UAE employers ready to fill job vacancies

Private multinationals are most likely to hire, with 41 per cent claiming to be ‘definitely’ hiring in the next three months.

The UAE jobs market is still showing signs of life even as the outlook for employment dips for the quarter with sales managers and engineers most in demand.

New research yesterday suggests nearly half of employers in the UAE – 44 per cent – surveyed by YouGov and recruitment firm Bayt.com, will definitely be hiring in the next three months.

That is down from a similar survey in March that showed 60 per cent were hiring.

In yesterday’s report, 64 per cent of those who indicated they will recruit said they will be hiring between six and 10 employees, flat on the March survey.

“Overall, the region’s hiring outlook is looking quite positive for the coming three and 12 months,” said Suhail Al Masri, vice president of sales at Bayt.com. “This will particularly be the case for multinationals, which could provide professional residents a foot in the door for some of the world’s largest companies. We can also see an increase in plans to hire in the public sector, with 41 per cent definitely hiring in the next three months, compared to 31 per cent in January 2014.”

The IMF predicts UAE record economic growth of 4.4 per cent this year, and 4.2 per cent in 2015 compared to about 4 per cent last year.

Yesterday’s research shows employment will jump, with private multinationals most likely to hire.

Employers are mainly looking to fill junior executive roles such as sales managers, customer service representatives, human resources professionals, project managers and executive assistants.

The most sought-after qualification among candidates in the UAE is one in engineering, followed by business management and commerce.

More of the UAE workforce – 59 per cent – have full-time jobs than in any country in the world, a survey this month suggested.

Gallup, the American management consultancy company, put employment-related questions to 1,000 UAE residents as part of its “payroll to population” (P2P) study.

“While some small Middle East countries such as Bahrain or the UAE have P2P rates higher than 50 per cent, the much larger countries of Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, and Yemen, at only 12 per cent, have lower P2P,” said Gallup.

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