UAE job seekers focus on recession proof sectors (page 1 of 2)

Jobs are becoming harder to come by in the UAE as the global financial crisis continues to put the brakes on the country's economy.

According to a recent survey of 250 companies in the UAE by BAC Middle East, just 37% of respondents said they expect their organisation to do any hiring this year.

However, while a large number of companies are being cautious and adopting a 'wait and see' approach towards hiring, experts say there are some sectors that have remained relatively immune to the crisis.

'Hiring activity has diminished, particularly in the sectors that have been worst hit by the economic downturn such as banking and real estate, but while some companies have enacted hiring freezes, this has by no means been uniform across the board,' says Amer Zureikat, Regional Manager, Bayt.com.

'Booming' sectors

Mike Hynes, managing partner of Kershaw Leonard, says there are three sectors that are 'booming'. The first is retail, which is getting a boost because of the large number of malls and outlets that have either opened up or will be opening up soon in the country.

He says his firm has been 'inundated' with vacancies for operational roles like store managers, and employers are increasingly looking for candidates who speak Russian, French, or Arabic to better facilitate communication with customers.

Surprisingly, another area where hiring has remained strong is construction. 'Again, there are a lot of projects that are ongoing and yet to be finished. The people they are looking for are those who will actually do the building, such as engineers and equipment operators, rather than the finance and administrative sections of those companies,' he said.

Hiring is also strong in the IT industry, which is one sector that 'seems to be completely unaffected by the downturn', Hynes said.

Cliff Single, Commercial Manager, BAC Middle East, says the pharmaceutical and medical sectors are also well placed due to the essential nature of their products and services. But the most resilient companies right now are those in the food products and FMCG sectors, Single argues, as their demand has been hit less than other goods and services.

The situation with other sectors is less clear cut. 'We are still recruiting for some shipping and logistics firms as the region's dependence on international trade means that the sector has built-in resilience. Certain clients in the insurance and telecoms sectors have also expressed optimism as they still anticipate growth for their firms within the region. There is also speculation that the Islamic Finance sector could receive a boost in the longer term from the current financial turbulence,' he added.

Employers' market

Due to layoffs in Dubai and feeder markets such as the UK, the quantity of candidates for jobs in the UAE has changed dramatically in the past few months compared to year ago.

'The downside is that we are drowning in CV's,' says Hynes. 'If we advertised for a mainstream job last year we might get 400 or 500 CVs, while now we might get 2,000.'

One trend that has emerged is that there are many people who are applying for lots of jobs. 'One person might apply for 10 jobs, which is clearly the wrong thing to do, because they are devaluing their own application.