada Iriso and stories yes 

?Christine Ok, So how would you define your current employer brand and how do you think it's perceived in the market as well 

Ada Iriso Yeah so, Talabat is really known as a top employer, not only in the region but worldwide I'd say, and this is because we actually have followers from all over the world, the Americas, we have a lot of people in Brazil, actually We have people in, in Africa and in Southeast Asia, and obviously in the MENA region, as this is where we're based, but we've been working a lot on employer branding, not only externally but internally I think it comes from within the company as well, so we talk a lot about our values and teaching internally what our values mean, and externally it's by kind of increasing Talabat's brand and how we're perceived in, in the market this can be through different campaigns that we do with with our employees, we had a fun series showcasing our designers recently, so that gives kind of awareness of who we are and how we are internally 

Christine Yeah, and we believe that your employees are your biggest advocates, so if they are your advocates for the culture, then it's it's much easier job for you 

.Ada Iriso Yes, exactly so they're the voice of our brand 

Christine Yeah 

Ada Iriso Yeah, so as I mentioned, yeah, we have followers all across the world, and we definitely create a very welcoming, and friendly environment within our organization, So our people are proud of what we've accomplished like you mentioned, you know, they're the brand ambassadors of Talabat, so we actually officially just got a Great Place to Work certified for another consecutive year, as well as best place to work for parents 

?Christine Very impressive, can you tell me more? What are you doing so you got The Best Place to Work for parents 

Ada Iriso Yes, so we do a lot of things first of all, I want to highlight that we have an amazing office in CityWalk, actually, two offices, one for a regional team and one for a local team, But we have well-being rooms and we have nursing rooms for the mothers, and we also do celebratory leave, that we, we provide, you know, to celebrate your birthday or anything that you want to do any celebration, so yeah, those are a few 

?Christine So what is the well-being room 

Ada Iriso  The wellbeing room is a room where we have a little lounge chair it's it's kind of a Zen room where you come and disconnect a little bit from the day to day that you're doing within the office, It's a little bit separated from the rest of the office, so you get some time for yourself, You get to disconnect, you have some music there It's quiet and calm, so yeah 

Christine Amazing 

Ada Iriso Yeah, very popular room

.Christine I'm already picturing how it looks like

Ada Iriso Yes 

Christine some plants, lights 

Ada Iriso Exactly, It's got some plants and some nice lights, So it's very, very relaxing 

Christine I'm already there 

Ada Iriso And I think it has a little fountain too, so 

?Christine Oh wow wow Ok, How does the company attract top talent and what roles does your culture play in the recruitment process

Ada Iriso All right, So I really like this question and I feel like I could talk about this topic forever But, attracting top talents really comes from the from the company values and the culture that we bring, which is shown through our employer branding or our brand ambassadors, let's say internally, but I think it's important to highlight to other candidates the company values, the mission that we have as Talabat 

?Christine So what are the company values

Ada Iriso So, Bana will talk a little bit about this, but we have three main values that she will emphasize on 

Christine Can't wait to hear 

Ada Iriso Yes, They they're they resonates with everyone differently, but it's one core message let's say with these values, so then I, I'd say that the development of our current talent is another way that that we would attract potential employees and retain current employees through the growth opportunities, through the training programs that I previously mentioned 

?Christine was going to ask you this next, like, what are the strategies to to retain your top employees

Ada Iriso Yes, so I'd say through those growth opportunities, again the training programs is a big one for us, We also have a lot of internal mobility within the organization, I think we have been on a constant high percentage a year on year, the past 4 years that I a have been in the organization, so we foster that flexibility internally, We've had success stories of people moving from sales department to product management, we've had people from marketing moving to, to other departments 

So how do you do that?, You identify them or they come up and say, hello, I'm interested to explore in new career opportunity 

Ada Iriso Yeah, I think it's both ways. They, come to us as a safe zone of saying, hey, listen, I want to do this step, maybe now, maybe next quarter, How do I get there? I have probably done XYZ that I've done, training programs with learning and development, So our talent development team, so there are a few ways, but usually they show interest and we work with them to, you know, have a successful, let's say, interview process for them to move internally, So I think, just to add on that, not only does the pre-recruitment aspect of attracting the talent matter, but also it's the post hire-process, so we have a team for onboarding that takes care of all our candidates, once they've signed their offers with us where we make sure and guarantee that they have a successful onboarding with Talabat, make sure that they understand the culture, the values to be taken care of, let's say, and it's a sense of belonging, you know, your first week, your your first month, You want to make sure that you meet the right decision 

?Christine How long is the onboarding process

Ada Iriso So we've got a 30, 60, 90 plan in place, Onboarding technically is one full week with the onboarding team, but then the hiring managers are expected to have that success plan for them for the first 90 days, so we keep really close contact with the candidates also once they've joined, we make sure that everything is going smoothly for them, and we have a lot of people moving from out of CS, I mean, we're 75+ nationalities are Talabat, So literally from everywhere, so we want to make sure that they have the best process 

Christine So how do you ensure also the onboarding process is going well and all for the other 7 countries 

Ada Iriso We have an extensive team, we have a very large team that takes care of everything once you know, they once a candidate signs right away, they are looped in with 3 or 4 different people that will make sure that, let's say, everything from their visas to their hotel sta to making sure that their first week is fully organized, that all of that is set in place 

Christine Perfect 

Ada Iriso Yeah 

Christine Thank you so much, Ada It's very insightful, You like you took us really through Talabat, like, I can now imagine how the offices look like and how do the people feel and their vibes and how everything is happening there, So Bana this question is for you I'm really curious to know how big is Talabat 

Bana Akram So I would say we're above 4000 employees, we have offices and operations across 8 countries, and we have a couple of offices across most of the Emirates here locally, and I also would like to add that we have a tech hub in the UAE and a tech hub in Egypt 

Christine Okay interesting, So Bana, what are the usual hot roles the Talabat usually hired for? Is it always related to tech and design or It's for other departments 

Bana Akram So we do, offices We do have a large number of recruitment every year and, we do have a big number of roles that we hire for tech and product, but majority of our roles as well, comes across our Q-Commerce department, market and functions, food services, our SSC department, so I think it lines across all different departments 

Christine Well, that's very surprising because as a Talabat user, in my mind, it's only about tech and design and that's it then this is how I see the app, So how do you prefer to hire for these roles? Do you usually look for them from competitors or you look them from outside the market to bring in new experience 

Bana Akram Must be industry relevant when hiring for senior leadership roles, but not limited to competitors If we limit our talent strategy to competitors only, we will miss out on a large percentage of local talent, so we aim to often focus on internet, digital space, logistics, fintech, e-commerce or tech, and for some roles, we also do focus, to get people from the consulting firms 

Christine Okay, very nice 

Bana Akram So it depends on the roles and the departments, etc  

?Christine So what about the fresh grads? Do you usually take a lot of fresh grads 

Bana Akram Yes we do for for entry level roles and we do have, we do have university visits that we do throughout the years 

Christine The career fairs 

Bana Akram Yes the career fairs 

Christine You take part 

Bana Akram Yes definitely 

?Christine Very nice, Ok, So since you're mentioning, when hiring for senior leadership roles, what is the leadership style that you usually look for when you're hiring for such roles

Bana Akram So we are a value driven organization, so we look for people who represent our values on daily basis, so our values are, I'll start with the first one Experience First so focusing on what matters and being customer centric by spreading a culture of customer centricity to all levels and of the organization, our second value is Make It Happen, so by creating empowerment and ownership to deliver results, Again Talabat's vision and strategy, as well as Poblem Solving by being capable of thinking outside the box to unlock new opportunities, and being capable of anticipating and formulating challenges ahead and providing solutions; Our third value is Together We Grow, which is all about how we value diversity and inclusion and how we can foster a culture of feedback because we believe with the two hand-in-hand, it would be a great recipe for our employees to grow 

?Christine Very interesting, So which one is the closest to your heart

Bana Akram For me? Make It Happen 

Christine Okay 

Bana Akram Yeah 

Christine So 

Bana Akram Especially with the fast paced environment that we have 

Christine And everything's changing every day, yeah, so this question is for you, Ada, So speaking about the values of Talabat, How do you make sure when you're interviewing a candidate that they would be able to live these values

Ada Iriso Yeah So very very nice question I think that's basically a huge chunk of our work and how we talk to candidates is based on these three values that Bana shared, I think there's no direct answer that I can give you, but usually what we try and do is use several different interview technique methods or interview questions that we could maybe gather some insights from, from them as, as persons, right as people, not as person X has has achieved X percent target on a year, so we do behavioral questions and I think through behavioral questions we get to understand how this person really is other than looking at their CV or you know what that piece of paper says, so getting to understand the person on a personal basis nearly, And we build that relationship with other candidates, where we speak to them on WhatsApp, where we're constantly in contact with them at every stage of the interview process, so we check in with them and I think that's how you get to to know a person, to really know that person and then eventually, you know, they they show the type of values that they believe in and you can see through that process 

Christine I love that I love the how we do and build the connection with the candidates even before they join and then you let them feel that they are part of the culture and the company 

Ada Iriso Exactly, yes we do a very personalized process for them 

Christine And I love the fact also that you're looking for the behaviors beyond the experience and the technical experience 

Ada Iriso I think 

Christine that's what matters now 

Ada Iriso Exactly I think, the technical aspect could be learnt in the job, a big part of it is we can't really train for behavior, You have .. I mean your behavior is set 

Christine Yeah 

Ada Iriso So yeah, that's a very important one 

Christine But that's also my philosophy when hiring for any position is I look for the behaviors, look for the attitude and then the skills, technical skills, can be learnt in no time if you have the right person 

Ada Iriso Yeah, and we work A lot with our hiring managers also to have them understand that maybe if the person isn't 100% technical, you know you can teach them That's why we have all these developments programs

Christine How challenging is, tell about it 

Ada Iriso Yes we spend a lot of hours with the hiring managers but we we love that, relationship 

Christine I can totally relate 

Ada Iriso Yeah 

Christine So now I would like to share with the audience some, numbers and insights about the unemployment rates and employment rates in the Middle East and UAE, so currently, the unemployment rate for the Middle East for 2023 stands at 9.2%, while for the UAE it's 2.6% only, so the good thing is, for 2024, this percentage for the year will go down to 2.45%, which means more opportunities and openings for the candidates and even more international candidates can come to the UAE, Which is very promising, So Bana, since you are having Emiratisation, can you tell us more about the hiring process and what's the time to hire per role

Bana Akram So we start by screening candidates, that we have sourced from, a few, sourcing channels that we use, for example, LinkedIn, Nafis, Gulf talent, we also do rely on referrals from the current Emirati hires that we have in the company, They usually give us great referrals, we do what we do get also applicants from, the career visits that we do 

?Christine To the universities

Bana Akram Yes, exactly and then so that starts so after we screen, we have technical fit interviews with the hiring managers, and then we have cultural fit interviews with our HR business partners, then goes through offer management stage, Then we close the role, usually the average of roles are of closing, The average time to hire is around 30 days, but for some senior roles, it does take longer to find the right candidate so I would say around 45 days for more senior roles and we also do, hiring days in Talabat 

Christine Okay 

Bana Akram So we do a couple of them a year, so usually we invite all the candidates we have sourced and screened, to come for an open day and we have different interview panels that includes our hiring managers and the HR VPs and, that's the day after that's the day where we make a decision on the candidates, So usually the time of hire for that usually goes down to 15 days 

?Christine Nice, so usually what's the, the flow of communication with the candidates after the interview, like how often do you give feedback

Bana Akram We are very good in giving feedback like as soon as we get feedback, we update them and even if we don't get feedback, we update them We update them on the process, We update them about where the feedback is going, what is the feedback?, When should they expect an offer?, so so we are quite good at that  

Christine Yeah, perfect because usually this is  

Bana Akram We make sure the candidate experience so 

Christine They are not disappointed 

Bana Akram Exactly goes back to our first value, Experience First

?Christine Yeah yeah Very interesting So what are the current open roles for Emiratisation

Bana Akram So fortunately we closed majority of our roles for this year so that's great 

Christine Congratulations! We should celebrate

Bana Akram We do have 2 roles Associate Tax role and an Associate Public Affair, but now, we're working on the plan for 2024, so we will be having roles across all our different departments 

?Christine For Emiratisation as well, right

Bana Akram of course 

Christine Perfect 

Bana Akram So it's one of our main priorities for the for next year as well 

?Christine Okay perfect, so what specific skills or qualifications are crucial for today's job marke 

Bana Akram So I would say strong communication and interpersonal skills. It's very important for today's dynamic job markets, I would also add fundamental computer proficiency including G-suite, and Microsoft suite, etc.  and I also say, is very important for us, for candidates to be agile and adaptable, can hit the ground running, as Talabat, is a very fast paced, has a very fast paced environment so this is the main things that I say I look for

Christine All goes back to your values 

Bana Akram 100% 

Christine That's all It's all everything's aligned and 

Bana Akram Yeah for sure like you said, we do look for the values more than we look for especially for Emiratis, for the technical skills

?Christine Perfect, So Ada and Bana, this is our last question, and we would love to share with our audience some insights and tips and how to write the perfect CV; So how does it look like

Ada Iriso Okay, so I'll take this, this, question basically, I think it starts by the basics of a CV should be free of spelling mistakes, make sure that you proofread your CV several different times, Make sure that friends review your CV because we don't want, grammatical errors in there, Secondly, I'd say also keep it concise, don't do too many pages, it also depends on your experience, but 1 to 2 pages is usually what what is 

Christine Enough 

Ada Iriso Enough, Yeah, exactly, and then I'd say to focus a lot on data proficiency, make sure you highlight key achievements, show the data that you've previously maybe achieved, so that will help us also get a little bit more of an understanding to things that you've accomplished previously

?Christine Perfect what about you, Bana? what do you think

Bana Akram So, my recommendations, especially for, Emirati candidates, to have sufficient information on their CV is, like any to add any projects or internships that they worked on, especially for the entry level candidates, to include their full contact details so that they are reachable, mention if they have a family book or not, This is all, helpful information for us to be able to scream them properly, and if they would like to add a photo to, it would be great, if they add professional photos, like avoid any filters or selfies, etc  So this is my recommendations 

Christine Very insightful and very informative, Thank you so much Bana and Ada for today, So I think we didn't only take a helicopter view of Talabat, We went really inside Talabat, I can now have a better understanding a picture of Talabat culture, the values, Thank you so much again for coming today 

Bana Akram Thank you for having us. We enjoyed 

Christine Me as well