PayPal plans to open an office in Dubai in 2013 as it looks to double its share of the region’s $9 billion online-payments market.

It is the fourth US internet giant this year to boost its activities in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), following moves by Facebook and LinkedIn to open offices at Dubai Internet City, and Twitter’s appointment of a local sales representative.

“We are currently looking for offices and will open one in the next few months. It will be the hub for the region,” said Elias Ghanem, general manger of PayPal Mena, at today’s launch of its Middle East operations.

If you have skills in e-commerce this may be a good time for you to contact or cold-call PayPal MENA to see if there are any job opportunities in Dubai.

As we have reported many times on this blog, Dubai and the UAE are expected to see a huge increase In jobs over the coming months and years; much of this is being driven by Dubai’s rapid population growth and the sustained growth of certain sectors such as tourism, construction and food/manufacturing.

However, while  certain jobs will rise as a result of changes in population, demographics and technology, equally certain jobs will decline considerably and will soon be extinct. In a recent article in the Dubai Chronicle they outlined five jobs that will soon be extinct and we have outlined these below and provided our own take on this. If you are currently in these careers or looking to enter these careers you might want to start doing some long term career planning and ready yourself to switch to another career.

Continue Reading »

According to a ‘Work Satisfaction in the MENA’ poll conducted by Bayt.com, the region’s number one job site,90% of employees in the region claim to be loyal to their company. However, 61% do not feel that they are well compensated in their current job. (If you are one of this 61%, why not read our recent article on asking for a payrise.

Overall, the majority (58%) of people in the MENA region are satisfied with their current employment, with 27% of these being ‘very satisfied’. Seven out of 10 (71%) like the company that they work for, while eight out of 10 (80%) are proud of their employer’s brand and 94% say that their job is meaningful to them.

Data for the Bayt.com “Work Satisfaction in the MENA” poll was collected online from September 13 – October 29, 2012, with 13,655 respondents covering more than 12 countries in the MENA region.

Employment Prospects

This underlines how great a place Dubai and MENA is for employees to come and work and build a career.

Bayt.com survey reveals online job portals ranked as most effective job-seeking technique by 70% of region’s fresh graduate job seekers

According to a recent “Fresh Graduates in the Middle East and North Africa Workplace” survey conducted by Bayt.com, the region’s number one job site and YouGov, a research and consulting organisation, the internet is the most effective source for fresh graduates seeking employment.

To find a new job, the survey’s respondents turn to the internet. When asked to rank job seeking resources in terms of effectiveness, 70% listed leading online job portals as their number one go-to. This was followed by company websites (67%); print media (65%); referrals (62%); social networking sites (55%); traditional recruitment companies (47%) and college placement centres (33%).

Despite not being highly ranked highly in effectiveness, four in 10 fresh graduates claim that referrals from family, friends and so on were most useful in finding their most recent job.

Those eligible include businessmen, property investors and tourists.

The UAE has allowed multiple entry visas in keeping with the requirements of some foreigners who need to visit the country from time to time, according to a report on emirates247.com.

A ministerial decree No. 418 of 2012 allowing for multiple entry visas was issued by Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior. Those eligible for the multiple entry visas include businessmen, property investors and tourists.

Conditions

However, in order for the multiple entry visas to be granted, certain conditions have to be fulfilled. Visit emirates247.com for a full summary of the new visa conditions.

Google’s annual mobile planet smart-phone study has found that the United Arab Emirates has some of the highest levels of smart-phone usage in the world, with 62% of mobile phone users in the country reporting that they own smart-phones. Compare this to the US where just 35% of people own a smart-phone or Egypt where just 39% of users own smart-phones. What Google also found was that smart-phone users in affluent Middle Eastern Countries were also the most likely to go on-line multiple times a day, and they also download more apps than users from other emerging smart-phone markets like China and Brazil.

Continue Reading »