LinkedIn Crosses One Million Members In Saudi

LinkedIn membership in Saudi Arabia has crossed the one million mark, the professional networking company has said, with the majority of members coming from industries such as construction, energy and healthcare.

The top three Saudi companies with the highest number of employees on the site included Saudi Aramco, SABIC and Saudi Telecoms Company (STC) while the top skills found in LinkedIn’s Saudi member base are management, sales and training.

Jamiat Al-Malik Saud and Jamiat Al-Malik Abdulaziz, students from the King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, occupied the top spots among LinkedIn’s student membership in the Kingdom.

Following the introduction of its University Pages last month, LinkedIn reduced the minimum age limit of its members to 13 years old, in a bid to tap into the growing student population.

LinkedIn also said the increasing smart-device penetration rate in the Kingdom has helped it to expand its membership base. Globally, over 33 per cent of its members access the website through mobile devices.

“It’s great to see over a million Saudi based professionals already using LinkedIn to give them the edge, not just in looking for new jobs, but to make them more productive and successful in the job they already have,” said Ali Matar, head of talent solutions, LinkedIn MENA.

LinkedIn also said its site has been increasingly used for recruitment by both private and public sector firms like STC and the Ministry of Commerce.

“LinkedIn is unique, in a way that it helps address a cross-section of our other stakeholders such as potential employees, partners, business segment, media and in certain cases even government, in addition to customers,” said Nawaf Saad Al-Shalani, general manager, corporate communications at Saudi Telecom Company.

Saudi telecoms providers Mobily and Zain KSA are utilising LinkedIn to deliver targeted advertising campaigns to clients and prospects.

LinkedIn launched its MENA operations in October 2012 and has nine million members in the region. The networking site has a global member base of over 238 million professionals.