Careers UAE 2006 attracts record crowds as exhibition goes into second day

Students from various educational institutions throughout the UAE jobseekers and young professionals checking out the employment market, kept exhibitors busy attending to inquiries and taking on-the-spot interviews with promising candidates.

The increasing importance being paid to Emiratisation by the private sector - more than 50% of the exhibitors are from the private sector - is beginning to pay dividends as a large number of young Emiratis are seeking careers with them.

One of them is Alia Ahmed Khamis Obaid of the Arab and Islamic College. "I am interested in working in the private sector, especially in the financial services area. Careers UAE is very useful for someone like me because I get to meet with all the major players in the industry on the same platform," she said.

Another youngster looking for a placement in the private sector was Ibrahim Ahmed Al Husaini, for whom this is the third visit to Careers UAE. "I am visiting Careers because I find this is the best avenue for someone like me to check out what's available in the employment market. Though I am currently employed, I am on the lookout for an opportunity in some of the dynamic companies in the field," he said.

Raba'a Mohammed Ahmed, a UAE University Political Science graduate, is excited at her first visit to Careers UAE. "I have been waiting for the exhibition for some time now. I am actually looking for a career in media. There is such a lot on offer here, that I'm yet to decide on any offer," she said.

The seminars and workshops being run alongside the exhibition are proving extremely popular with the visitors. Most of them were well attended, especially the ones examining the latest trends and developments in the job markets, as well as those addressing problems facing the emerging UAE national workforce.

More than 50 per cent of the exhibitors at the show this year, which is 32 per cent larger in terms of nett space than the last edition, are drawn from the private sector - which include financial services, multinationals, IT and media-related companies, reflecting the emerging priorities of companies in the region, who are looking at emerging Emirati talent to fulfill their personnel requirements.