Have You Established Your Careers Presence on the Dubai Social Media Scene?

Its looks like 2012 was the year that social media really went big in the Middle East, especially in Dubai. The figures that were reported in March earlier this year in The National showed that nearly one million people in the Emirates had joined Linked-In, the site through which you can network and market your skills and find out about Dubai job opportunities.

What is astounding about these figures is that social media usage in the Emirates is higher than in any other Arab country, and much higher than countries with much larger populations, for example Saudi Arabia has only 600,000 members and Egypt has 500,000 members. Nearly, 16% of the working population in the Emirates are now using Linked-In and if you want to progress in the professional sector in Dubai you must have a first class Linked-In profile and all-round professional brand on social media.

As well as this, 2012 has seen the physical arrival of both Facebook and Linked-In in Dubai with Linked-In just having opened its new office in Dubai Internet City. Linked-In will be looking to sell corporate recruiting services from the Dubai office. This move from Linked-In was most likely in response to the launch of AreebaAreeba, (the office of which is based in Dubai), which is a new social network geared towards residents of the Arab world and which had reached 650,000 registered users by the end of last year.

Social media job search scene in Dubai is hotting up

This all points to the fact that the social media scene is hotting up in Dubai. You can expect more opportunities for social media jobs as Linked-In, Facebook and AreebaAreeba expand their presence. And with the Linked-In office actively set up to sell recruitment services you can expect that more and more of the Dubai jobs (no matter which industry sector) will be advertised via social media. And if you aren’t effectively established on Linked-In and the main social media channels you will be missing opportunities and falling behind your peers when competing for jobs in Dubai.

Make your mark on Linked-In

But, establishing a sold career presence on the Dubai social media scene is not just about registering an account. If you want to generate job leads and career opportunities you must do more than register an account but you must construct a professional profile and develop a personal brand that is reflected across your social media profile. Our recommended starting point is Linked-In and we suggest you build your professional and personal profile here and then construct your wider social media profile including, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Areeba Areeba in-line with your Linked-In profile. This is to ensure that you have a consistent professional brand.

So, to help you to firmly establish your social media professional brand – so you can tap into a growing jobs market in Dubai – we have outlined several tips to make your Linked-In profile shine, and these are:

1. Fully Complete your Linked-In Profile in as users with fully complete Linked-In profiles are 40 times (yes 40 times) more likely to be contacted with job opportunities, according to Linked-In.
2. Ensure your contact setting show that you are open to hearing about job and career opportunities, so recruiters know you are worth approaching. Many people forget to do this.
3. Create a striking personal headline that will draw the eye of recruiters when they see it in search results.
4. Prepare a professional photo which is of high quality and in which you are wearing formal attire, well groomed and ideally in a professional setting. You must look the part.
5. Prepare a compelling personal summary that differentiates you from your peers; take the time to do this as this should act as your personal branding statement, outlining your main skills and competencies but importantly you must ensure that it reflects your unique personal qualities or approach which differentiates you from the competition.
6. Make use of the Slideshare App as this is a great application for showcasing your professional portfolio of work.

About the author

Kazim Ladimeji is the Director of thecareercafe.co.uk—a resource for start-ups, small business and job seekers. It includes a blog with career and small business advice articles. Kazim is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and has been a practising HR professional for 14 years.

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