A majority (51%) of employers in the UAE intend to recruit new staff within the next three months, according to a new employment survey by Bayt and YouGov. A third (36%) of these employers are looking to hire more than five job roles. In terms of job functions, 27% of the employers in UAE are looking to hire a ‘sales executive’, while 18% are looking for an administrative assistant, as per the survey.
Looking long term, the study shows that 69% of companies in the UAE are willing to hire in the next 12 months, in comparison to 64% across the wider Gulf region. As per our recent blog, the UAE job market is progressing with an increase in job openings this year.
At Quest, we have seen an exciting increase in employment opportunities and our recruiters believe this is a great time to consider a move to Dubai. Thea Kearse, Recruitment Manager (Hospitality) at Quest Search and Selection believes that the hospitality industry is the main driver of growth in the UAE market. She adds saying “The Hospitality market is growing faster than any other sector in Dubai with many new hotels and restaurants opening. This is mainly because the luxury and retail markets (that Dubai is famous for) is taking a shift. With consumers spending more money on eating out and holidays, but less on clothing, this has resulted in pushing investments into the leisure and family market. This growth should stabilize after Dubai’s Expo 2020 in 2 years’ time. With over 14.9 million visitors last year there has been a steady increase of visitors year on year and this is expected to reach 20 million by 2020. So now could not be a better time to move into this incredible dynamic country as it will surely only prove to generate more opportunities for the years to come”.
Olivia Roberts, Head of Retail (Middle East) at Quest Search and Selection comments on the retail and consumer sectors within the region, saying:
“In terms of the trends within the retail and consumer sectors in Dubai, we can see that the slower summer is finally coming to an end and there is an upward trend in jobs becoming live across all of our sectors. There is an increase in jobs within the digital space in the region which is a great sign. Hospitality too is a growing area with many new hotels and food & beverage concepts opening or hiring particularly in the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi.”
“Retail has seen a much slower summer than the previous 2 years but there are still companies hiring across the region. The challenges we are seeing within retail at the moment is particularly in the senior market. A lot of the larger organizations have been cutting senior hires out of their structure and broadening the scope of the current employees’ role in a cost saving exercise. There is a lot of great candidates currently active in the market at the senior level. We will keep our eyes on the movement of these candidates over the coming months with many people opening their search to further destinations such as Asia Pac. The statistics definitely sound like good news but let’s see whether this comes to fruition in Q3 and Q4” says Olivia.
