Job Market: Moroccan Firms Triumph Over Foreign Multinationals

Now Hiring. Job Market in Morocco

Rabat – Moroccan firms triumph over foreign multinationals and maintain their popularity over future business talent

Employer branding thought leader, Universum Global, is present in more than fifty markets globally and conducts extensive research amongst students and young professionals. In 2015 Universum expanded its research into five African markets; Algeria, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. The recently released 2016 results for these regions raises some fascinating insights into the minds of young African talent.

In Morocco the research was conducted between November 2015 and June 2016 with 2,630 respondents across the Business, Engineering/ IT, Natural Sciences, Health Medicine, Humanities, and Law fields of study at 46 universities.

The 2016 results from Morocco show some fascinating and stark differences from their counterparts in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as some major changes from the 2015 survey.

Renowned national carrier, Royal Air Maroc, continues to win the hearts of Business students with an employer brand that is aligned with business student’s top preferences such as opportunities for international travel/relocation and a creative and dynamic work environment. Other top attractive employers among business students are local employers Bank Al-Maghrib and Bourse de Casablanca. Multinational company who beat its counterparts is L’Oréal Group. On the Engineering side, Groupe OCP maintained its no. 1 position, followed by multinational automotive company Renault and the national carrier Royal Air Maroc.

Claudia Tattanelli, Chairman of the Strategic Advisory Board at Universum, said: “Moroccan graduates believe that working with these prestigious employers will allow them to be in a work environment that is creative, where they will be equipped with training and skill development needed resulting having better opportunities for leadership role and career advancement.”

The findings reveal a shift in talent’s desire to work for some industries. Business students steer away from traditionally favoured sector like Professional Services, where we see drops in preference to work in this industry by 14% compared to last year. In the same time other sectors including tourism, fashion, accessories and luxurious goods as well as management and Strategic Consulting gain significant popularity in 2016.

When looking at Engineering students, Engineering and Manufacturing, Energy and Software and Computer Services sector still top the chart. However we see biggest drop (10%) from last year in industrial attractive in Software and Computer Service. Aerospace and Defence, Automobiles and Parts and Technology & Hardware Equipment sectors becomes more attractive to a certain extend (by around 5%) compared to last year.

Moroccan students appear to differ from their Nigerian, Ghanaian and Kenyan counterparts in that their career goals are focused more on a work-life balance, and to a lesser extent, on international travel or relocation opportunities, whereas Nigerian and Ghanaians are looking mainly for training, development, and leadership opportunities. Within the Moroccan survey the importance of travel and relocation within the Business sector is also in the decrease, falling from 2nd place to 5th place as a career goal.

Within the Engineering and Technology sectors in Morocco there were also some stark contrasts to the previous year’s survey.   In 2016, the career goal of being creative or entrepreneurial moved from 4th place to 1st place amongst those surveyed, while the goal of being autonomous or independent shot up from last (9th) place to 3rd place in a major attitude shift that sees Technology students starting to echo the sentiments of those in the Business sector and students in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana who also value this trait.

Claudia Tattanelli, Chairman of the Strategic Advisory Board at Universum, said: “It is clear across sectors that young professionals Moroccans are looking for workplaces that offer creativity, autonomy and a work-life balance. These traits are more in-line with European and American trends as opposed to sub-Saharan African trends that prioritise goals such as training, development and entrepreneurship. Young Moroccans are also more interested in Prestige than their Nigerian and Ghanaian counterparts who prioritize Money as a key employment goal.”

Students of all degree subjects said their top preferences for their future career were opportunities for international/relocation, recognising performance and innovation. Moroccan graduates expected an average monthly salary of 12,534 MAD per month in their first job.

“Universum’s research is a crucial tool in helping employers get an insight into what students are prioritising in their future careers, our insights for the African region is highlighting a number of insights that employers looking to do business across the continent need to take into account when reaching out to talent. It is clear that although there may be similarities across regions, every country has its own unique characteristics that need to be understood.” Said Mrs. Tattanelli.

2016 Top 10 most attractive employers (Business students)
2016 Top 10 most attractive employers (Business students)
2016 Top 10 most attractive employers (ENG/IT students)
2016 Top 10 most attractive employers (ENG/IT students)

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