Dubai: Hiring at Dubai’s hotels and other service-oriented businesses is on an upswing, with one recruitment specialist reporting that more than 600 vacancies are up for grabs daily to UAE job seekers.

According to a chief executive specializing in online hiring, more positions will be available to UAE residents in the coming months, as  Dubai alone gears up for the opening of 35,000 new hotel rooms between 2015 and 2020.

Although occupancy rates are currently down due to low seasonal demand, the hospitality sector continues to hire new employees.

Between May 2014 and May 2015, hotels and other hospitality-based businesses registered a 57 per cent annual increase in online hiring, the second highest among the sectors surveyed, according to the Monster Employment Index released in June.

A cursory look at the jobs database at gncareers.com, Gulf News’ job site, would show that companies in the UAE are looking for all kinds of hospitality professionals, from barista to chef, receptionist, front office supervisor, lifeguard, housekeeping supervisor and sales executive.

Analysts at TOPHOTELPROJECTS, an online database for worldwide first-class and luxury construction projects, said that several hotel projects in Dubai are still in the pipeline and, once completed, will offer an additional 35,000 new rooms. By 2020, Dubai’s hotel rooms will reach more than 100,000, creating enormous job opportunities for the UAE’s hospitality industry.

“As the hotel industry keeps moving along the growth trajectory, it will offer employment opportunities to a wide range of occupations. [More]  positions would open up for professionals in marketing, finance and other service-oriented fields related to hotel operations and management,” said Haider Ali Khan, CEO of Bayut.com, which tracks real estate projects including hotel construction.

Khan noted that the hospitality industry is labour-intensive and a significant number of staff are needed to cater to the needs of hotel guests. “And as Dubai is known for a hospitality sector that pampers clients like no other, employers won’t even mind having  some extra workers at hand to provide an unparalleled experience to guests during their stay.”

Suhail Masri, vice president for sales at Bayt.com, said the construction of new hotels will create more employment opportunities in the UAE.  “With the opening of  [35,000 new] hotel rooms, one can safely assume a surge in the number of jobs in the market. We have seen the sector at different levels of growth momentum in various stages of business cycles in the past 15 years,” said Masri.

“In fact, there are over 653 job vacancies advertised on our site in the hospitality sector daily and this number is constantly growing.”

Masri said employers in the hospitality industry are on the lookout for candidates with a certain set of skills and experience.

More than half (57 per cent) of hospitality employers are looking for team players, while 55 per cent prefer candidates with good communication skills in both English and Arabic, as well as those who have good leadership skills (55 per cent).

The professionals that most employers are looking for are those with managerial, sales and marketing and administrative experience.