Informative Articles for Job Search in Dubai

Dubai: Jobs – Searching for the right one Part 1

Getting jobs in Dubai, as in most other places, is neither particularly easy nor difficult. Yet, Dubai, the fastest growing city in the world, where more than 50% the world's supply of cranes are at work, and where your income is not taxed, has its attractions.

The oil industry has attracted a large influx of foreign workers, who now make up more than three quarters of the population. Foreign workers in the UAE are not regarded as immigrants, but temporary workers who come to the country with the intention of leaving once their contract ends.

A city that is growing in leaps and bounds, and a city that has recently won the Best Economic Potential Award, Best Quality of Life for Expatriates Award, Best Telecommunications & Transport Award, and Most Business Friendly Award, Dubai offers plenty of job opportunities.

Where & How to look
If your are already in Dubai looking for a job, try the most widely used means of searching for job vacancies by looking through the daily newspapers, and Gulf News and Khaleej Times include their appointments sections online. Gulf News has its appointments section separated into two sections, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain and Dubai and the Northern Emirates (Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain [UAQ], Ras Al Khaimah [RAK], and Fujairah), and then sub-sectioned by job industry/category. Khaleej Times also hosts the daily PDF File prepared by NADIA recruitment agency, one of the gulf's leading recruitment agencies that has offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

Another good way of approach is to try contact your fellow countrymen. They can help you to build your network and get the desired job in the UAE.

Recruitment consultants or agents play a major role in the placement of workers in a host of occupations in Dubai.

In view of the distance between Dubai and the countries that supply many of the region’s employees, it’s necessary for agents to act as middlemen. Private recruitment consultants and headhunters in western countries (and particularly in London and New York) deal with most managerial jobs in Dubai, while agencies in India (particularly Bombay), Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Korea, the Philippines (Manila) and Thailand (Bangkok) supply most of the enormous number of manual laborers employed in Dubai’s numerous construction projects.

Agencies tend to specialize in particular areas of work, e.g. medical and nursing staff, computer personnel, accountants, construction managers, executive and office staff, engineering and the technical trades. Dubai has no equivalent of the nationally-organized job centers found in western countries, and it’s the responsibility of the Ministries of Labor and Social Affairs to deal with employment.

Self-employment
If you wish to be self-employed in Dubai, your major hurdle is to find a sponsor. In order to find a sponsor, you need to visit the region and talk to local people. This is obviously also necessary in order to check market conditions in the area that interests you. Sponsorship can be provided by a legally registered company or by an individual.

Negotiating with the sponsor will require some hard bargaining. The fee you pay him is likely to be either a flat annual rate paid in regular installments or a percentage of your revenue. You’re recommended to consult a local lawyer regarding the proposed deal with your sponsor.

Starting a Business
There are three major considerations to be made by those thinking of starting a business in Dubai:

1. You must have a good knowledge of the region.
2. The law requires that you have a local partner who holds the majority interest. The local partner, be it a company or an individual, doesn’t need to contribute to the start-up investment or participate financially at all.
3. When the business is registered, you must show the Ministry of Commerce that you have a substantial sum of money to invest.

An experienced lawyer will guide you through the registration complexities and his help will be vital in protecting your interests. This applies whether you’re opening a modest shop or a major enterprise. An alternative to starting a new business is to buy a going concern, which is a more straightforward process, as it doesn’t involve lodging capital, obtaining sponsorship or registration.

Many people have developed successful, highly profitable businesses in Dubai.

The experience of doing business with Arabs is likely to be pleasant and friendly, and the trust built up on both sides will be long-lasting.

Where to stay
Well, once you get here, you need a place to stay, so if the company you're working for hasn't already arrange this, then you need to deal with this quickly.

Dubai landlords normally require that you pay the entire year's rent before moving in, or else with 2, 3, or 4 post dated checks.

If you would prefer to own your own place rather than rent, you can own freehold property in Dubai. For more information on Buying property in Dubai please click here / browse our site.

The Pay
With the amount of information in the media about the rate of population growth in Dubai anyone would think it was an emirate where the streets are paved with gold. Well, while it’s true that a lot of people are moving to Dubai for work, what is not true is that all jobs in Dubai pay fantastic salaries!

Those who work in Dubai work long hours for up to six days a week, and in certain industries salaries are impressive – but in other job sectors wages are on a par with or worse than the income that can be earned elsewhere. Therefore, those looking for jobs in Dubai should take care to do proper research and due diligence before committing themselves to a career move.

Salaries in Dubai are usually similar to or greater than those paid in western countries.
But because the region has no personal taxation, net income is usually much greater, which is one of the major attractions of working in Dubai. In addition to their salary, contract workers are awarded an ‘indemnity’ at the end of the contract period. The indemnity is usually based on basic salary excluding any bonuses. The indemnity can be a significant amount of money if you’ve been working in Dubai for a long time, and many people manage either to accumulate a reasonable financial cushion or to live the high life. If you’re clever and disciplined, you should be able to do some of both. The indemnity has nothing to do with insurance but is an end-of-contract bonus which is required by law to be paid to expatriate workers as a sort of ‘thank-you’ for being of service to the state. (It’s also known as ‘end of service benefits’.) Indemnity scales usually amount to 15 (in some cases 20) days of basic pay per year of employment for the first three years and thereafter a month’s salary per year of employment. Sometimes, Arab companies delay the payment of salaries, cash flow problems being passed on to their staff. In this event, you have little alternative but to wait.

Of course salary is not necessarily the be all and end all of job hunting – especially in Dubai where it’s usual for an employer to present a remuneration package offer to a potential candidate. Such a package may include a housing allowance, health care benefits and even money towards children’s education.

All the major recruitment companies have a base in Dubai as there is a large and expanding job market in the UAE. It is possible to use recruitment companies’ websites to get a feel for the jobs being offered and rates of pay available in your particular industry sector. Another way to get a feel for the level of income you could earn from a job in Dubai is by researching which employers from your industry are based in the UAE and then writing to their personnel department with your CV or resume and asking about suitable vacancies.

Freelancing
There are plenty of contract and freelance jobs in Dubai, many in the construction industry, shipbuilding and ship repairs, and the oil industry, including offshore installations. However, the majority of contract and freelance appointments are made outside Dubai, and it’s rarely possible to arrive in Dubai without a job and find one locally.

Temporary & Casual Work
Owing to the number of expatriate workers on short-term contracts, there isn’t much casual and temporary work available, and you shouldn’t travel to Dubai with the purpose of finding temporary or casual work.

The other side
It is true to an extent that Dubai's building boom has been made possible by some 500,000 migrant construction workers, most from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many work 12 hours a day, six days a week, in extremely hot temperatures that have led to illness and, in some cases, death. The workers live in crowded camps, with eight or more men sharing one small room. Researchers say that the average migrant worker receives a salary of about $175 a month. There is no minimum wage in Dubai, and some workers make as little as $5 a day.

There are also instances where employers in Dubai abuse workers by withholding their wages for their first two months, along with their passports as "security" to keep them from quitting.

But the migrant workers have little freedom to quit since many have borrowed thousands of dollars to get the jobs to begin with, paying "recruiters" visa and travel fees, which under U.A.E. law should be paid by the employers, not the construction workers.

When workers arrive in Dubai, the construction jobs sometimes pay less than the recruiters originally promised. Desperate to repay their loans, the workers in those cases are trapped. And under U.A.E. law, it is illegal to switch jobs without permission from your employer. Unions are illegal, and striking workers have been deported. But it is also true that construction wages and conditions are comparable, if not superior to those in neighboring countries. And the U.A.E government is making efforts to improve conditions for workers.

A law has been passed to halt construction between 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. during the scorching summer months when temperatures reach well over 100 degrees. The government is also trying to legalize trade unions would be legalized.
Recently, Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, ordered stricter enforcement of the country's labor laws. In addition, he called for improved medical care for workers, a special court to address their labor complaints and an increase in the number of inspectors monitoring camps and workplaces.

They say that history is being written here. With possibly the tallest building, the biggest shopping mall, the largest airport, and the biggest entertainment park, Dubai, perhaps can offer you the greatest job of your dreams.