Oil and gas positions in Mena still in demand for job seekers

Low oil prices hardly seem to be a deterrent as the oil and gas sector in the region tops the list for social media job seekers, with six of the 20 top companies featuring from the industry, according to a report from LinkedIn.

The professional networking company said that its InDemand list represents the “most sought-after employers in the Mena region based on millions of interactions from over 400 million members”.

The compilation was measured by member interactions with company pages, employee profiles and job postings on the business social media site.

The highest ranking energy firms this year include Shell, Saudi Aramco, BP, Schlumberger, Weatherford and Qatar Petroleum.

Nureddin Wefati, the head of media relations at Shell, said that the company continuously looked to “recruit graduates and experienced professionals”.

At Adipec this month, Weatherford said that times were changing and the industry has been forced to adapt.

“We don’t recruit and fill positions the same way we did years ago,” said Arnold Frinks, the global human resources director at Weatherford.

Global energy industry job cuts this year have crossed 250,000, according to Bloomberg. However, the Mena region has not suffered from the large number of layoffs across the sector in other areas, most notably Europe and North America.

This mass decline in employment in oil and gas comeswith the price of oil hovering around US$50 per barrel, a far cry from $115 per barrel last summer.

But it comes as no surprise that the hydrocarbon sector would remain a key player in the UAE’s job market. Oil and gas output make up about 40 per cent of the UAE’s GDP, according to Opec.

Other areas of interest for job hunters were real estate and construction as well as telecommunications and technology.

Emaar Properties, with a market capitalisation of more than Dh42 billion, was the No 1 on the list. Other top contenders were in the aviation sector, including Emirates and Etihad Airways. Dubai Islamic Bank was the only financier to make the cut.

LinkedIn introduced an Arabic version this year, helping the site grow to connect the world’s 300 million Arabic speakers to one of the largest professional networks.

Follow The National's Business section on Twitter