Emiratis flock to Ru’ya with an eye on job opportunities, including 500 roles announced by Emirates Group 

21 September 2022 – Dubai, UAE: Day two of the 21st edition of Ru’ya, Careers UAE Redefined at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), continued to welcome young Emirati job seekers looking to connect with leading local and international organisations for career advice and job opportunities.

After a successful first day at Sheikh Saeed Halls 1, 2 and 3 – including the announcement that Emirates Group has 500 vacancies to be filled by Emiratis – day two of the event saw thousands more Emirati youths benefit from the varied networking opportunities and advice platforms at the UAE’s leading recruitment, skills development and networking forum.

With more inspirational talks from talented Emiratis – and today’s programme under the themes of ‘Be Musical’, ‘Be Artistic’, ‘Be Passionate’ and ‘Be Gifted’ – day two’s agenda also saw the sustainability-focussed competition ‘Upcycle and Design’ get underway. 
With sustainability a key theme for this year’s Ru’ya, Careers UAE, the competition in partnership with Al-Futtaim IKEA is challenging students to upcycle a piece of IKEA furniture. A total of 20 students from four schools in the UAE are now working on their creations, which will be put to a judging panel on the final day of the event. 

With prizes for first, second and third place, the winning students will also have their designs showcased at IKEA and the chance to visit the company’s head office to understand more about a role within the company. The judging panel will include key representatives from Al-Futtaim IKEA, including Carla Klumpenaar, GM Marketing, Communication, Interior Design at IKEA UAE, Qatar, Oman and Egypt.

Commenting on the event, Carla Klumpenaar said: ‘’At Al-Futtaim IKEA, we aim to inspire and enable more than 70 million people in the region to live a better everyday life by 2025. In line with this, we are running an on-ground competition at Ru’ya Career UAE job fair for high school students who are challenged to creatively repurpose IKEA furniture. This is to drive awareness on circularity and sustainable consumption also supporting the UAE government’s agenda of sustainability – to build an economy that protects the environment and an environment that supports the overall growth of the economy.’’

Asma Alsharif, AVP, Sustainable Development, Exhibitions, Dubai World Trade Centre, said: “Following an incredibly successful first day, we were blown away by the continued support of our exhibiting partners and attendees. As we collectively look to enhance our efforts towards the UAE Government’s Emiratisation strategy, it was brilliant to see thousands more curious Emirati youths join us at Ru’ya, Careers UAE Redefined 2022. We hope they received valuable advice and learnt more about the career paths available to them, helping to shape their successful futures and inspire them to turn their passions into careers.”

Wassim Eid, President of People & Culture at Chalhoub Group, said: “Year on year we are witnessing the increased engagement, livelihood, and talent attraction at the event. Chalhoub Group with its three headquarters and 8,000+ employees in the UAE is committed to driving talent growth by promoting Emiratisation, nurturing talent, and enabling in-house innovation. We also focus on dedicated programmes for national graduates in the countries where we operate to attract creative and talented minds.”

Bushrah Alshehhi, Head of Human Resources, ADIB, said: “At ADIB, we firmly believe in this platform and its active role in providing us with a great opportunity to attract and hire talented UAE nationals. ADIB has one of the highest Emiratisation ratios at 45%, which is a testament to our commitment to absorbing more local talent into the workforce. Our participation in events such as Ru’ya, Careers UAE supports our vision of attracting top Emirati talent and leveraging their skills to develop a strong workforce that will contribute to the growth of the UAE economy. In this context, we have received over 1,400 employment requests through our dedicated online recruitment platform for the event and we are looking at utilising this momentum to serve our talent acquisition strategy in the best possible way.”

With the 100+ exhibitors set to return for the final day of Ru’ya, Careers Redefined 2022 tomorrow (22nd September), job seekers can expect more exclusive sessions and inspiring talks under the ‘Be’ theme, from talented Emiratis who took a bold approach to their employment opportunities. The winners of the ‘The Next You’ entrepreneurship competition, ‘Upcycle & Design’ competition and ‘Top-coder’ best video game will also be announced.
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