Case Study: King Abdullah Economic City achieves 70% of hires and 300% LinkedIn follower growth with LinkedIn Talent Solutions

King Abdullah Economic City - Customer Case Study

King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), developed by Emaar, The Economic City, is a large-scale new-city megaproject in Saudi Arabia that needed to build a talent function from scratch. The recruitment team faced the dual challenge of promoting the city as an employer and rapidly sourcing senior local and international executives while reducing dependence on expensive, slow headhunters and improving candidate fit.

By adopting LinkedIn Talent Solutions and shifting to proactive sourcing (Recruiter, InMails and targeted employer-brand campaigns), EEC streamlined hiring and reached passive global talent. Results included 70% of hires sourced through LinkedIn (79 mid-to-senior hires in 2015), a 300% year‑on‑year growth in LinkedIn followers to over 30k, faster and lower‑cost executive hires, and a Saudisation rate nearly double the required percentage.

King Abdullah Economic City

Abdulrahman Hafez

Manager of Talent Acquisition