UAE job market sees shifts in hiring strategies as contracts, service roles gain favour among employers

This comes as companies continue to shift their hiring strategies, with a particular focus on picking junior talents, in an effort to build pipelines for future leadership, industry experts said.

The country’s job market is also witnessing a major churn on the back of the rising trend of hiring for contractual roles, which, while attracting new talents from around the world even at relatively lower pay packages, is leading to existing and experienced professionals looking for new opportunities elsewhere – often for better compensation or more senior roles.

The rising signs of market fluidity comes even as the UAE’s hiring activities saw a contrasting trend of a surge in hiring in the first quarter of 2025, aided by a strong Q4, 2024 corporate and economic performance, while Q2 seeing a slight holidays-induced slowdown, with Ramadan and Eid coming earlier this year, industry insiders said.

“Companies are not just filling roles anymore; they’re building pipelines for future leadership, and that starts with bringing in junior talent early and giving them the right foundation,” Nikhil Nanda, Director, Innovations Group, one of the UAE’s leading workforce solutions providers, told Arabian Business.

Senior executives in other city-based human resources (HR) firms also said companies in the UAE are being more strategic of late on their hiring programmes.

Besides the services sector, the UAE job market is seeing a big push in sectors like logistics and real estate.

Industry insiders said these industries, with their fast-paced growth trajectory, are creating a lot of opportunities for fresh graduates, especially UAE nationals coming out of local universities.

Service-level roles gain ground in UAE amid tourism boom

Industry players said hiring for service-level roles is gaining momentum, though demand for other roles is also seeing strong growth currently.

Hospitality and aviation sectors are leading the charge for hiring of service-level roles amidst the boom in the tourism sector, they said.

Nanda said hospitality and aviation are definitely leading the charge right now as the demand just keeps coming, amid the tourism sector seeing a boom over the last few years.

He said hotels, airlines, and related service providers are constantly hiring to keep up.

“The challenge is, as fast as they hire, they also see turnover – so it’s a constant cycle of growth and replacement,” the Innovations Group senior executive said.

Industry executives said these roles require people who are customer-focused, adaptable, and ready to hit the ground running, which makes the hiring pace fast and competitive.

They said the spike in hiring is also due to the fluid job market on account of the rise in contractual roles.

“The UAE continues to attract new talent from around the world – with people who are willing to accept slightly lower pay for the chance to live and work here. At the same time, those who’ve been here for a few years are starting to look elsewhere, often for better compensation or more senior roles,” Nanda said.

He said this natural cycle creates room for new talent to step in, but it also means companies need to work harder to keep people engaged.

“Even in temp roles, employees want clarity, growth, and a sense of purpose. Companies that offer will have the edge in retaining their best people,” Nanda said.

UAE, Saudi Arabia posed for busy rest of 2025

Industry players said they saw a slight slowdown in H1 2025 as a result of Ramadan and Eid coming earlier.

Q1 2025 was strong due to a strong Q4 last year. However, the second quarter of 2025 has seen a slight decline in employee hiring due to the holidays, they said.

Sector experts, however, said they expect the second half of the year to be busy for hiring across both the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

In Saudi Arabia, Vision 2030 continues to open up a lot of roles in infrastructure, energy, and public sector transformation, creating vast opportunities for job seekers, especially those with regional experience, they said.

Companies in the UAE, especially several sector majors, on the other hand, have also embarked on a major strategic initiative, focusing on training and development programmes for job seekers.

Nanda said these programmes are mainly aimed to bring UAE nationals into roles that were previously off their radar.

“It’s not just about hitting a quota – it’s about creating meaningful, long-term employment for local talent,” he said.

He said the market is also seeing a noticeable shift with companies increasingly outsourcing their back-end operations – commonly known as call centres – to other countries.

“Call centres, for example, used to be almost entirely staffed by expats. But as business costs rise and Emiratisation targets tighten, a lot of that back-office work is now being outsourced to other countries,” Nanda said.