FUJAIRAH // Poor CV writing and presentation skills and a cultural mentality that demands public-sector jobs is holding back Northern Emirates jobseekers, experts said.
Of the 5,000 Emiratis looking for work in Fujairah, 1,150 of them lacked the writing skills to complete their digital profiles and will be deleted from the Fujairah Human Resources Department database, said Mohammed Al Zeyoudi, director general of the department.
“We tried to contact 1,000 jobseekers to guide them on how to update their information on the system because they failed to complete it, but we couldn’t achieve any progress.
“One hundred and fifty have been removed from the system and 1,000 will be removed soon,” he said at the 11th Fujairah International Career and Education Fair.
“People in the north prefer to work in a government institution, believing it provides higher salaries and stability; it’s a cultural mentality thing and we are working on changing it.”
Mr Al Zeyoudi said salaries in the private sector were becoming similar to those in the public sector.
“There has been a noticeable change in the recruiting sector since 1971 – jobseekers should start changing their preferences as the private sector is offering similar recruiting packages,” he said. “Six hundred and fifty Emiratis in Fujairah were recruited last year in the private sector and we hope the numbers will increase this year.”
Three hundred Emiratis were recruited at last year’s career fair and the hope is a similar number will find jobs this year.
“The number of jobseekers in Fujairah has increased to 5,270,” Mr Al Zeyoudi said. “Our duty is to ensure that their databases are complete to try to secure them a good job offer that’s compatible with their skills and qualifications.
“We recruited 300 last year during the fair but many of them resigned due to the distance they had to travel for work, which is considered the main challenge, although we provided transportation but still they saw it as time-consuming.”
Mr Al Zeyoudi said jobseekers should work on improving their skills.
“We regularly arrange for training programmes depending on the needs of the public and the market and we are always open for suggestions,” he said.
The careers fair, which opened on Wednesday, has 170 companies and educational institutions from around the world taking part.
They have 300 job opportunities in the private sector available and there are 800 positions across the UAE being offered by Abu Dhabi Police.
The HR manager at Fujairah National Group, which employs 20,000 people in 44 companies including hotels, schools and hospitals, agreed that jobseekers needed to improve their interviewing skills.
“Many jobseekers in Fujairah lack the skills to represent themselves and this affects their options to be chosen for the job,” said Mohammed Al Ani.
“Some specialties are hard to find here, such as physicians and engineers.
“There are a few of them because they prefer to work in other emirates believing that salaries might be better but, if you compare them while keeping in mind the living costs in both places, they will be the same and sometimes better in the north.”
Today is the last day of the jobs fair at Fujairah Exhibition Centre. It is open from 9am to 2pm and 4pm to 8pm under the patronage of Sheikh Hamad Al Sharqi, Ruler of Fujairah.
rhaza@thenational.ae
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The biog
Born: near Sialkot, Pakistan, 1981
Profession: Driver
Family: wife, son (11), daughter (8)
Favourite drink: chai karak
Favourite place in Dubai: The neighbourhood of Khawaneej. “When I see the old houses over there, near the date palms, I can be reminded of my old times. If I don’t go down I cannot recall my old times.”
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
