Lack of skills and demand for public-sector jobs is holding back Northern Emirates, HR chief says

Of the 5,000 Emiratis looking for work in Fujairah, 1,150 of them lacked the writing skills to complete their digital profiles and so will be deleted from the Fujairah Human Resources Department database, said Mohammed Al Zeyoudi, director general of the department.

Experts at the Fujairah International Career and Education Fair hope to help at least 300 people in to work. Satish Kumar / The National

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.