ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani expat in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has created an exclusive job portal with career and internship opportunities for Emirati nationals.
“This job portal was developed to fill the gap between employers and UAE national talent,” Danish Haidri, the founder and CEO of JobsForNationals, told Arab News on Saturday.
The portal is an official internship partner of Careers UAE 2020, a recruitment and training exhibition which will be held at the Dubai World Trade Center on March 10-12.
Prior to JobsForNationals, Haidri said over the phone from Dubai, the UAE had no job marketplace dedicated solely to Emirati talent.
Danish Haidri, the founder and CEO of Jobs for Nationals (second left) signs a memorandum of understanding with the City University College of Ajman (CUCA) and City School in Ajman, UAE on Nov. 21, 2019. (Photo courtesy: CUCA)
Haidri’s platform was launched in 2016, but became fully operational in mid-2019. It supports the UAE government’s policy of Emiratization, which obliges companies and organizations to increase the number of Emirati citizens in their workforces, particularly in the private sector.
The policy, introduced in the past decade, is pivotal to the UAE Vision 2021 and transition from an oil-dependent to a knowledge-based economy.
“Companies were posting jobs on their own or generic websites, so shortlisting UAE nationals only was a gigantic task. The idea (of the new portal) was to connect employers, jobs and UAE national talent across all seven emirates on an exclusive platform with smart, engaging content and transparency,” Haidri said, adding that over 35,000 Emiratis and nearly 150 companies have already registered.
As his UEA enterprise was inspired by Saudis, Haidri’s next target is a dedicated job portal for Saudi nationals.
“I got this idea of creating a special platform for UAE nationals from Saudis, as they started a drive to provide jobs to Saudi nationals,” he said.
“Saudis have created a lot of opportunities under Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman during the past few years, he said, explaining that his interest in the Kingdom is also personal, as he has spent most of his life in Saudi Arabia.
“I grew up there. So the next market I am looking at is Saudi Arabia, where we have already started searching for local partners,” Haidri said, expressing hope that in the next three months the portal will be ready.
Speaking about Pakistani expats, he said they have contributed a lot to both the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and there are many success stories of Pakistanis in these countries.
“Pakistanis are innovative people. They have shown it in both Gulf countries,” Haidri said, adding that the governments of the UAE and Saudi Arabia have also been supportive of their Pakistani residents.
