Careers UAE 2015, the UAE’s leading hiring exhibition for Emirati nationals, will highlight challenges faced by recruiters and when attracting and retaining top UAE talent in the private sector.

The topic will come under discussion during a key panel – Hiring and Retaining UAE Nationals in the Private Sector: Insights, Tools and Best Practices – conducted at Careers UAE 2015 by premier online recruitment portal, Bayt.com.

Careers UAE 2015, taking place 28 – 30 April at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), is the country’s leading platform that unites talented Emirati job candidates and potential employers under one roof. In addition to facilitating networking opportunities, the show will offer visitors an array of interesting features, workshops and events to enable applicants to carve out meaningful and rewarding careers.

As the UAE economy transitions from one dependent on natural resources to a human resources-led model driven by education, creativity and innovation, the creation of strategies and policies to both attract and retain highly-skilled Emiratis are required across the private sector.

Offering insights and the latest research into methods to encourage greater representation of national talent within the private sector, the Bayt.com panel will address a number of increasingly relevant topics.

These include increasing the appeal of the private sector as a starting point for launching the careers of Emirati youth, embedding private sector culture in educational institutions, and raising awareness – amongst parents and students – by promoting careers and employment opportunities within the private sector through careers fairs, panel discussions and information sessions held in schools, colleges and university campuses.

“The participation of Emirati nationals in the increasingly competitive private sector and across the UAE labour market are imperative to the future economic growth and stability of the country – we need to harness the emergence of a young, growing and increasingly well-educated pool of national talent,” said Asma Mohammed Al Sharif, director for Exhibitions, DWTC.

“Conducted by regional experts, Bayt.com’s panel will highlight the key issues of engaging and developing Emirati candidates within the private sector, and address the expected deliverables of this engagement – performance, productivity and greater opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation.”

With historic support from exhibitors representing both the public and private sectors, Careers UAE 2015 is expecting a significant increase in private sector participation this year. In 2014, 90 out of more than 160 exhibitors were private sector businesses.

“We are happy to host a panel at Careers UAE this year, bringing to the spotlight important information regarding hiring and retaining UAE nationals in the private sector,” said Suhail Masri, VP of Sales at Bayt.com.

“At Bayt.com, we understand that greater representation of national talent within the private sector is essential for the development of the country’s employment landscape, and for the better part of the last decade, we have assisted corporations in the UAE, both local and international, to meet their nationalisation targets.

“The UAE population is expected to peak over the next ten years, and most of the region's top employers – whom we liaise with on a regular basis –  are already actively mobilised across all career levels and job roles to take advantage of this productive potential.

“It is important to note that Bayt.com research – particularly a May 2013 poll on ‘How Successful are Nationalisation Efforts  in the GCC’ – concluded that 36 per cent of respondents believe the best way to source national talent is through dedicated regional jobsites,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service