How to Find Jobs in Gulf Countries

How to Find Jobs in Gulf Countries

Saudi Arab, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman are called Gulf Countries. These countries are dependent upon foreign labor. The population of foreign workers is more than the local in these countries. They are heavily dependent on foreign workers. They are oil economies. They are one of the richest countries in the world. They are the top ranked oil producers in the world. The low local population and high demand for workers for oil and gas production has resulted in high demand for the foreign workers.

The demand for foreign workers will remain high. The situation will not change in short to medium term. This demand for workers will vary from country to country. High skilled workers will remain in high demand.

The Economic Revival and Job Markets of Gulf Countries

The 2008 financial crisis has seen the slowing down and job redundancies in the gulf countries. The most affected is United Arab Emirates in general and Dubai in particular. The 2008 crisis is behind now and economies have started moving up. Dubai the first to see the bust is first to come back. Dubai is buzzing with activities and new project launches. The other emirates Abu Dhabi is doing well and so are all small emirates. This movement in economy is across the UAE and will have positive impact on long term growth and labor market.

Saudi Arabia which is high of government spending and mega projects is on upswing. The government is spending heavily on infrastructure and skill up gradation. This has very positive impact on Saudi Economy. It has shown upsurge in recent months. The economy will take some more time to really take speed.

Kuwait economy is in positive territory but job market is slow. Unless government kick start Development plan as proposed the market will remain dull in near future.

Qatar is newly rich state. The gas is flowing and has long plans to develop itself as Sports Tourism and Financial Center. It has 2022 Football World Cup. The development for the same will start in 2013/2014. This will speed up the economic development and GDP of the country. Presently economy is slow but in positive territory.

Oman has just started its Islamic Banking and it is developing niche for itself. It has good economy and is moving up steadily. It will remain steady over the period and creates good opportunities.

Bahrain is affected by the political turmoil. The economy is stalled and will remain slow. It will take some time before it can start moving.

The infrastructure Sector

Infrastructure is biggest employer and will remain so. Presently more than a trillion dollar is committed on this sector and it is most promising sector.

Oil and Gas is the best sector to work. It is owned by government. It has best salaries. Present expansion of new oil and gas discoveries, upstream and downstream projects will create lot of opportunities.

Saudi Arabia has given lot of importance to downstream development of this sector, it has created huge infrastructure for the same and has committed to the future development. It will create new opportunities in this sector.

Kuwait is increasing production. It has committed two new refinery projects which will have erection and commissioning and then it will go upstream. This will create new opportunities in erection and commissioning.

Power Sector is another major sector with huge commitment. Kuwait, Saudi, Qatar and UAE has seen the growth in this sector up to 10% per annum. The government has committed to meet the power demand of growing economy where present capacity utilization is almost 95% and above during the pick hours in summer. This will have positive impact on creating new jobs opportunities in this sector.

Transport i.e. Rail, Road, Airport and Port is at the core to the development model of GCC. – Presently across all GCC new projects are under execution. Railways have got special attention across the GCC. Dubai is at the lead and started the metro system which is being used by many daily travelers. Etihad Rail the project of Emirates Government for connecting the all Emirates together is in full swing. Etihad rail will also connect to the GCC countries.

Saudi is not far behind in developing Railways, it will have one of longest railways network in the world soon. It has many metro rail projects presently under executions. These projects will completed over the next 5 years. This is a huge opportunity for job seekers.

Qatar is developing its Metro Rail and also in process of connecting with Saudi Arabia via Bahrain. This will be biggest network and will have positive impact on economy.

Kuwait is presently studying metro network and also common railway for GCC. It will take some time before it can be started.

Airport –Across the GCC the airport expansion is in full swing. Soon Dubai will host top airport in the world. Qatar is not far behind. Saudi is expanding its airport capacity at Jeddah and Riyadh. This will be increased four times over the period of development.

Kuwait has planned a major expansion of its airport in its development plan which is under execution presently.

Port is another backbone of trading in this region. Dubai host one of the best and biggest ports in the world. Presently all gulf countries are expanding their capacities to next level of economic growth.

The Hospitality

Dubai is shopping and tourism. It has created itself a luxury niche in the market. The cash Arabs and non Arabs travel to Dubai for shopping and tourism. Just to enjoy the life. This will continue and new projects and hotels are coming up.

Overall in GCC more than 100,000 rooms are under constructions and will come upstream over next 3 to 5 years time. This will create at least 300,000 direct job opportunities and almost a million indirect job opportunities.

The most expansion in this sector is happening in three countries, Saudi Arabia where capacity of two Holy cities of Makkah and Medina is being doubled this will increase the demand for new rooms and it is being planned. This will need at least another 100,000 rooms in these two places over the next decade.

Qatar Football world cup need more rooms it is being created.

Dubai is working hard to host 2020 world expo and that will be big opportunity. This all events and growing tourism will see major expansion in this sector which can create 300,000 direct employments and up to 1 million indirect employments over the next decade.

Retail

Retail is boosting and will remain hot. This region is cash rich region of the world. GCC host three most rich countries by per capita exist, so demand for retail is high. The second is tourism; both Saud and Dubai has tourism which has retail as major component in it. This will create huge job opportunity.

Information Technology

Nothing can move without IT. Metro, Airport, Port and Electricity, everything runs on IT. Huge spending on infrastructure development and e governance project and increasing penetration of internet has created huge opportunity in this sector.

This sector is still not very well developed and needs talents and innovative ideas for development.

Healthcare

Present infrastructure of Healthcare in not enough. New government and Private projects are coming to increase the capacity to double. This doubling of capacity may not be enough over next five to ten years. This sector will remain one of best rewarding sector in future.

The Profession in Demand

Where is real demand for the new jobs? Which sectors are most sought after? These are the two most important questions in mind for those who are looking for opportunities. These are the sectors which are in demand today and will remain so in near future.

Engineering – Erection, Commissioning and Construction

This is evergreen sector and will remain one of the most demanding in years to come. In erection and commissioning, oil and gas is most rewarding. With two major projects coming up in Kuwait and major expansion in Saudi Arabia, the sector will remain robust in near future. Oil and gas is at the core of growth story of gulf countries. The gulf economies are 95% dependent on Oil and Gas for their GDP. This sector will typical absorb almost all major streams of engineering with specialization in Oil and Gas. Mechanical, Civil, Electrical, Petroleum, and other branches have almost equal opportunity. Kuwait will have almost 8000 to 10000 new jobs in these sectors when the projects for refineries are launched. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE will have another chunk of 20,000 jobs in this sector over the next 2 years.

Power Sector - Electrical, Civil, Electronics, Power engineering graduates are in demand in this sector. The present spare capacity is low and new demand is high this specialization will see very good demand.

Civil, Construction and Engineering and Project Management Opportunities – There are 1 trillion USD projects are presently under project and trillion dollars is under pipe line. This is huge investment. This creates huge opportunity for the experts in construction, erection and project management field.

Refinery, Rail Way, Airport, Power Generation, Oil and Gas, Industrial and down Stream Petroleum, Real Estate are the sectors on move. This is huge opportunity in the next 2 years time.

Skilled Workers – Mechanic, Special Machinery Operator, Heavy Machinery Operator

Skilled workers will always in demand. The skills which are most in demands are Heavy Machine Operator which is used in erection, commissioning and construction sector. The changes in technology have changed the complete job profile of erection, commissioning and construction sector. The make the execution fast, cheaper and better more and more people are adopting to the precast technology. This needs totally different kind of skills. The skilled workers with expertise is operating these machines will remain most in demand and there is opportunity, they earn more than the engineers. These are the skills which are in demand and rare.

Mechanic is another area of skilled workers which has extremely good demand. When mechanization is almost complete, these machines need regular maintenance and repair. The expertise in the repair and maintenance of heavy machinery, and special machinery used in construction, erection and commissioning of projects has good demand. The special machines and machines and technology used in power sector, oil and gas, railways will also be in demand.

Automobile Mechanic and Engineers: - Gulf countries have one of the highest numbers of per capita vehicles. The number of private car per thousand populations is almost 541; it is much more in Kuwait. If we look at all vehicles on road, these numbers are huge; the commercial vehicles are also there. Public transportation is at early stage of development. It may take another at least 10 to 15 years to develop. Mechanics for vehicles and especially for luxury vehicles are high in demand and will remain high in demand.

Hospitality - Hotels, Travel, Tourism and Retail: - Dubai has worlds one of biggest and busiest airport, Qatar is building huge airport and so is Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The capacity of the airport and air transport sector will be doubled by 2020-2025. The huge expansion of Two Holy Sites Makkah, and Madina in Saudi Arabia, the capacity will be doubled, so it will more than double the annual visitors to the Saudi Arabia. Qatar will be hosting Football World Cup 2022 and Dubai is trying for 2020 World Expo. This will have huge expansion in this sector. Dubai is tourist paradise. I rather say shopper’s paradise and for those who want second home, ultra rich of the world. The present projects under development will double the capacity of hotel and retail sector.

Airline and Airport Jobs: - This will not have any effect of slow down, or financial crisis. This increase is capacity will need more number of people handling the visitors. These are Ground Facility Handling Staff, at airport. The airline staff, this will have more flights coming and going. There will be more number of staff at airport, mechanics and maintenance of the aircraft sector.

Hotel Staff - Every 5 start room needs at least 3 workers, if the present capacity is 300,000 rooms means there will be 1 million new hotel staff will be added till 2020-2025.Chef, front office and back office and service. Everything will be doubled.

Travel and Tourism:- Every development in this sector is for a visitor. He may be tourist or may be someone coming for different types of events being held in the region. Everyone will have same needs. When the number of visitors is expected to double, those serving them will also be needed to increase. This sector will see at least 300,000 to 500,000 new jobs creation up to 2020.

Retail: - Shoppers Paradise, The Dubai Shopping festival which is held twice every year. In 2012 it has 4.3 million visitors. These numbers has steady growth over several years. These numbers are going up every year. The cash rich Kuwait has one of biggest market for high end branded products. Saudi is common mans market. Even though every market is catered to the different target market, every market is growing. This sector will see steady growth in Dubai and Saudi Arabia. It is slow in Kuwait. It will remain slow in Kuwait.

Investment, Banking and Finance: - This is highest paid sector of wealthy Gulf Countries. This region has as three top rich countries by per capital income in the world. It has plenty of free cash. The sovereign wealth fund ready to invest across world and across world. This has made it one of the best paid jobs. This sector has suffered most after 2008 financial crisis. This sector is yet to bounce back. It will take another six months when it will show new opportunities. The growth in this sector will be fast once it started and investors get appetite to invest. Even though there is plenty of free cash but there is little appetite of the investment. Once it gets going it will create very number of high end jobs. Dubai International Financial Center is competing with Qatar Financial Center and Abu Dhabi has launched its own edition of Financial Center and so is Kuwait. All these finance specialized zones will create new opportunities.

Event Management, Advertising, Promotion Sales and Marketing: - Qatar has successfully organized Asian Games, it will be organizing FIFA. There are many events which are organized round the year in Dubai. The sports events are organized in Bahrain and Qatar. The event management is a very big industry in this part. Dubai has highest number of visitors for different events. This industry will remain challenging but opportunities will be huge in this sector.

Education: - Education is important to long term and diversified growth of these countries. Saudi Arabia is investing huge amount in building new Universities and expanding the existing one. The United Arab Emirates is becoming major center for higher education and Kuwait is building new campus. This all will leads to new opportunities in this sector.

Healthcare: - The present healthcare facilities and number of beds per thousand available is just not enough for the increasing population. These six countries are building new facilities to increase the capacity. New hospitals and clinics are coming up. Private sector is also contributing to the growth of this sector. This sector will see stable but continuous growth in new job opportunities.

Information Technology and Modern Media and Technology: - Smart is on every hand, every service is on website and new gadgets are coming every day to make life easy. The e governance projects of the government and similar initiative to provide everything on net has created huge opportunity for this sector. This sector is still in early stage of development but growth rate is very good and will remain good.

Social Media: - Even though it is new opportunity, I have not seen any opportunity in this sector but I saw many independent consultants working on reputation management and online brand building. The way this sector is growing. Substantial number of new job opportunities should come in this sector.