It's important to know when to apply for jobs in Dubai. Certain times of the year see a flurry of recruitment activity. At other times of the year, we witness a huge drop off in hiring. You'll see more success if you focus your Dubai job search efforts during these peak seasons.
By the end of this article, you’ll have a complete understanding of how to plan your Dubai job search. You'll know when you are most likely to find a job in Dubai and when your Dubai job search is likely to be less fruitful. I'll also tell you which months to avoid visiting Dubai to look for a job and what to do during the quiet hiring periods.
January and February are by far the best times of year to apply for job vacancies in Dubai. No matter which industry you are in, these are key months for Dubai recruitment agencies. There are quite a few reasons why you'll see greater success during these months. Let's explore them one at a time.
HR and hiring managers who travelled home for Christmas will begin to return to the office. By mid-January, Dubai recruitment agencies will be working at full capacity. In January and February most people will be back in the office. This makes arranging interviews easier.
Hiring managers will be busy filling a backlog of roles. This backlog will have built up during the quieter periods.
This is because people receive their annual bonuses at the end of the year. Plus the simple fact that this is peak recruitment time. When someone moves jobs, they create a vacancy.
January and February are the months when new hiring budgets get approved. As soon as hiring managers receive their hiring budgets, they will be in a hurry to fill vacancies. Lots of telephone and video interviews happen in January and February. Plus many first stage interviews start taking place.
The weather is another factor making January and February key recruitment months. It’s much easier traveling to Dubai during these months. As the year progresses, and the temperatures rise, it becomes more and more difficult to do this.
March, April and May are also good months for your Dubai job search. You will find that the pace of hiring is still pretty high during March, April and May.
Hiring processes that began at the start of the year may have been unsuccessful. This means new candidates need to be sought. New positions are still getting sign-off during March and April. You'll still find new job opportunities, and recruitment teams will still be busy.
These are the last good months of hiring before summer. Dubai recruitment agencies will be working to fill roles before summer begins.
You should begin your Dubai job search during the peak months of January or February. But if you don’t find something by March, don’t despair. You still have a few good months ahead of you whilst recruitment teams in Dubai are still in the office.
These months are a good opportunity to reconnect with recruiters in Dubai. New roles might have come online since you first met with them. Also roles that they thought they might have filled may be open again.
June, July and August are not good months for applying for jobs in Dubai!
The summer months are always quiet in the recruitment world in Dubai. Dubai sees a mass exodus during the summer months. People flee the soaring temperatures, and return home for extended periods of time. This makes it very difficult to finalise hiring decisions.
I would advise against travelling to Dubai to look for a job during the summer months of June, July and August. The temperature makes it very uncomfortable. In fact it will likely put you off moving to Dubai! You will find the city very quiet and people will be slow to meet with you and may not respond to you at all.
Landing a job durning the summer will always be a challenge in Dubai. But that doesn't mean you should give up completely. There are things you can do to prepare for the end of the summer.
Consider what Dubai recruiters will be looking for on your CV, and refine it. Get a new CV template and work on making it perfect for the new roles that will become available. Plan your job search strategy and do your research during these months. It's also a great time to create your profile on the major job boards in Dubai, plus get your LinkedIn profile ready.
You should also keep an eye on job postings and respond to any relevant newly-advertised roles. Whilst there might be fewer roles, there may also be fewer applicants. You never know when the perfect role might come up so it's never wise to completely abandon your job search for any period of time.
September and October are also good months to find a job in Dubai.
People who live in Dubai return at the end of September as the academic school year begins. Dubai begins to fill up, traffic returns to pre-summer levels, and hiring increases. After the long summer break people return to Dubai refreshed and ready to get back to work. The wheels begin to turn and recruitment begins to enjoy another peak.
The city has come back to life and people are ready to hit the ground running. This is a great time of year to get networking in Dubai.
Families who are ready to leave to Dubai once and for all, often do so during the summer. This is so that they can get their kids settled into their new schools at the beginning of the academic year. This means new vacancies need to be filled, often these are key and senior roles.
October and November are great months to visit Dubai. There is an energy to the city, people are willing to meet with you and recruiters will be in full swing. November and December are good months for meeting with recruiters before the January peak.
By mid-December recruitment agencies and HR teams will slow down somewhat for Christmas and New Year. However, this tends to happen a little later for the recruitment agencies in Dubai and many businesses remain open even on Christmas Day as it isn't a national holiday.
When looking for a job in Dubai you need to factor in the Holy Month of Ramadan. During Ramadan many people take time off. Working hours get cut back during Ramadan and life in Dubai slows down.
Don't get frustrated if you hear nothing back during Ramadan. You need to factor this month into your job search and plan around it. Be aware that the month in which Ramadan takes place moves forward each year. This means that this year it will fall earlier in the year than last year.
You will need to do your research so that you’re prepared. You should also be aware that the exact dates are not fixed. The commencement and ending of Ramadan depend upon moon sightings.
It is likely that you will not complete on a job offer during Ramadan. If you begin an interview process right before Ramadan begins, don’t expect it to proceed during Ramadan. Be patient and understanding and wait for business to return to normal.
Use the time to do something positive for your job search. Try up-skilling, reworking your CV or getting some interview practice.
Ramadan can also be a great time to build new connections. It is a very social time with many events and festivities and can be a fantastic time to make new friends and contacts.
Throughout the year in Dubai there are various religious and national holidays. These will also impact your job search. It's worth noting the dates of the following holiday periods in Dubai:
• Eid al-Fitr
• Haj season
• Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice)
• Al-Hijra (Islamic New Year)
• National Day
This is not an exhaustive list, and some dates will vary from year to year. Do your research before embarking on your job search to understand the natural ebbs and flows of Dubai life.
The best months for job searching in Dubai are January, February, September and October.
Other good months for finding a job in Dubai are March, April, May. As well as November and the beginning of December to a lesser extent.
You should avoid June, July and August, as well as during Ramadan.
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