MY TIPS FOR GETTING HIRED: How to Find a Job in Dubai 2024

Hi everyone, welcome back to my YouTube channel. If you're new here my name's Mabel and I've got loads of content all about living in the UAE and just helping you live your best UAE, Dubai life and maybe you've not got there yet, maybe that's why you're clicking on this video. If you're trying to find a new job or your first job here in the UAE, in Dubai, I have some tips for you. I've done a video like this already, maybe some of you have watched it. I think I did it about 18 months ago and it's proved to be one of my most popular videos but even having done the video I still get asked the question so much and I know how hard it is. For those of you that don't know me and that don't watch my Dubai life vlog, I'll do a quick explanation of kind of my UAE experience. I moved here six years ago and I did get recruited from a company in the UK, a company over in Dubai here offered me the job and I moved over for that job initially but then the past two years I've been working for myself so I also have a bit of experience from the employer side and not just the employee side. Okay let's get straight into it because I know who wants to study time, you want to find your next job in Dubai ASAP. Now the number one thing I say to people now and I can't emphasize it enough like finding a new job, if you want to just go, if you just want to log on Indeed or LinkedIn and just find your next job and just tick a button and then get offered the job that's probably not going to happen I'm really sorry. My biggest advice, piece of advice, my biggest piece of advice for you is to say, my biggest piece of advice to you is you need to be networking. It's not about your application actually at all, it's about networking. Now there's going to be, I should also preface all of this advice by saying that of course every industry is so so different. Every, whatever you want to be doing it's going to be completely different from what somebody else is doing so there is always going to be exceptions to the rule. You know I have my experience based in kind of marketing and e-commerce so I can really vouch for all of kind of how that world works here in Dubai but I don't have the knowledge let's say teaching, real estate, whatever it is that you want to be doing here in Dubai, I don't have all the answers but I do think one thing that people really don't kind of realize when applying for jobs is how kind of personal it is and it's kind of annoying but the truth of it is that most jobs in Dubai I feel like actually aren't posted on LinkedIn or on Indeed or on any other job sites. They're actually hired word of mouth, they're hired internally in the company, they're hired through network and if you've heard the phrase your network is your network, I think that's relevant here. Your best bet, they're probably thinking that's really soul-crushing because I don't know anyone in Dubai. That's okay, you need to just get them to know you okay. So you need to be connecting with people here in Dubai that do ideally exactly what you want to do. If you, for example, if you are a marketing manager and you want to work in marketing here in Dubai, you need to do a bit of research and find companies, whether it's marketing agencies, whether it's businesses, whatever it is, you need to already be finding these companies and identifying them as your goal. Then you need to be networking with the actual people that are behind the job applications okay. You need to be connected with them on LinkedIn as for a start, you need to be messaging them, you need to be genuinely asking for advice. This is how you start connections with people and I would say, I think a lot of people agree with me here as well, I would say in Dubai people are very welcoming and helpful. I think you will find that a lot of people want to help you get your job or move out here or whatever. I've had a lot of experience with this because I've had so many people message me and I've tried to help as many people as I can but the thing is you do need to just get them to know you okay. So let's say that's the first thing you're going to do, that's what I want you to do first. Let's have this as a bit of a process okay. So you can write this down on your to-do list but the first thing you need to do is start to connect with people that are in your industry, whether that's people that might be your future employers, your future clients, your future team, the future business that you want to work with. Start to connect with them on LinkedIn, Instagram or even Facebook. Another good tip is to find these people through Facebook groups. Don't be afraid to go on to, for example, I'm from the UK so you could join BRITs in Dubai or whatever it is the Facebook group and put posts on there and say hey guys does anybody work in marketing? I work in a marketing agency in the UK and I really want to work in a marketing agency in Dubai. I'm sure people will leave you a comment and say yes I work here or yes why don't you try XYZ or yes I heard that Spencer are hiring okay. That's what I want you to do. I want you to be proactive. I don't want you to just look on LinkedIn and see the jobs that are listed. If anybody's done that already you probably had a bit of a panic attack because all the jobs have like 50,000 applicants or something and that's often the case. When I was hiring for my first like new hires to build my team and I have a marketing agency I could not believe how many people were applying for these jobs. The demand, what I'm trying to say, I couldn't believe how popular these jobs were even though it was my own business and like a new company. I just couldn't believe it but people are really desperate to move to Dubai so it is competitive and you do need to give yourself a competitive edge you know. Be that person that is proactive. Be that person to start a conversation. You will stand out in people's minds so much more if you actually have a genuine connection with them and if you don't and if you don't get a job out of it you've still maybe got a connection or a friend or someone to network with for the future. They might not have something now but they might have one in two months or they might have one in six months or they might you know just be a friend for you to call up when you're here and say hey why don't we meet for a coffee we work in a similar industry. Okay so it's the power of networking that's what I didn't want to dishearten anyone that is worked really hard on their application and has submitted it loads and is you know feeling kind of downhearted about not hearing back yet but I urge you to really slide into some DMs. This is actually how I found team members for my team as well is by them approaching me and when you're aware of something you'll pass it on or you'll you'll you'll want to help that person so I really think that is your best bet into like taking the first step. A common question that I get asked is do you need to actually be physically in Dubai to find your job? No absolutely not there's a lot of companies that will recruit internationally especially in some industries more than others but I can use myself as an example and I also hired people for my team from other countries and recruited them here into the UAE. No I don't think you need to be here in person but if you are why not make extra effort to just meet up with people for a coffee in different teams in different businesses you if you are here in person use that time to network appropriately. I think I mentioned this story in my last video um but when my when I first moved to Dubai this was now five years ago well I moved six years ago but once I'd been living here a while my friends came to visit me from the UK and my friend was desperate to also move out here so while she was on her vacation um you know messaged people on Instagram in her industry which was PR um you know asked to meet them for a coffee just have a chat I remember one of the uh marketing managers what sorry PR managers at an agency said yeah sure let's grab a coffee and and my friend um you know brought a box of donuts to their office just to say thank you for you know starting that kind of relationship and just helping a girl out and I just I love that story because I just think it goes to show how like that's not a difficult thing to do but not many people are going to think of doing that and I know that's um you know that's like one example if you're not here in the UAE don't worry it's still possible but if you are coming to visit or you're trying to get an understanding of what life is like and you're coming on a vacation then why not take that extra step and don't be afraid to just meet people in person um okay so we've talked a little bit about networking we've talked about joining Facebook groups and we've talked about um visualizing what you know which companies you want to be at and you've reached out to them now you're in the application stage so the job has come up um someone's told you that something's available at this company and you're submitting your application if you are outside of the UAE um I do think when they come to ask you in the interview which I'm sure they will ask you have you ever visited the UAE I think you should say yes even if you haven't just say that you've been on holiday um the reason for this and I I did this actually when I was um being recruited and the reason for this is employers will often um have to take a really big chance on you if they're recruiting you from another country if you're then saying yeah I know I've never been before but I might give it a go that's kind of like not gonna fill the employer or the recruiter with what's what am I trying to say it's not going to fill them with oh my god it's on the tip of my tongue but you know what I mean it's not going to reassure them that that you're going to like and enjoy living here the last thing that they want is to spend their money on a visa for you and then have you quit after three months and want to move home so you can say um yeah I visited last year and I really liked it and that's why I want to be there that's my advice it's not to lie in the rest of your application but I do think that that's um just going to position you in a way that knows what you like it makes you appear that you know what you want and you know that you do want to live here and you can say yeah I've got a friend uh called Mabel she's a youtuber you can just say you know me I don't mind and I remember in my first interview um it was actually a phone call interview for my original job that I got here six years ago I remember saying um yes I've been to visit my uncle who lives in Abu Dhabi that's not a total lie because he does live in Abu Dhabi but I had never visited Dubai actually and the first time I came to Dubai was when my new employer had you know brought me over for to start the job but anyway I have another video that's kind of a career so I won't get into all that right now but I wanted to include that in this video because I do think it's relevant if they're asking you questions about you personally and it kind of feels like you have no knowledge of what life in the UAE is like then they're probably they're probably going to want some reassurance that you are going to like it so I think a little white lie does not hurt I don't know if I'm allowed to say this like I don't want you to think that I'm like approve of you lying on your interviews but I'm just being honest so I talked a little bit about Facebook groups and I actually just remembered um another point that I wanted to make in this video which is there are a lot of specific networking groups for different types of people um I've been to a couple of events with women who thrive and also with professionelle which are women in business groups um I also have um a contact from my co-working space that runs a men's networking group so I think that that you're going to find something and I'm going to link them in the um description of this video for you in case anybody's interested but I think if you are in Dubai already and you're looking for a new job or if you're um you know out here on holiday or whatever it is going to one of these events is such a nice way to get yourself known and kind of you know network with people in a really casual and often quite fun way for example women who thrive do like a speed networking thing kind of like speed dating I've not actually been to this event but it looks great um just things like that I think that is the kind of thing that you should be doing um if there's one thing I want you to take away from this video it is to be proactive but also you know if it doesn't happen instantly don't be disheartened think if your first few applications haven't been successful it can be so annoying and frustrating but you do need to kind of keep at it it's like finding a job in any other country it is hard um and if you kind of find a way to get yourself here then I think it can be such a good idea to network because often people will hire people that they know trust know of um and there's ways to make you appear more trustworthy as well for example if you are submitting your application but you've not done a link linkedin post in three years you need to be literally shouting about the fact that you are the perfect candidate for this for this role in this industry or whatever it is you need to be active you need to be showing who you are people will trust real people um you know don't be disheartened by the 50 000 other applicants on linkedin because half of them probably don't have a profile picture or whatever it is you do need to show that you're a real person and you need to like connect with real people okay it's all about networking real people but good luck guys I'm sure you'll be able to find a job out here and it's a side note if you are wanting to set up your own business here or freelance here I have another video that's about um setting up your free zone business license so you can go and watch that you might find it helpful if not then maybe I will see you and soon here on my channel I do weekly vlogs about what life is like here in the UAE so be sure to check them out and I'll see you in the next video bye guys