Skip foreign degrees, varsity promises UAE jobs

University graduates in the UAE and elsewhere faced the toughest jobs market during the financial crisis. Many employers shunned fresh jobseekers as they got experienced candidates at comparatively lower salaries, and good foreign college degrees didn’t help either.

Seif Ahmad, a UAE resident, went to a college in the UK for higher studies, thinking it was his big ticket to success. “It was not a Cambridge or Oxford but still reputed. I spent a lot of money but when I graduated, there was really not much to choose from. I did not land a job in England and when I came back, local employers said I did not have any regional experience,” he told Emirates 24|7.

Another case is of Nathalie Jawad, a resident of UAE, who went to Spain for higher studies four years ago. “I earned my degree but didn’t land a job there. There were visa validity issues and then in Spain, an employer has to prove that there is no national available for the job. I had to come back and the companies here demanded local experience,” she said.

Such is the story of struggle of many graduates even though their education quality was brilliant. What is imparted in the classroom in a foreign country may not solve the jigsaw job puzzle in the UAE.

Local experience has become very important, especially after the slowdown, and as Jawad says, “a foreign university may not teach you exactly what the job market requires in the UAE or the GCC and neither do they have tie-ups with companies operating in the country.”

Local seems to be the flavour of the UAE job market these days. Cultural awareness, Arabic capabilities and regional understanding are now the top recruitment criteria for companies in the Middle East who are placing a greater value on cultural awareness and regional experience than they did previously. This was concluded by panellists who discussed the requirements of the local job market at a session held a few months back by London School of Business in Dubai.

As foreign degrees take a hit now, local universities are promising students much more. For example, Abu Dhabi University (ADU) is now saying that its career development department is one-of-a-kind that can help UAE students land jobs.

“It defies the tough job market to achieve 90 per cent employability with pre- and post-graduation services that mentor students to smoothly transition from classrooms to boardrooms,” reads a statement by the university.

ADU claims its employability rate is already one of the highest in the region, with 90 per cent of students finding employment within a year of graduation.

To get a success rate of 90 per cent, this institution has put together an end-to-end package encompassing career guidance interviews, job searches, workshops, career fairs, aptitude assessments, data resources, advisory services, internships, employer networking and numerous other services designed to give students and graduates a head start in the race for rewarding jobs.

“Worldwide, the biggest mistake students make is to search for the wrong jobs, in the wrong places, through the wrong methods. Therefore, we give students aptitude assessments so they can match their talents with their careers. We also give them exposure to real world challenges through our 100 per cent internship placement rate and enlightening talks by prominent employers,” says Hanadi Khalil, Manager of ADU’s Career Development Department.

Ms Khalil adds that another common mistake is for students to assume that employment only starts after graduation. ADU’s on-campus employment programme – which fulfils all the requirements of the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Higher Education – helps students to enter the job market as seasoned veterans who have already amassed a wealth of experience, putting them in the fast lane for promotion ahead of other candidates.

Faced with the most competitive job market in the UAE’s history, ADU’s Career Development Department has intensified its efforts to equip students by all the job-seeking tools.

“The biggest handicap in job hunting is often a lack of information, and ADU bridges this information gap by giving students a wealth of resources and research for job searches,” points out Khalil.

“We also register them with recruitment consultants, promote their CVs to the most compatible employers and offer ‘mock interviews’ to take the anxiety out of the process. The icing on this career cake is our career fairs, where students network are face-to-face with influential industry heavyweights because it’s not just what you know, but who you know.”

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