Which Dubai job boards are the best?
Job boards have a part to play in any Dubai job search strategy, and used intelligently they can yield positive results for any Dubai job seeker.
The problem is, many people either misuse job boards, or over emphasise the role of job boards in their job search.
In this article I’m going to help you rethink how to get the best results from job boards, and what role they should play in your Dubai job search.
Plus I'll provide you with links to the top three Dubai job boards so that you can get started.
Three ways to use job boards in your Dubai job search
1. Use Dubai job boards to conduct research
The more you understand the Dubai job market, the better placed you will be to find a job.
Log onto the major job boards and conduct a search for your target roles.
Make your search criteria as specific as you possibly can, e.g mechanical engineer, head nurse, CFO, etc, scroll through the results and make a note of the following:
• How many jobs are currently available that match your criteria?
This will give you an indication of how competitive your industry is, and how in demand your skills actually are.
• How many jobs are available within your broader industry?
This will give you an indication of how prominent your industry is in Dubai, and how challenging or easy it may be for you to find a role.
• Make a note of the Dubai recruitment agencies that are advertising the roles that you want.
Once you know this you can begin to contact the dubai recruitment agencies directly which is a much better approach.
• What companies are currently hiring?
This information will not always be available, particularly if they are using a Dubai recruitment agency rather than advertising directly, however if it is, you will be able to contact these companies directly.
• What kind of salary levels are being advertised?
This information is crucial for managing your expectations and making key financial decisions. This is particularly helpful if you are still in the process of deciding whether or not relocation to Dubai is the best option for you.
2. Use Dubai job boards to get found by Dubai recruitment agencies
Most Dubai recruitment agencies and internal HR teams use job boards to some extent. This means that using job boards is a great way of making Dubai recruiters and hiring teams aware of your skills and experience.
Upload an up-to-date and professional CV to each of the most common job boards in Dubai and make sure your profile is fully completed, including your contact details.
Now, when a Dubai recruitment consultant or HR managers conducts a search for candidates matching your skills and experience, you are likely to appear in their list.
If you are a good match for what they are looking for, you may be contacted. This is an important step in making the right people aware that you are looking for a new role in Dubai.
3. Use Dubai job boards to apply for jobs in Dubai...obviously!
Signing up for alerts and conducting regular, targeted searches can help you to identify roles for which you are a great fit.
These are the roles that you should take the time to apply for.
But, before you simply hit the apply button and hope for the best, take a look at the information provided, is the name of the organisation, the Dubai recruitment agency or maybe even the individual Dubai recruiter mentioned in the advert? If it is, you should first consider a direct approach.
The reason for this is that not all roles posted on job boards are legitimate. As a recruiter in Dubai, I encountered instances where a job board copied an advert I had posted to their site without my permission.
They collected the applications and then contacted me to charge a fee to access these. Yes, this is terrible but it happens.
This means that some applications to job boards never reach the person recruiting the role. Applying directly is always the safest option to ensure your application is received.
If applying through the job board is the only option, take some time to ensure that your CV has been tailored to best match the role requirements and that your profile reflects and highlights the most important and essential skills and experience.
It's important to do this because many job boards will have inbuilt features that allow the recruiter to rank the applications based on relevance to the role, or to filter applications by certain criteria. This is often a key selling point for the recruiter to use the job board in the first place.
For this reason, it's also important to consider the format of the CV you upload. The document should be designed and uploaded in such a way that when copied and pasted into a plain text document, it still makes sense.
This is essentially what the ranking software 'reads' when parsing your document. The best way to ensure your document is readable is by making your CV in Microsoft Word as a single column document and not including images or infographics.
Remember, quality trumps quantity, even when it comes to job boards!
If you don’t hear back about the role you have just applied for, don’t despair. If you are a good candidate you will likely have been added to the recruitment teams' database, making you much more likely to receive a call in the near future when a suitable role becomes available.
