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How returning graduates provide a smart answer to nationalization targets

The UAE has experienced rapid economic growth and societal transformation over the last four decades. This major boom in industry has led to a heavy reliance on expat workers and now just 11% of the UAE’s population is made up of native Emiratis. To help redress the balance, governments have turned to nationalisation – Emiratisation, Saudisation and Qatarisation – as a way of incentivising employers to invest more in indigenous talent inn the public and private sectors.

A desire to cultivate and protect national identities and the need to create an economy that lasts long after the oil has run out are just two reasons that nationalisation requirements have been introduced.

As such, the Gulf States are in the midst of a major push to invest in education, healthcare, tourism, infrastructure and industry – creating opportunities and vacancies across the board.

Professor at Qatar University, Sheikha Abdulla Al-Misnad, outlined the intention in a 2015 interview: “Qatarisation is about empowering Qatari people to lead their own nation through the various institutions that constitute government, private sector and civil society; it is not simply about replacing the expat workforce with a national one.”

According to Gulf News, recent legislation introduced in the Emirates dictates that companies with more than 1,000 workers must be sure to have at least two data entry positions filled by Emirati residents while an additional decree stated that companies with over 500 employees in the construction and industrial sector will be unable to receive work permits without the appointment of at least one Emirati occupational health and safety officer.

Where do international returners fit in?

With the UAE Vision 2021 National Agenda aiming to increase the amount of UAE nationals working in the private sector tenfold by 2021, international returners may well be best placed to fill some of these roles.

They will also be more open to joining SMEs in the private sector to build their experience, unlike some UAE nationals who feel that working for an established public sector firm is preferable due to the perceived job security in the long term.

Emirates returning from UK universities are equipped with highly specialised skills and global insights. These are ideal attributes in any candidate, but given that many of the Gulf’s major cities are epicentres of multicultural business like banking and construction, their international perspective will be of heightened importance.

Abdulla Al-Misnad noted the benefits of an international education, saying that it contributes to professional and personal growth and development well beyond the formal education earned: “It broadens one’s horizons and enables adaptive analytic skills as well as the ability to move effectively between micro and macro views.”

If you’d like to tap into a fresh well of top talent, contact us today and start receiving CVs from graduates looking to kick-start their careers in their home territories.