Employers in the UAE are still hiring first for people who can communicate, lead and look after customers, according to an analysis of more than 7,000 job postings
Employers in the UAE are still hiring first for people who can communicate, as communication is the skill UAE employers name most often, appearing in 22.4 per cent of job postings, according to data from SkillDrift, an AI career platform that scores employees’ skills against the roles they want.
The analysis, covering 7,025 UAE job postings on the platform, found that problem-solving and leadership were named in 9.1 per cent of postings, while customer service was mentioned in 8.4 per cent, putting human skills at the top of the list.
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“UAE employers still hire first for people who can communicate, lead and look after a customer. Communication is named in more than one posting in five,” said Deepanker Mahajan, founder and CEO of SkillDrift.
The other major skills that UAE employers are seeking include organisational skills, teamwork and time management, among others.
Demand for AI roles
Artificial intelligence (AI) is named as a required skill in just 28 of the 7,025 UAE postings, or 0.4 per cent. In the US postings SkillDrift indexes, the figure is 4.1 per cent.
SkillDrift counts 15 core AI terms that an employer names as a required skill. The company said its UAE postings lean towards operations, engineering, sales and hospitality roles, so the AI figure should be read as a floor, not as a market share.
Across SkillDrift’s whole index, which is not limited to the UAE, Python has overtaken communication as the most requested skill.
Among postings that state an experience requirement, 14.1 per cent are open to someone with a year or less of experience. Some 35.4 per cent ask for five years or more.
“For graduates, the way in is proof of the few skills a posting actually names,” Mahajan said.
Arabic is named as a requirement in 7.4 per cent of UAE postings, about half the rate in Saudi Arabia (13.2 per cent) and Qatar (13.5 per cent). English is named in 21.3 per cent of UAE postings.
Internships make up 3.7 per cent of UAE postings. Sharjah has the highest share at 6.4 per cent, while Abu Dhabi has the lowest at 1.6 per cent.
Mahajan said jobseekers should identify the specific skills missing between their CV and the role they want and close those gaps first.
“A skill that is not shown on the CV does not count,” he said.
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