Al Ain Education and Career Fair spotlights opportunities for Emirati school leavers, graduates and jobseekers
Al Ain, UAE, 24 April 2011: UAE national graduates can vastly improve their employment prospects and skills by completing international internships, according to an expert in Emiratisation and career training.
Hamad Taher, President of AIESEC United Arab Emirates, believes Emiratis develop vital skills and core competencies such as leadership, team-work and entrepreneurship, and says international internships offer UAE graduates a broader global perspective, empowering them to become ‘change-agents’ and enhance employment opportunities when they return to the UAE.
AIESEC will drive that message home to thousands of UAE national graduates when it runs an assessment centre at the Al Ain Education & Career Fair at the Al Khabisi Wedding Celebration Hall from 2 to 4 May, 2011.
“International internships offer young Emiratis a challenging opportunity to live, work and socialise in foreign countries while learning skills in management, technology and education, for instance,” said Taher.
“Graduates and students can maximise their potential to create opportunities for development of defined leadership competencies. When they return back to the UAE, we can see a tangible change in their confidence and a clearer understanding of their goals and how to achieve them”.
AIESEC is the world’s largest international student-run organisation that provides a platform for youth leadership development and facilitates more than 10,000 international internships every year, as part of the AIESEC Experience programme.
The assessment centre at the Al Ain Education & Careers Fair will analyse students’ personalities based on psychometric testing, identifying areas of strengths which can be suited to particular work environments and organisations. The centre’s career experts will also advise students on what competencies can be further developed to help improve their employment prospects.
“Typically, we have found that young Emiratis are more developed in competencies such as self awareness, awareness of others, flexible thinking and innovation,” added Taher. “Competencies that can be further developed include adaptability, leadership, communication, and results orientation”.
According to the Abu Dhabi Education Council there are currently more than 23,000 UAE national students enrolled in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain federal universities, and a further 6,000 in private universities. Unemployment of Emiratis between15 and 23 years old remains constant at 23.1 per cent.
“Al Ain is home to some 400,000 people, and has the largest UAE national population of all the emirates, providing the ideal platform for organisations and educational institutions to spotlight different career opportunities for UAE national job-seekers and students”, said Khurram Saeed, Exhibition Manager for the Al Ain Education and Career Fair.
A number of multinational businesses are already signed up to come face to face with bright graduates and fulfil Emiratisation quotas. Etihad Airways, Etisalat and Du, all gold sponsors of the event, will have a number of positions available for UAE nationals alongside ADNOC, a diamond sponsor, Al Futtaim Group, the Petroleum Group, Abu Dhabi Airports Company, Emirates NBD and Schlumberger, the global oilfield services provider which employs 105,000 people and operates in approximately 80 countries.
School leavers exploring higher education opportunities will be able to meet several major universities and training institutions such as Al Ghurair University, the New York University of Abu Dhabi, and the Al Ain International Aviation Academy, a division of the Institute of Applied Technology that provides Emirati students with professional training for jobs as aircraft engineers, technicians and other specialist roles.
Now in its third year, the Al Ain Education and Career Fair attracts more than 5,000 visitors, including students, parents, training practitioners, HR directors and recruitment officers.
The event was acquired by Informa Exhibitions (formerly known as IIR Middle East) in January 2011 and is now partnered with NAJAH Education, Training and Careers and Tawdheef, both of which take place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Higher Education & Scientific Research, the Al Ain Education & Career Fair offers universities, educational institutions and organisations from across the UAE a platform to highlight the opportunities available in the Middle East and abroad for school leavers and graduates.
The Al Ain Education and Career Fair is supported by the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Emirates National Development Programme, and AIESEC, with ershaad.ae – the online job portal dedicated for UAE nationals – as official emiratisation partner.
Caption: The Al Ain Education and Career Fair will help Emirati job-seekers and school leavers develop their career paths and highlight career opportunities
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