Expat Interviews Dubai Jobs




 

Opportunities for Construction Jobs in Dubai

Optimistic Outlook for Building and Engineering Jobs in Dubai

There are still opportunities for construction jobs in Dubai despite the presence of a recession and a decline in the demand for construction as a result of the slowdown in this UAE emirate's real estate market. Finding a construction job there might not be as easy as it was just a few years ago, but it is not impossible either. It might have more than its share of problems, but Dubai's building industry still offers career growth chances for construction professionals.

It should be noted that Dubai had experienced a boom in construction during the previous years because the government knew that it could not depend any more on its petroleum industry. In fact, revenues coming from the oil industry have shrunk to less than six percent of the GDP in 2008 because of the drastic decline in Dubai's oil reserves, and because it has shifted its focus towards tourism and other service industries. This is only natural because of projections that its petroleum reserves may be gone completely in 20 years.

The decision of Dubai's government to concentrate on other industries aside from the petroleum sector had caused an increase in the prices of real estate properties. This in turn had spurred an almost frantic rise in the demand for construction companies and the corresponding rise in the number of available construction job vacancies in Dubai. Hence, for a construction engineer, Dubai represented a land of opportunity and some of the highest buildings and skyscrapers in the world were constructed there. Unfortunately, the slowdown in the world economy causes a substantial decline in the condition of the real estate industry in Dubai.

In the rush towards creating some of the best buildings of the world, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had accumulated a substantial amount of foreign debt. With the global crisis affecting the prices of real estate properties in the emirate, the condition of the construction industry and employment took a dive. For those who were looking for construction civil engineering jobs, Dubai had lost some of its previous luster. However, this does not mean that the availability of construction jobs in this advanced city has totally dried up.

There are still several opportunities for construction and contractor jobs in Dubai as the building and engineering sector may still have openings for architects, engineers, planners, managers, and supervisors. When looking for construction civil engineering jobs, Gulf countries like the UAE require various kinds of workers, such as civil engineers, architects, technicians for optic fibers, electrical engineers, masons, fabrication workers, construction site supervisors, drivers, wire men, and delivery and transportation workers.

Some of the experiences needed are those that have to do with steel structures that have been pre-engineered, pipeline construction, land reclamation, soil improvement, piling, landscaping, surveying, project management, quality control, project estimation, safety management, purchasing, plant operations, concrete batching, pest control, mechanical engineering, and costing. Just like in other places, opportunities for construction work remain because development does not stop even when there is an economic downtrend.