In the beginning of May, a month before the start of Ramadan and two months ahead of the summer holiday season which is also traditionally slow for business, the prospects of finding a well paid job in Dubai look rather grim.
It is no secret that banks have been laying off staff during the past months. So are also insurance and investment companies, and pretty very much every multinational operator that employs a large number of people.
Unfortunately, highly skilled workers who have recently lost their jobs have to either settle for lower salary or to seek opportunities in other countries. For every decent job offer on LinkedIn, the number of applicants climbs by hundreds in a matter of 24 hours. Good luck to those who have exceptional talent and skills to make them more noticeable in a pile of 2,000 or 3,000 CVs for a single job!
With the continuously rising cost of living in Dubai, the cost of doing business also increases and it is not surprising that many companies are cutting expenses and restructuring their workforce. In addition, advanced technology adoption also eats up a large number of desktop and office jobs.
Let’s leave aside the doom and gloom. The news about recessionary sentiment is by now boring. If you need a job, you should take action and identify which sectors are hiring and who are the employers who will post job offers soon?
The healthcare and tourism industry seem the most promising sectors at this time of the year, as healthcare services are always in demand while multinational hotel chains are preparing to open new properties until the end of the year.
Job seekers should look for new hospitals and clinics openings. It helps also to google the major healthcare pharmaceutical chains in the UAE and research careers posted on their websites.
International chains like Starwood and Marriott are currently hiring staff for their upcoming hotels openings. However, these jobs are not highly paid and one can’t expect to be able to support a family working as a front desk officer a waiter at a hotel.
The consumer services industry is always active and jobs related to food processing, packaging, transportation and distribution are also available.
One can always try his luck as a property consultant, as real estate agencies are constantly hiring and firing property consultants. However, in Dubai it is a common practice to employ property consultants with no salary and any additional benefits. So, if you really can’t find any paying job, you should try hard to earn a commission which you will end up sharing with the real estate agency. The real estate market is currently in a downtrend and the prospects are not rosy.
Despite that oil prices have risen in the past month, the prospects of finding a job in the oil industry arevery slim at present. It will take a few years until petroleum companies recover from the oil price slump and allocate budgets to hire new workers.
