Over 5,000 jobs on offer for Emiratis at Tawdheef

Abu Dhabi: The banking and finance sector is currently attracting top talent within the UAE, with 42 per cent of top candidates on a leading career portal being hired by the industry, a senior official said today (February 1).

But the push towards Expo 2020 will see an increase in the number of jobs within the building and tourism industries, Suhail Masri, vice- president for employer solutions at Bayt.com, told Gulf News.

Reflecting this assessment, more than 500 vacancies in banking and finance were advertised at the capital’s annual Emirati recruitment fair, Tawdheef, which opened today (February 1). The three-day exhibition is also seeing a whopping 3,024 positions in the oil and gas sector, most of them with the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc).

The tenth edition of Tawdheef was inaugurated by Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister for Youth, Culture and Community Development, and it will run until Wednesday (February 3).

Organisers Informa earlier told Gulf News that about 5,000 vacancies had been listed for the fair. In addition to Adnoc, many of these are with Emirates Global Aluminium, Emirates Identity Authority, UAE Exchange, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Emirates Advanced Investments Group, etisalat and National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

“We had approximately 12,000 Emirati jobseekers attend the show last year, and the feedback we received from employers is that they wanted to take this unique opportunity to spend more quality time assessing applicants,” Hayete Jemai, exhibition director, said.

Many employers will therefore be conducting on-site interviews, and Informa will recognise the three organisations that conduct the greatest number of face-to-face assessments at the end of the fair.

A number of seminars are also being organised to provide career advice to Emirati jobseekers, including tips on leadership skills, career development and overall well-being.

Visitors said they were positive about landing some of the vacancies listed at Tawdheef, and added that it was a good opportunity to meet with potential employers.

“I live in Al Ain and it is usually difficult to find out about job vacancies. So although I graduated in 2011, I have not been able to get a suitable public sector position yet. So Tawdheef is a nice platform for me to meet with various employers,” said Amna A, a jobseeker.

This year, Internsme, an online portal that enables jobseekers to search for internships and entry-level positions, is also allowing applicants to upload short videos of themselves.

“These 30- to 60-minute clips essentially act as cover letters, and let employers take a quick look at potential candidates. In the age of social media, it can also help set one jobseeker apart from another,” said Supratik Mukherjee, product manager at Internsme.