A full 76 per cent of recruiters surveyed in the GCC region expect to hire new employees in the second half of the year, which is up from 50 per cent during the same period last year. Neil Parmar discusses hopes the GGC is about to start hiring again this year Fewer hiring experts also expect there to be lay offs, according to Naukrigulf.com, which conducted the biannual survey. But while the demand for new workers may be picking up across a number of sectors, 63 per cent of recruiters warn they are facing a "talent crunch" when hiring new employees. More than half of recruiters also say this issue is true while seeking Nationals and Arabs to fill positions, according to data from Naukrigulf.com. "Companies are still gearing up to figuring out how to hire talents and skill-build them," says Tarun Aggarwal, business head of Naukrigulf.com. "It's still a work in progress. It will take some time to fully become efficient," he adds. A number of companies, including Emaar Hospitality Group, Al Futtaim Group and du have either created or expanded special training programmes this summer. To find out more about their strategies, as well as additional results from Naukrigulf.com's survey, turn to business pages of The National.