Dubai Forums Dubai Classifieds Dubai Job Wanted

Pointers on Recruitment Agencies/ Job Sites.

* Under UAE federal law, a recruiter may not ask the employee, prospective employee or candidate for any form of financial compensation for the placement; should they do so their trade license can be revoked. All recruitment and employment fees are for the employers account.

* There are a number of “dead end” recruitment sites, that simply collect information (such as email addresses) from prospective employees. Be careful about dubious looking sites, they can be mechanisms for collecting personal information which can then be sold to spammers or even used for identity theft. Be extremely careful about the nature of any personal information that you upload to any sites!

* If you consider registering on a career site (or any site for that matter) where you are required to set up an account you are normally asked to supply your email address so that mail can be forwarded to you. The site will also ask you to provide a password to secure your account; don’t use the same password that you would normally use for your email account. Sometimes it is very tempting to do this it is easy to remember. Spammers and data collectors (plinchers) know that 8 out of 10 people will simply use the same password that they use for their personal email – this makes it very easy for someone to hack into your mail account or use your mail account to spam others. A simple precaution is simply to add a suffix to your password, for example if your password is normally “fruit” add a random number to the end (one that you’d remember) such as “101” – this means for all job websites that you register on you’d have the password “fruit101”, you’d remember your password and spammers and plinchers wouldn’t have access to your mail.

* Some agencies specialize in particular types of industry placements e.g. IT, Construction, Property, Retail etc. Where possible use an agent/ agency that knows your industry and the peculiarities of your industry – this helps to avoid confusion.

* When searching sites, use various permutations of what you are looking for especially job titles. In the Middle East common translation errors are often “assimilated” into everyday language, especially with regards to job descriptions. For example the term “engineer” is used to describe anyone with a little training or background in a particular field, in most cases this is formal training, but need not be. This means that there are “engineers” to suit every occasion: landscape engineers, road engineers, lighting engineers, waste disposal engineers, sales engineers etc. The term is not used with the same deference as what it is in “western” culture.
In other instances no direct translation of a particular job exists (in Arabic) so a commonly used or understood term is used, when this is translated back into English there is normally a loss of connotation. For example horticulturist = agriculturist, agricultural engineer, landscape engineer or office manager = office in charge

* Check the sites regularly, even daily; this will give you a good idea on how many positions the agency handles. Obviously you want to avoid ones that have a low turnover of positions.

* Check for the placement date of the advertisement. This will be a good indication of how “fresh” the advertisement is; it’s pointless getting excited about finding your “dream job” if the advertisement is six months old.

* A good advertisement will have the date of placement, the location of the position, the salary on offer, any perks on offer, the job description, the criteria for candidate selection and sometimes an expiry date of the advertisement.

* There are some good “web-crawler” type sites; these collate the positions offered on a number of independent sites into one site. This can cut down on the amount of time spent searching; it is also quiet easy to see then where the same position has been placed with different agents. A good example is: http://www.careerjet.ae/jobs/i/in_unite ... rates.html. It is also a good guide to other agency sites.

These are some of my personal favourites:

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/ClassNewL.asp?loc=DXB
Al Khaleej Times – Job Classifieds for Dubai, other Emirates also available online.
Also gives details of other classified sales and purchases, these can be a useful benchmark tool – prices of furniture, second hand vehicles, rental prices and property purchase prices.
As it is a local newspaper, it tends to attract placements for vacancies that are immediately available, but also those where the salaries and positions are more menial than those which would be advertised through employment agent’s .i.e. employers with very strict budgets and tight purse strings! Not a place to search if you were looking for a vacancy for a CEO for Microsoft!
General placements

http://www.dubaijobspot.com/
New site, some rather nice positions, dated and cataorised
General placements

http://www.bacme.com/job/job_bank.asp
Nice site, long listing of positions, but only updated twice a week. Some of the jobs seem to stay on forever suggesting that there may not be much site maintenance done.
General placements

http://www.kershawleonard.net/vacancies.asp
Nice site, not a lot of vacancies, but seems to be updated on a regular basis. Positions and salaries are advertised.
General placements

http://www.peoplesource-me.com/
Nice site, not a lot of vacancies, but seems to be updated on a regular basis. Positions and salaries are advertised. Advertisement placement dates are included.
General placements

http://www.bayt.com/
Old, more established and recognized site. Placements for the GCC region. Advertisement placement dates are included. Pretty user friendly.
General placements

http://www.bbtuae.com
Berisford Blake Thomas. Good site. Advertisements for construction, design, architecture, project management and engineering. Salaries and date of advertisement placement are included.
Construction placements

http://www.clarendonparker.com/
Clarendon Parker. They have also been around for some time. The site carries a mixture of positions (UAE and GCC) although the search interface is terrible!
General placements

http://www.damacholding.com/careers/current-jobs.asp
Damac Holdings. Property developer, private company career site. Good site for those interested in a career in property and property development in the UAE and Middle East; there are also administrative/ support personal positions such as secretaries advertised on the site.
Property/ Construction placements

There are a number of other such company sites (major property developers):
http://www.emaar.com/careers/
http://www.nakheel.com/corporate/talents/
http://www.dubai-properties.ae/working- ... rties.html
http://www.bonyanemirates.com/
http://www.etastar.com/
A fuller list of commercial and retail property developers can be found at:
http://www.dubaicity.com/About_Dubai/re ... -dubai.htm


http://jobsearch.monster.com/Search.asp ... E&aj=Dubai
Monster Jobs Dubai. Web crawler, site that collects careers from various other sites and combines them into one listing. Not very complete as it seems to only select careers from a few sites.
General placements

http://www.dubailand.ae/working_us.html
Dubailand, the project. There are various other projects similar to this, depending on the phase of the project they would require planning and construction staff and eventually staff to man and manage the facilities. In some cases a sole (recruitment) agency will be appointed by the project owners to facilitate the placement of staff for the entire project – in this instance most of the positions are advertised through Duneden ME. http://www.dunedenme.com/?navigation=jo ... 68&apply=1
General placements

http://dubaiholding.com/en/careers/how-to-apply/
Dubai Holdings is just that, a holding company for some of the largest “players” in Dubai. Subsidiaries include: Jumeirah Group, Tecom Investments, Dubai Group, Dubai Properties Group, Tatweer, Sama Dubai and Dubai International Capital. The site is worth visiting simply to look at the diversity of options it offers.
General placements

http://www.talentdubai.com/
Talent Management Consultancy. Various positions, engineering through administration and sales. Not a lot of positions, but they seem to be updated on a regular basis with one or two new spots being added to each category every day.
The date of placement, location of the position and the salary on offer are advertised.
General placements

http://www.gulftalent.com
Gulf Talent. Like Bayt, the site has been around for a while and list positions for the GCC. Search function is simple and effective. Crawler type site that lists vacancies from a larger number of affiliated sites; in some cases the name of the company advertising the position is given, or the name and history of the advertising agency.
General placements

http://www.hillintl.com/
Hill International. International construction risk Management Company. Employs consultants in various construction and project based fields. Site is simple to use and the advertisements have the date and time of placement attached. Full job descriptions are provided. Positions internationally inclusive of the GCC.
Construction placements

http://www.hillmcglynn.com/candidates/candidates.asp
Hill McGlynn Recruitment Solutions. International construction, property and design placements – including GCC placements. Good search function, simple to use.
Construction placements

http://www.daultonpersonnel.co.uk/index.htm
Construction placements international including GCC. Fair turnover of positions on the site. Search function is not brilliant, but works.
Construction placements

http://www.jobscan.ae/vacancies.php
Long list of vacancies, divided into categories, although it seems that many of the older positions are not removed from the site – this makes the list look longer than what it should be. No search function is provided and the vacancies are in one long list – use the Windows Search function (Control-F).
General placements

http://www.appleselection.com/
Apple Selection. Well presented site, although the rate of new vacancies seems to be minimal; also seems to be updated only once a week. The vacancies are clearly laid out and in most cases have the salary on offer as well. Seems to offer middle to upper salary range placements.
General placements

http://www.charterhouseme.ae/
Charterhouse Middle East. Nice job selection, poor search function! Majority of the vacancies are marketing, sales and construction and cover the GCC region. Upper and middle salary range positions on offer. Dates of placement also included.
General placements

http://www.recruitgulf.com/index.asp
Not a bad little site, some very useful links. Easy to use search function.
General placements

http://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/
Emirates Airlines. All Emirates airlines positions are advertised through this site. Applicants have to register online to be considered for any applications, this at best takes approximately 45 minutes. Technical, ground crew and cabin staff positions.
Airline placements

http://adr-recruitment.com/jobs/
Selection of vacancies, property, IT, management etc. Simple search function, only drawback is that there are no placement dates on the advertisements so you can’t see how old the vacancy is.
General placements

http://www.halcrow.com/html/careers/apply_search.htm
Halcrow International, so the site contains numerous other postings, International consultancy business; engineering, PM, construction and architecture vacancies. Filer placements by region or sector.
Construction placements

http://www.hays.ae/index.aspx
Hays recruitment. Good selection of A & B salary sector positions. Date of vacancy as well as the salary offering is advertised. Various sectors.
General placements

http://www.gnads4u.com/search.html?t=jobs&ct=&pub=
Gulf News Classifieds. I love this site, simple to use, web-crawler-type site. Has numerous listings, up-to-date jobs (normally 4 weeks old tops!). Vacancies can be filtered by location (emirate or GCC state) and even by salary where it has been listed. Can also view properties, vehicles etc.
General placements

http://www.justengineers.net/vacancies/ ... itment.asp
Nice, neat, easy to use. Agency name says it all, Just Engineers. Inernational placements, so you have to sift through them.
Construction placements

http://www.jobsindubai.com
Sigh! Read what I posted above about agents asking for payment/ deposts/ processing fees. Google "jobs in dubai" + "scam" and make up your own mind.

Wow, great info on that post & thanks. I understand now a little more regarding the term "Engineer" It is used quite frequently in alot of vacancies. I think there seems to be a number of vacancies and I think I'll start applying and see what happens. Can I ask is the salary advertised per month or per year?

Salaries can be advertised either way, per month or per annum - there is no accepted norm. If you divide the figure by 12 and it looks ridiculously low then the chances are it’s per month

Remember there are no 13th cheques or annual bonuses unless specifically mentioned in the advertisement.

Great inputs dbxsoul....very much thankful to you ..for the detailed inputs. Any more inputs on how to go about the visa thing, Will there be any prospects that would obtain a visa for a person outside dubai? How will this part work? Thanks in advance again...

bluemoon_wiz wrote:Great inputs dbxsoul....very much thankful to you ..for the detailed inputs. Any more inputs on how to go about the visa thing, Will there be any prospects that would obtain a visa for a person outside dubai? How will this part work? Thanks in advance again...

If you are lucky enough to land a job through a recruitment agent or through direct negotiations with an employer then the employer is responsible for supplying you with a visa.

If you intend to come to Dubai to canvas for work then it gets a little tricky; under the previous system you could simply get a visit visa sponsored though the airlines or a hotel, find a job and convert the visit visa to a residency visa. With the recent changes this is no longer an option. A visit visa cannot be converted directly, this means that you may find a job, but then would have to leave the country and wait for the employer to send you a work/ residency visa before re-entering.

Of course this is an expensive exercise - for both parties! This is not the first time the dept. of immigration has done this either, they place restrictive rules in play and then after a month or three offer a method to circumvent the process by paying a "fine" or "processing fee" - in other words this is basically an easy way for them to generate revenue without doing any additional work.

My advice is.. Look though the ads at the moment wait a month or two as the new rules have only just come into effect so there are sure to be refinements and changes over the next 60 days. It is also mid-summer and not a pleasant time to visit and Ramadan starts at the beginning of September as well (so basically nothing happens for a month). Keep an eye on the advertisements; the volume of positions should also start picking up from mid-September. If you’re coming out for a look-see, plan it from mid-October onwards.