UPDATE ON RECRUITMENT AGENCIES IN DUBAI

I GOT THIS INFORMATION FROM THIS SITE

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/recruitment-agency-dubai.php

If you're looking for a recruitment agency or consultant in Dubai and the UAE, you'll find plenty to choose from. There are a large and growing number of employment agencies and job agencies in Dubai ranging from very good to very poor.

One annoyance that many people complain about is that recruiting agencies often request a fee to sign up with them and/or to be placed in a job. This is not allowed according to the UAE Ministry of Labour, so it would make sense to try and find a job agency that doesn't charge a fee. There are agencies (usually online) for jobs in Dubai that operate out of another country and so could claim to be able to legitimately charge you a fee. However, many other countries ban this practice also. Employment agencies normally get their fees from the employer, not the employee.

Some recruitment consultants in the UAE will assist you with writing CVs and application letters, and/or they may offer consulting services and psychometric evaluations to assist you in choosing a suitable career and job. You can expect to pay a fee for these services.

There are many online job-seeking websites but they have a mixed reputation and it would be advisable to try and find out if they are reputable before sending money or personal information. There is a list below of some online employment websites that we know of, both good and not so good.

Recruitment agencies for construction workers have a particularly bad reputation with labourers commonly being charged for their own visas (illegal according to UAE law) in addition to being asked to pay substantial fees to come to Dubai and the UAE for work. In May 2006 the Labour Minister, Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, said these labour agencies would be shut down and replaced by workers' cities. This could take a while though.

List of Employment Agencies in Dubai worth a look

This list of employment or recruitment agencies are ones we have heard good things about. That's all. It does not mean we recommend or endorse them, and there are bound to be clients with negative reports (or competitors trying to run them down). No organisation can please all of the people all of the time. As far as we know, none of the agencies in this list charge the job seeker a fee for finding a job. If they do, please add a comment in the Dubai job forum (see also the UAE job agency topic) or let us know.

• BAC Middle East (www.bacme.com) tel +971-4-3375747. Well-established, they started operating in 1979.
• Bayt.com (www.bayt.com) - large online recruiter.
• Charterhouse Middle East (www.charterhouseme.ae, not .com) tel +971-4-3325116. Located in Suite 502, Al Moosa Tower 1, Sheikh Zayed Road. Also have offices in Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne. Note that www.charterhouseme.com is a spam website.
• Clarendon Parker Middle East, CPME (www.clarendonparker.com) tel +971-4-3910460. They've been around since 1994, based in Internet City and operates throughout the GCC. Has a section on theemiratesnetwork.com (TEN) online job search portal since July 2007. Office 205, Building 1, Dubai Internet City. They also have offices in Dubai Airport Free Zone, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.
• IQ Selection (www.iqselection.com) tel +971-4-3297770. IQ have a good reputation, you'll recognize their funky advertisements in local newspapers. Location 901/902 Park Place, Sheikh Zayed Road. Open Sunday-Thursday 8.30am-5.30pm.
• Kershaw Leonard (www.kershawleonard.net - not .com) tel +971-4-3434606. KL Only began operations in Dubai in 1999 but has a good reputation. In the Emarat Atrium building on Sheikh Zayed Road, just before Safa Park interchange if heading in Abu Dhabi direction. Parking is difficult. Sunday-Thursday 7.30am-6.00pm. KL also have an office in Doha. Note that www.kershawleonard.com has no website.
• Monster.com (www.monstergulf.com) - may be a good one. Relatively new in Dubai but well-known internationally.

Recruitment Agencies in Dubai with question marks

If a recruitment agency is in this list, it means we have heard something about them that makes us raise our eyebrows. Some might say they are scams but we'll leave that sort of comment to the Dubai job forum.

For example, organisations in this list may ask the job-seeking candidate for a recruitment fee up front (which is not allowed in the UAE, or in many other countries) or they recommend visa procedures that seem to be at odds with normal practice. Or their contact details / job descriptions indicate they are misinformed about aspects of Dubai and the UAE. We would suggest you try to find out more about these job agencies (independently) before parting with money and/or important documents.

Note that all links in this section are to forum topics or other Dubai FAQ pages, not to organisation website.

• Dubai Employment Board - a questionable entity which does not appear to be supported by any official UAE authority.
• Global Recruiters - there are several organisations with the same name. The one that advertises jobs in Dubai appears to be London based with a Dubai contact (address given as 76 Sheikh Zayed Road), and unusual procedures for the procurement of an employment visa. At least 3 organisations they claim to be seeking teachers, do not exist as far as we can tell (Deira Homeland School, Atika Language School, Zafirah Language Institute). We'd suggest you independently confirm any job offers received from them before handing over your cash or important documents. See also the Global Recruiters discussion in the forum
• Global Recruiting Resources - looks like a new, improved website from Global Recruiters, but the rest of it appears to be just the same.
• Jobs in Dubai - it seems to be relatively easy to find many dissatisfied clients, along with several critical articles in the press, for the "Jobs in Dubai" company. Many sources bluntly say that Jobs in Dubai is a scam. Having said that, there are also reports of people saying they successfully had their job application fee refunded (not that they should have paid one in the first place), or found a job through Jobs in Dubai. Of course, this starts a circular argument with critics saying that Jobs in Dubai employees are spamming forums with success stories, and criticisms of other, more reputable, job search companies. Unsurprisingly, Jobs in Dubai say they do no such thing.
• SOS Recruitment (www.sosrecruitment.net - not .com) tel +971-4-3965600. Offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Kuwait. Unfortunately it looks like SOS didn't get hold of www.sosrecruitment.com, which seems to be a spam website. SOS Recruitment were one of our suggested employment agencies and they probably still deserve to be but we've discovered a minor negative reputation indicator for SOS Recruitment. It may not be their fault but until we can clear it up, SOS are not on our suggested list.

The following websites are listed below because they all have one or more indicators that mean they should be scrutinised very carefully before applying for jobs through them.

• They have a connection to www.jobsindubai.com.
• They have been seen using similar marketing methods on the internet (usually by spamming forums with a negative comment/question about the website and favorable answer shortly after - the giveaway is the low post count of the posters)
• They websites share the same host/domain registrar/website designer in Canada (not that Canada is thought of as a country full of scammers but the majority of websites we found seem to lead back to Canada)
• They charge a "registration" fee to submit your resume or CV.

The links are to discussion topics so you can add your comments, whether favorable or not. Please do, it will help other Dubai and UAE job seekers. Obviously, spam will be deleted though. If you know of any others, please add them to the Dubai job scam website topic and we'll try and find out more.

• www.careersindubai.com
• www.dubaiemploymentagency.com - forwards to the Dubai Employment Board (probably not a Dubai government agency) website
• www.dubaijobs.net - connected to uaestaffing.com? Charges job seekers a fee.
• www.dubaijobs.com - not a job website, just spam
• www.jobs123.com - we're not quite sure what this is - a classified ads network? There are no apparent contact details, but the advertised jobs sound like they are for real organisations.
• www.jobsindubai.ae - forwards to www.jobsindubai.com
• www.jobscan.ae - not clear if applicants have to pay or not
• www.lobomanagement.com - gets an 'Excellent' rating from the Dubai Employment Board, which makes it a questionable agency in our opinion.
• www.sosrecruitment.net - we thought SOS recruitment were a good one, but rated as 'Excellent' by the Dubai Employment Board raises a question mark for us.
• www.uaestaffing.com - connected to dubaijobs.net? Charges jobseekers a fee.
• www.veroseek.com - domain registered to same name as the jobsindubai.com boss.

Emirati / UAE national recruitment organisations

• Aamal - recruitment agency for UAE nationals set up by Clarendon Parker Middle East and Emirates People Recruitment Company (from Abu Dhabi).
• EMASCO Recruitment Consultants
• emiratisation.org - news and commentary on recruitment of UAE citizens and the emiratisation process.
• Macs Search
• Tanmia - The National Human Resource Development & Employment Authority - a Federal Government organisation founded to search for and create job opportunities for UAE national citizens.
• UAEGRADUATE

Online Job Agencies for Jobs in Dubai

• www.bayt.com - Based in Dubai, claim over 20,000 employers use their site. Job-hunters register, post a CV, and contact employers directly. Appears to be free for job-seekers (employers pay to advertise job or search CVs). Covers the GCC countries. Website clear and straightforward to use, can search and view jobs without registering. In June 2007, Bayt.com said they have over 1.5 million CVs stored, and launched a new CV search tool called InstantMatch. Update 03 Feb 2008 - Bayt.com said the rates for employers to post a job would be reduced to $150 for the cheapest advertisement, from 01 Feb 2008.
• www.careerjet.ae (or www.careerjet.com) - a search engine for jobs, Career Jet searches other job websites and collects all their listings on the careerjet websites. Add your comments to the www.careerjet.ae discussion.
• www.dubaidonkey.com - online site (started 2005-2006) with classified advertisements for jobs, no fees to pay. Can't seem to apply for a job though (website error when attempted 22 June 2006).
• www.dubaijobspot.com - not a recruitment agency but site where job hunters can post CVs and search through jobs advertised by employers. According to their website, job seekers don't pay, unclear how much employers are charged to advertise. Job applications appear to be online via website, or direct to employers. Add your comments to the www.dubaijobspot.com topic (30 May 2008).
• www.dubizzle.com - online site (started 2005-2006) with classified advertisements for jobs.
• www.e-jobsearch - submit your CV online and they claim to send it to thousands of recruiters to make a match. Based in UK and Dubai. Website says their service is free for recruiters so it's not clear how they make money without charging applicants (no further information found on website - 22 June 2006).
• www.gulftalent.com - Middle East jobs and information, sign up as recruiter or job seeker. Also a collection of research reports related to jobs in the Middle East.
• ITPrecruitment.com - ITP are a business and IT portal/news service based in Dubai. You can register with ITP recruitment on their website as looking for jobs but job listings (if they have any) are not obvious. Nor is there much other useful information about the recruitment process with them.
• www.jobsindubai.com - online agency, apparently based in Canada, with a poor reputation. There have been critical articles about them in the local press. Have a comment to make? Add it to the www.jobsindubai.com discussion.
• www.jobtrackme.com - according to website, been around since 1993 (website looks like it was designed around then). You're requested to email your CV as a word document. A rather outdated way of operating online. Covers the Middle East and some of Asia - jobtrackgroup.net (has a more up-to-date site design) seems to be for India but you can find Middle East jobs on it too. Not clear if job seeker or employer or both pay. See the www.jobtrackme.com discussion to add your comments.
• www.mawaride.com - online portal for jobs in Algeria, Belgium, China, France, Oman, Pakistan, Tunisia, as well as the United Arab Emirates, and other countries. Even the Arctic and Antartica are in the search criteria (but no results when we tried to search for a job there). Mawaride was established in 2004 and claims to be the "largest growing job portal", whatever that means. It's either free to post your CV, or they don't tell you what it costs until after you've submitted your CV. Employers pay $115-$180 per job posting, or $6000 for unlimited postings. Listings are active for 30 days. Jobs seem to be be mostly available for India, Egypt, UAE, and a handful in other Asian, European, and North African countries. Total of about 100 job listings when checked August 2007. Add your comments to the www.mawaride.com discussion.
• www.monster.com (forwards to monstergulf.com in the UAE) - launched its job search portal in Aug 2006 for the GCC and Jordan and Lebanon. Well known internationally (operates in 25 countries). Have you used them? What do you think? Add your comment to the www.monster.com discussion. Website popups when checked Aug 2007.
• www.strategiy.com - online business portal with classified job advertisements. Covers UAE and Middle East. Website not loading when checked Aug 2007.
• jobs.theemiratesnetwork.com (TEN jobs) - their FAQs say they are not a recruitment agency. You register, upload your CV and/or apply for jobs advertised on TEN jobs (can view without registering). No Terms of Use page obvious, presumably there's no charges for job-seekers. Job vacancies are posted by companies and recruitment agencies who pay about 35 dhs - 60 dhs per job posting. They announced a tie-up with Clarendon Parker Middle East (CPME) in July 2007. CPME seems to be one of the better recruitment agencies in Dubai.

We don't provide direct links to websites from recruitment agencies that charge job seekers, or websites that throw out pop-up advertising, or, in the opinion of DubaiFAQs.com, that offer a less than satisfactory user experience. If you feel there is an error here, please comment in the Dubai forum or contact us.

Other sources of jobs - classified advertisements

• Gulf News - daily UAE newspaper in English with good jobs section nearly every day.
• Khaleej Times - another UAE daily in English.

This information last updated Tuesday 21-Oct-2008