UAE’s popular job fair ends this evening: Still time to secure your job

The second day of Careers UAE Exhibition 2013 has been marked by a significant turnout, building on the high volumes experienced following yesterday's launch.

With exhibition halls filled with ambitious Emiratis exploring job opportunities, academic programmes and training courses offered by more than 150 exhibitors, significant attendance is expected to build until evening today, May 2, 2013, when the event concludes at Dubai World Trade Centre.

For female job seekers, who constituted at least half of the attendees, the most popular segment was the Emirati Women Leaders Panel. This was held in a special women-only session during which young Emiratis gained valuable lessons about career paths and life as a working professional, by interfacing with inspirational women such as H.E. Dr. Mariam Matar, Founder and Board Chairperson of the UAE Genetic Diseases Association; Fatma Mohammed Salem Al Khaqaq SVP, Commercial Unit, Economic Zones World, Jafza; and Hessa Al Ghurair, Head of Human Resources at Tanfeeth.

Prominent female figure in the medical field and panellist, Her Excellency Dr. Mariam Matar, Founder and Chairman of UAE Genetic Disease Association, said: “It is vital to educate young Emirati women on the place of leadership we can hold in the community and the labour market. Our priority should be to transform ambition and talent into leadership, and to understand and respect the difference in strength and skills in men and women.”

Illustrating the expansion in the diversity and volume of exhibitors, a broad spectrum of industries was represented ranging from finance, education, recruitment, trade and commerce, IT, hospitality, oil and gas, transportation and telecommunications, to name a few.   

Among the high profile companies exhibiting at Careers UAE Exhibition was Emirates Group. Massoma Hassan Abdullah, Vice President for Emiratisation at Emirates Airlines, who was impressed by the 400 applications received from job seekers on the first day alone, elaborated: “What is even more impressive than the number itself is the exceptional qualifications because we are seeing many candidates with Masters degrees, in addition to undergraduate degrees. This illustrates that Emiratis are raising the bar in academic excellence. To accelerate the recruitment process at Careers UAE Exhibition, we are conducting same-day testing for visitors, after which we invite them for interviews.”  

Shedding more light on the ever-increasing participation of women at Careers UAE Exhibition, Samar Badri, Regional Director of HR at Jumeirah Group said: “Our female visitors have been delighted to learn that positions which they previously perceived as male-oriented – such as Head of Butler Services – are actually occupied by women in our organisation. The Emirati culture is renowned for its warm hospitality, and this has contributed to us receiving over 200 applications on the first day alone and this is due to young Emiratis’ keen interest in the hospitality industry.”

Visitors who navigated from stand to stand reported high levels of satisfaction with the new attractions on offer. These included the Creative Economy Programme presented by Brownbook, which demonstrated that it is viable to have a fulfilling career in the creative sector. This was underlined by the talks, performances and workshops conducted on a specially designed stage, with the support of UAE Pavilion, Art Dubai, The Fridge, Sharjah Art Foundation, TwoFour54, Tashkeel and Portsmouth Group, among others.

A shift in mindsets is underway as more Emiratis are now seriously targeting creative positions such as magazine editor according to Yasmine Rasool, Space Project Director at Brownbook. She said: “Visitors who are targeting careers in other fields have been thrilled to learn that they can still participate in our part-time creative programmes. We have been touring several universities to engage students, but now Careers UAE Exhibition is bringing the students to us.”

Open exclusively for UAE Nationals and HR practitioners, Careers UAE Exhibition 2013 is held in Halls 5 - 8 at Dubai World Trade Centre. The event will run until 2 May 2013. Prospective participants can access information on the show Careers UAE Exhibition 2013 website: www.careersuae.ae.

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