RESEARCH: Skills learned whilst gaming help Saudi youth land first jobs?
Gaming is helping equip Gen-Z in Saudi Arabia and the UAE with skills that could help them land their first jobs according to a new study.
The research, commissioned by YouTube and conducted by Censuswide, revealed that 87% (in Saudi Arabia & 80% in the UAE) of recruiters are more likely to hire someone who is a gamer and can talk about the skills they have developed gaming. While 63% (in Saudi Arabia & 63% in the UAE) of Gen-Z gaming respondents agreed that gaming has given them the confidence to tackle problems in the working world, only 38% said they’d mention it in an interview or on their CV. The survey supports existing research on how gaming helps equip its players with valuable transferable skills.
When asked about the skills they look for most when hiring someone for an entry-level role, recruiters deemed problem solving (43% in Saudi Arabia and 54% in UAE), good communication (38% in Saudi Arabia and 46% in UAE) and staying calm under pressure (38% in Saudi Arabia and 42% in UAE) as the most valuable.
Cross referencing that with the skills young people say gamers are most likely to have, 70% (in Saudi Arabia and 74% in UAE) of respondents agreed that engaging with their fellow gamers on platforms helped them be more confident communicators, a skill highly coveted by recruiters.
The ability to communicate and engage with like minded people on topics of interest is key to the YouTube experience and that includes YouTube's large gaming community. For example, YouTube recently announced that total views for gaming-related content surpassed 2 trillion in 2022, and as of December of last year gaming-related content brought in more than 500 million logged-in daily active viewers and more than 120 billion hours of watch time.
In Saudi Arabia, some of the top gaming creators such as BanderitaX, oPiilz Saleh, ShongxBong,oCMz and Meshael MR have over 33.5 million subscribers combined and over 9.5 billion public views on YouTube. The gaming community is also strong in the UAE, where some of the top UAE-based gaming creators like
Rima, Basharkk, ZayedGaming and KhaliDasEC0 have more than 10 million subscribers combined and over 2 billion public views on YouTube.
