30 companies, including multinationals, say the region is ripe for accelerated hiring in 2011; no scaling down of payscales

March 20, 2011: Over 30 UAE companies, including some multinationals and major local corporations, have expressed confidence that 2011 will see accelerated business activity and greater hiring in the UAE and across the region.

The companies, which were participating in the 6th annual UOWD Career Fair, also revealed that contrary to some reports, there was no scaling down of salaries; on the contrary, a few said their companies had given small salary increments in 2010. More than 400 UOWD students took part in the fair.

Among the companies that attracted huge interest at the annual career fair were Deloitte, Economic Zones World, Emirates NBD, MashreqBank, HP, Total, Etihad, IBM, Microsoft, L'Oreal, Pfizer, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Schneider Electric, ThyssenKrupp Elevators, Johnson Controls and Bayt.com.

Amrita Whabi, Staffing Advisor and Graduate Program Lead at Hewlett Packard, said the company was going ahead with all-round expansion in emerging markets. "As a company that is present in every area of Information Technology, we have huge requirements in various areas. We hire nearly 100 graduates each year across the region. This well-organized career, among the best we have attended so far, has given us hundreds of CVs of young men and women brimming with confidence and ready for the job market,

Deloitte, a major player in the region's accounting and finance field, said a surge in new clients had created the need for accelerated recruitment. "We are certainly on a recruitment drive, as the region's economy is gaining further momentum. We have been participating in this fair every year and UOWD is one of our top ranking universities as far as recruitment goes," said Najah Zaki, HR Officer, Deloitte & Touche (M.E.).

Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, plans to fill in a number of vacancies this year as a result of visible growth across targeted markets. "We are looking for interns as well as candidates to fill in permanent vacant posts. We have seen growth across the region and, as a result, we are planning to identify and invest on young talents to support this. We were impressed by the calibre of students in this career fair," said Edylyn Oliva Natulla, HR Business Partner, Schneider Electric FZE.

Raymi van der Spek, Vice President Administration, UOWD, commented: "UOWD places high importance on grooming our graduates for the job market with the right mix of academic excellence and skills set. We are pleased with employers' comments about our students. The fair also gives us ideas on the kinds of programs that are in demand, besides providing insights into the pace of hiring."

An interesting highlight of this year's UOWD Career Fair is that past UOWD graduates, who are now employed with major companies including HP, Deloitte, Symrise, Price Waterhouse Coopers and Schneider Electric, returned to the university to recruit fellow graduates.

"The response to the UOWD Career Fair showed that the recession is behind us. All recruiters showed serious intentions of hiring, and not just going through the formality of receiving CVs," said Franky Barreto, Manager Student Services, UOWD. "On our part, we made sure that the students were properly briefed on how to present themselves and, more importantly, how to sell themselves."

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About the University of Wollongong in Dubai
Established in 1993, UOWD was the first foreign university in Dubai to be licensed by the UAE Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research. Located at Dubai Knowledge Village, it boasts 3,600 students representing almost 100 nationalities. It is closely associated with one of Australia's best performing research and teaching Universities, the University of Wollongong, Australia.

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© Press Release 2011