Dubai Employment Tips

The advertising market has bounced back after being hit by the Arab Spring, with regional spending in the industry forecast to exceed US$5 billion (Dh18.4bn) this year, say executives.

Double-digit percentage growth is forecast for the Middle East and North Africa’s (Mena) advertising market, reversing a decline of 10.3 per cent last year, according to a poll of three major media agencies by The National.

Many companies are now increasing their budgets for online advertising. Starcom is expecting to double its digital advertising business every year for the next three years. Currently, digital advertisements make up about 15 per cent of its business.

Advertisers are also keen to tap into the smartphone advertising space, as mobile penetration soars above 200 per cent in many of the GCC countries.

Job Opportunities

This means that there is likely to be a surge in job opportunities for SEO and social media marketing professionals over the next few years in Dubai — making on-line marketing an excellent career choice in Dubai.

As a Dubai professional you will all face a point in your career when you would like a pay rise. It could be that you need money to cover costs, or you feel that you are being paid under market rate,  or you feel that the full scope of your responsibilities are not being recognised. The reason that you want a pay rise is not really important here, what is important, however, is the approach that you adopt to request a pay rise, because a recent study by George Mason University has shown that the way in which you ask for a pay rise will actually determine how likely you are to receive that pay rise.

The study conducted by George Mason University and Temple University researchers revealed the most effective strategies to negotiating a bigger salary. The study analyzed various approaches to the negotiation process, which methods were the most successful and which ones were more likely to leave both parties satisfied with the outcome.

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As global thought-leaders descend on Dubai for the Global Entrepreneurial Summit, (11th, 12th December) the UAE will have a unique opportunity to highlight its dynamic entrepreneurial success and vision before a large and influential international audience.

The conference – held previously in Washington DC and Istanbul – is supported at the highest policy levels and is being held by the UAE in partnership with the US state department, the White House, and other American government entities.

The event provides entrepreneurs and SMEs with access to institutional and private investors seeking to explore new business alliances. The summit will unite the region’s policy makers, regulators, entrepreneurs, SME stakeholders, investors, corporate leaders, incubators, procurement decision makers and key influencers in back-to-back sessions.

Job Opportunities

This a great source of potential job opportunities for Dubai professionals. Why? Because you have big ideas, entrepreneurs and investors all in one room, which means deals may be struck, business ventures will be born — and they will of course need staff to man them. So, if you are able, make sure to visit the summit and start networking for opportunities, or at the very least join the Global Entrepreneurship Summit on Linked-In or Facebook and network there.

According to a report in the National, more than 20,000 jobs will be created for UAE nationals from 2013, in what the Minister of Labour has called the “year of Emiratisation”.

Companies and ministries creating jobs for UAE nationals next year include: Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airlways, Emirates Post, Federal Electricity and Water Authority, Abu Dhabi company for general services, Musanada, Al Jaber Group, Juma Al Majid Group, Dubai Ports World, Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services, Al-Futtaim Group, Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group, Ben Hamouda, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for Distribution, Al Habtoor Group, Free Zone, The National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology, Communications and Dolphin Group, Al Ghurair, Tecom Investments, Abu Dhabi Seaports

Saqr Ghobash, also the chairman of the board of trustees for the National Human Resource Development and Employment Authority, said the jobs had been secured in the public and private sectors over the next five years.

The Community Development Authority (CDA) announced on the occasion of the International Volunteer Day the launch of Dubai Volunteering Center, the UAE’s First Governmental Center for voluntary work, as a part of CDA’s efforts to promote awareness about the culture of volunteering in Dubai and develop social service standards.

The Center, which comes in line with the UAE Vision 2021 and the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015 to promote a volunteering culture, will aim to spread awareness about the importance of volunteering, encourage individuals to further participate in volunteering activities, and qualify and train volunteers in cooperation with competent authorities from both the public and private sectors.

The center’s first initiative  is to register 1000 volunteers in collaboration with Zayed University in the coming few months.

This should be of interest to Dubai Jobseekers for two reasons. The first is that volunteering is a great way for unemployed jobseekers to gain new experience and to network and make connections with other volunteers which could lead to a job. In addition, the volunteer centre does employ paid staff to run the center and there may be opportunities for employment since the center has just opened.

A recent study by Careerbuilder takes a detailed looked at the references that employees are citing when they apply to companies – and the findings offer some serious words of warning that all Dubai jobs seekers should pay attention too.

The study itself was carried out by Harris Interactive on behalf of Careerbuilder between August 13 and September 6 2012, and so is very recent. The survey included 2,494 hiring managers and HR professionals and nearly 4,000 workers across industries and sizes, so it is a good sample size and worth taking notice of. It is a US study,  but many of these were international companies and I believe it is applicable in Dubai and internationally, and is a good general indicator of attitudes and behaviour in the area relating to employment references. So, what did they find? There were several interesting findings and I have listed these below.

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