UAE jobs: Is a bad job better than no job at all?

A number of job-seekers in the UAE are often caught in a Catch 22 situation – to take up an immediate job on offer or wait for one that seems challenging and promises long-term growth?

Many candidates who’ve lost their job or quit without any counter-offer in hand may have to take up the first job that makes itself available.

“I lost my job during the beginning of 2009. The market was lull and I had only one month to stay in the country and land a job. The only other option was to return to my home country, where the job market was no better at that time. So, I decided to take up a job which I did not like,” said an Indian national living in Dubai.

In the real world, a job is critical to one’s sustenance, agree recruitment experts in the country, but they also stress that ‘any’ job in hand is not better than no job at all, and could results in an unsatisfying career, boredom, lack of confidence and feeling of worthlessness – in short, doom.

“The role and organisation need to be a fit for career aspirations and skill capabilities. However, quite often in this region, the need to earn can overshadow the need for people to focus on securing the right job profile and career opportunity,” Gareth Clayton, Director Finance and Banking at Charterhouse, told Emirates 24|7.

“Any job better than no job is definitely not the best-case scenario. As an HR manager, I explain valuing one’s job to many people who come to complaining they haven’t got increments and say they are very close to quitting even if they have to sit at home,” said the HR manager of a multi-national bank on the condition of anonymity.

“I explain to them that no job means no paycheque, even when mortgage, personal loan, car loan, school fees etc. have to be paid. It’s their decision in the end, but I’d recommend having something in hand is better than nothing,” he said.

However, stuck in a dead end job can be detrimental for future.

“For long-term career growth and success, it is important that your job is more to you than just a regular paycheque,” Suhail Masri, V-P of Sales at Bayt.com, told this website.

“In fact [our] employee motivation in the Mena survey for 2013 reveals some of the factors that were featured as top motivators for professionals. It included the opportunity for career advancement (42 per cent); being able to feel that their work has an impact (40 per cent); personal fulfilment (39 per cent) and opportunities for long-term career growth (39 per cent),” he said.

“Across the Mena region, the majority (92 per cent) of respondents feel that the work that they do is significant to their company, with 86 per cent stating that their job is significant and important to their colleagues, customers and business partners,” said Masri.

Also, according to the Bayt survey, 72 per cent believe that their work is important to their country of residence, while 72 per cent say that what they do is significant to their society. Three-quarters (76 per cent) claim that their work gives them a sense of personal achievement, with 77 per cent stating it offers them a sense of professional achievement.

The corollary to this would be that not many would be happy if they thought that their job wasn’t fulfilling or if they thought that it was worthless to society, and only good for whatever money they made at the end of the month.

“In the UAE, respondents’ personal attitudes towards work are high, in accordance with regional sentiments. Ninety-two per cent say that their job is significant to their company; 87 per cent say their job is important to their colleagues, customers and business partners; 70 per cent state that what they do is important to the country, and 67 per cent believe their job is important to society,” Bayt’s Masri said.

“Three-quarters state that their work offers them a sense of personal achievement (75 per cent), and a sense of professional achievement (74 per cent).

“Hence, it is advisable for jobseekers not to settle for just any job but the one that matches their qualification and experience,” advises Masri.

What do you think? Let us know in comments below.

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